Australian Composers

Judith Clingan AM was born in Sydney in 1945. She studied voice, recorder, bassoon and composition in Sydney and Canberra, and music education and conducting at the Kodaly Insitiute in Hungary.

She has been composing, mostly for choirs, since she was a teenager. As she has also spent her life teaching and directing choral and music theatre groups, many of her compositions have been written for these specific groups (Canberra Children’s Choir 1967 - 1979; Gaudeamus 1983 - 1993; Lady’s Mantle women’s choir 1991 - 1993; Voicebox Youth Opera 1994 - 2002; Imagine Music Theatre 1994 - present; the Variables - vocal octet - 1997 - 2009; Wayfarers choir for young people and adults 1997 - present). Her compositions include operas and music theatre works for young people and adults, masses, cantatas, plays for young people of various ages with songs and incidental instrumental music, difficult unaccompanied SATB pieces for advanced adult vocal ensembles, and many original pieces and arrangements for SSA and SAB choir. suitable for school and community choirs. Judith has been commissioned by many performing ensembles - she still accepts commissions. 

judithclingan@me.com; judithclingan.net.au; 0410 617 427. 

Composer, conductor and performer Dan Walker is one of Australia’s most in-demand choral specialists. His compositional output includes commissions for Gondwana Voices, Leichhardt Espresso Chorus, Voyces Youth Choir, the Birralee Blokes, the Nittany Valley Children’s Choir of Pennsylvania, and Halcyon.

Dan’s choral music includes simple unison songs with piano accompaniment, two and three-part treble repertoire, right through to complex 8-part works for mixed voices. He writes for children’s voices, adult amateur choirs and professional ensembles, and has had his work performed all over the world.

Dan is an also active arranger and regularly produces work for the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, the Australian Chamber Orchestra and record label ABC Classics.  His work for television includes the iconic 2009 I Still Call Australia Home advertising campaign for Qantas.

As a performer, Dan is a member of the Consort of Melbourne, St James Old Cathedral Singers, Sydney-based Cantillation, Pinchgut Opera and was a founding member of early music ensemble ‘The Parson’s Affayre’.  He is a keenly sought-after conductor, often appearing as chorus-master for the Sydney Symphony, and is Artistic Director of Choristry and Habeas Chorus, the choir for the Melbourne legal community.

Mark Puddy

Mark has worked in music education for many years and is in demand as a writer and arranger of choral works. He is regularly commissioned to write works for schools and community choirs around Australia.
Mark is the resident arranger and composer for the Australian Girls Choir and this organisation regularly performs his works for children ranging from 5 to 18 years of age.
He has published many choral pieces and his works are performed regularly in Australia and overseas, often appearing in eisteddfodau and other choral competitions as set pieces or as recommended works.
Mark conducts and tutors with The Australian Girls Choir and is a regular conducting tutor at ACCET (Australian Choral Conductors’ Education and Training), teaching conducting to choral directors from around Australia.
Previously Mark taught classroom music whilst working with the AGC and has been Associate Head of Music at Firbank Grammar School and Wesley College’s Elsternwick Campus in Melbourne. He was on the staff of Marryatville High School’s Special Interest Music Centre in SA.
Mark regularly tours home and abroad with the Australian Girls Choir, often as an accompanist. This, combined with his instrumental experience as a trumpeter in the Australian Youth Orchestra, South Australian Youth Orchestra and various ensembles has been invaluable when it comes to working with and writing for ensembles.

Contact Mark at : https://www.markpuddy.com/

Sherelle Eyles

Sherelle Eyles composes children’s choral pieces that have been performed by children’s choirs across Australia, several of which are published in Mark O’Leary’s Young Voices of Melbourne Choral Series. Her choral songs have been sung at Out of the Box Festival, Brisbane 2012­; The State Choral Festival of Victoria, 2011; The Next Generation Sings Festival, Gold Coast 2012; Young Voices Choral Festival 2013; Choral Fanfare 2013, ANCA Treble Voices Singing Through Life Festival 2014; Qld Youth Music Awards 2014; the Qld Young Conservatorium State Honours Ensemble Programme 2013; and have won first prize in the Under 12s Championships at the National Choral Eisteddfod, Canberra 2012.

Further performances include Junior Gondwana (Sydney Children’s Choir) at the Summer Music Camps, January 2013 and theSuzuki Foundation Graduation Concert at Sydney Opera House, 2014; chosen set choral pieces of the National Choral Eisteddfod, Canberra, 2013 and Western Australia Massed Choirs Festival 2014 involving over 4000 children, Singfest Qld with 2,000 primary school children and the Primary Proms at Sydney Town Hall 2015 involving 2,000 children.

She has been commissioned by Brisbane Grammar School Chamber Choir for the Pemulwuy Male Voice Festival 2014. Her song ‘Gecko’, was a finalist in the Queensland Music Awards 2013 – Children’s Song Category.

Sherelle’s choral music includes simple unison with piano accompaniment, SA and SSA treble repertoire. She composes for children’s voices of all ages, and has had works performed all over Australia, in Asia and the USA.Sherelle is an Australian Music Examinations Board examiner. She has been a piano and theory teacher and choral accompanist at Brisbane Girls’ Grammar School and All Hallows’ School since 1997.

Sherelle is the composer representative of the Australian National Choral Association, Choralfest, 2017.

For more information go to www.sherelleeyles.com

Scott Buchanan

Scott Buchanan is a composer, lyricist, musician and teacher and has been writing choral music, songs and musicals for more than thirty years. He has a passion for writing engaging and uplifting works for performers both young and old. He was commissioned to write a children’s opera for Victoria State Opera Schools’ Company in 1992. This piece The Moon Chariot was performed to approximately 70,000 students and was the first VSO Schools’ Company piece to be selected to take part in an International Children’s Theatre Festival. Other commissions have been the massed song for the biennial Music Festival of the Independent Primary School Heads Association (Victoria -  2012, 2014 and 2016). The National Breast Cancer Foundation of Australia commissioned a piece, The Day Will Come for a research project called Register 4. This was launched in 2010. That song featured at major NBCF functions in capital cities around Australia for several years. It’s now been picked up by Worldwide Cancer Research and will be performed by renowned operatic contralto Deborah Humble at Australia House in London in April 2016.

Scott along with his writing partner Debbie Nicholls has written six full-length musicals for young people - Fantasy, Vox Vulture and the Knitting Shop, The Rooster Who Couldn’t Crow, Happily Ever After, Inspiritor and Closed Doors, a piece which was commissioned by Methodist Ladies College for their Year 12 production in 2006. These music theatre pieces have been performed widely in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and have also been toured to South East Asia. Scott’s music and lyrics range from simple unison songs with piano accompaniment to SATB choral pieces to fully orchestrated pieces for the theatre.

Scott has been a director of music in Primary Schools for the last 23 years and a music specialist for more than 30 years. He is a highly respected classroom music teacher and choral director holding positions at schools such as Wesley College, International School – Ho Chi Minh City, Methodist Ladies College, St Catherines School and Brighton Grammar School.

For more information go to www.syncorswing.com.au or contact Scott by email at imscottb62@icloud.com

David Slater

David Slater is an Australian composer and represented artist with the Australian Music Centre. He has received numerous awards, was twice short-listed for Australia’s richest composition award, and selected for the inaugural Young Composers Orchestral Forum. His work encompasses many genres from concert hall to TV, film and advertising, and includes solo, chamber, choral and orchestral music. He receives regular commissions and his work is performed throughout Australia and the world.  

Recent choral works include Magnificat for a Prosperous World for a cappella choir which was recently sung in Italy and Germany, and Elegies for 5 part choir and strings. He is currently completing a commission to be performed in 2019 for the 500^th anniversary of the death of Leonardo da Vinci in Florence, the city of his birth. This work entitled Leonardo Speaks is based on excerpts from his notebooks and is for soloists, SATB and children’s choirs and orchestra.

He has won many major awards for composition, conducting and services to music in the community, including the Symphony Australia Prize, the National Award of the Orchestras of Australia Network and Australia Day awards for services to music in the community. He has published articles on music and music education and is Australia’s representative to the World Choir Council.

Mr Slater is an experienced conductor with an extensive repertoire spanning from the Baroque to the present day. He founded and directed a number of award-winning ensembles which include contemporary music groups, orchestras, choirs, youth orchestras and musical theatre companies, and continues to conduct around the world.

He is a regular guest at workshops for schools, music camps and festivals, and gives masterclasses in many parts of the world.  Since 2016 he has worked with, among others  Barnsley Youth Choir (England), Chamber Choir of Harbin University (China),  Florida Symphony Youth Orchestra (USA), Guangzhou Radio and Television Children’s Choir (China), Kreisler Strings (Australia), New Jersey Youth Symphony (USA), OJPA Orchestra of Alicante (Spain), Open Arts Choir (Northern Ireland) and Zhong Zheng String Orchestra (Taiwan).

Mr Slater has over 35 years’ experience as a music educator with 25 years as Director of Music. He has taught in 3 Australian states, has been a consultant on music curriculum and gives lectures on Australian music in several countries. He is passionate about the place of music in society and in education, and has promoted the creation, study and performance of great music throughout his career.

He is sought after as a performance adjudicator, having worked with many organisations, festivals and eisteddfods. Positions have included final year examiner in three Australian states and jury member for festivals around the world. These include the 9^th World Choir Games in Sochi (Russia), the Summa Cum Laude International Youth Music Festival in Vienna (Austria) the Leonardo da Vinci and Lorenzo de’ Medici International Choral Festivals in Florence (Italy), the European Choir Games and Choral Grand Prix of Nations in Riga (Latvia), the Queen of the Adriatic Sea International Choral Competition in Cattolica (Italy) the 10^th World Choir Games in Tshwane (South Africa) and the International Youth Music Festival in Bratislava (Slovakia).

Mr Slater can be contacted at www.davmusik.com

Margaret Brandman

In a career of over 45 years, composer/pianist Margaret Brandman has composed a variety of music ranging from orchestral, chamber and choral works, to instrumental solos, and works for solo voice with piano accompaniment.

Her output includes three internationally acclaimed albums produced by PARMA recordings USA: SENSATIONS featuring her celebrated works for orchestral and chamber ensembles recorded by the Moravian Philharmonic Orchestra in the Czech Republic, the compilation album ABRAZO recorded in Cuba, which includes her Warm Winds in Havana suite for saxophone quartet and percussion, and COSMIC WHEEL OF THE ZODIAC, a song cycle for the twelve signs of the Zodiac, with lyrics by Astrologer and poet, Benita Rainer,set as both solo songs and for SATB choir. These works are regularly programmed on ABC Classic FM and have featured many times on international radio programs, including Classic Discoveries (USA) and Music of our Mothers (USA).

Margaret also performs many of her original works including the piano solo ‘Autumn Rhapsody’, which is included on SENSATIONS, her ensemble works for piano with woodwind or strings, and her many songs for voice and piano including ‘Lady of Grace’, ‘Songs of Love and Desire’ a song cycle with lyrics by Désirée Regina, and Australian themed songs in her ‘From the Mountains to the Sea’ collection.

The premiere performance of the solo settings of Cosmic Wheel of the Zodiac, by Baritone Martin Cooke of the Bavarian State Opera Company, in association with Margaret on piano, took place in Sydney, Australia on the 3rd of September 2016.

Margaret was also in attendance at the European premiere performance of the ‘Cosmic Wheel of the Zodiac’ song cycle by the Prague Mixed Chamber Choir and soloists, held at the concert hall in the Czech Music Museum in Prague on the 14th of September 2017. The choir also recorded the works for the album.

Coro Austral, directed by Margot McLaughlin is one of the Australian choirs which programs Margaret’s choral works. The choir will be performing her works at the Australian album launch concert on August 19^th 2018, at the Eugene Goossens Hall in the ABC centre in Sydney.

Choral scores for the ‘Cosmic Wheel of the Zodiac’ cycle, are available from the Australian Music Centre. The book of solo songs published by Jazzem Music  (MMP 9100) is available from local music stores or via her website. For information on the album and to view the lyrics of the cycle please visit: www.navonarecords.com/catalog/nv6160

In addition to her many original compositions, Margaret has also published a large range of music education materials, which can all be viewed on her website. www.margaretbrandman.com

Follow Margaret on www.facebook.com/margaretbrandmanmusic  or www.twitter.com/margbrandmusic5

Composer, Pianist, Music Teacher. M.Mus (Composition), B.Mus (Piano), Dip. Education, Member of Melbourne Composers League since 2013.

Natalya Vagner, originally from Kazakhstan, moved to Melbourne in 1998.  She trained as a pianist, teacher and educator and completed her Masters in Composition at the University of Melbourne under Stuart Greenbaum and Julian Yu.

Am Member of the Melbourne Composers League, Natalya dedicates her time to writing music for small chamber ensembles, string orchestra, mandolin orchestra, as well as art songs and choral works.

Her works have been performed in Melbourne, Canberra, Manila (at the International Asian Composers League 33^rd conference in 2015), Hanoi (at the International Asian Composers League 34^th in 2016), in France (at the Music festival in the French Pyrenees in 2017) and in Russia (the International Music Festival in Kazan, in 2017).

She likes to explore and experiment with different textures in sound and is interested in the power between music and nature; music and mind; music and spirituality.

Natalya is also passionately committed to creating and offering musical opportunities to local communities. She leads several community music groups including children choir, adult choir and organisers annual local music festival in Port Melbourne.

‘Her compositions indicates the presence of influences ranging from Prokofiev and Debussy, Satie and Reich through Minimalist techniques to the sensibilities and chordings of the Jazz world.’ Natalya’s works capture a variety of ‘moods’ in a range of styles and has a clear and constant singularity of the individual style of her music.

Prof. Roger Hillman

Contact: : natvag (at) iinet.net.au and my phone 04 48764973

Compositions and Performances

2018 ‘Wallum’ for Melbourne Mandolin Orchestra, performed on 29^th July at The ‘Tivoli’ Club, Melbourne

2017 ‘Terra Solis Australis’, for two violins and a piano, commissioned and premiered at the French Pyrenees Festival, 29^th of July.

2017 ‘Terra Sollis Australis’ for piano, clarinet and violin, commissioned performed at the ‘Europe Asia’ music festival, in Tatarstan, Kazan, 24^th October.

2016 ‘The Ride to a crescent moon’ for piano, oboe, violin, flute and dan bau. Performed at the 34^th International Asian Composers Conference in Vietnam, Hanoi.

2015 ‘Breath’ for piano and Soprano, performed at 33^rd International Asian Composers Conference in Manila, Philippines.

*‘Dreams’ for Piano and Flute . Recorded at ‘Bass’ studio, South Melbourne, performed at various concerts.

*‘Shy’ –Art song, commissioned by Sian Prior, for piano and Soprano, based on her book.

2014  ‘Heart Chakra’ piano and synthesizer. Recorded at ‘Bass’ studio, South Melbourne.

2013 September ‘Two ways road’ for keyboard and mixed media, computer, commissioned by Rachel Rovay (the Artist) for her exhibition.

2013 ‘The Love Poem’ for Piano, Flute, Violin, Tenor and Soprano. Performed at Melbourne Composers League.

2012 ‘Gentle Love’ for Flute and Piano, performed at St Silas Church, Albert Park.

2010 ‘The Story of my dad’ for Piano, Trombone and Double Bass. Performed at Melbourne University.

2009 ‘Songs for a Changing Planet’, for small ensemble: Piano, Violin, Flute, Trombone, Accordion, Percussion, SATB. Based on Michael Leunig poetry, Melba Hall Melbourne University.

2006 ‘Turtle Dreaming’ for Viola, Flute and Harp, performed at Deakin Federation Square Melbourne.

2006 ‘Small Towns’ for SATB choir. Performed by Australian Catholic University Choir.

2005 Collection of art Songs for Piano and Soprano. Performed at the J.Wright Festival Canberra.

2002 ‘The Australian Symphony of Light’, ‘Swept Away’, ‘Ascending’, ‘Eucalyptus Rivers’, short works for piano and synthesizer, written in collaboration with N. Arnold.