It’s been a while since I’ve written a post on my website, because I’ve been busy composing! This year I was fortunate to be the Composer in Residence at the Canberra International Music Festival, a role that saw me creating three brand new works, with two older works receiving repeat performances. Being invited by Artistic Director Eugene Ughetti was a genuine honour and incredible opportunity to showcase the breadth of my work. The festival commissioned three new works: UnderOnBelow, Mappa and If Only We Could Listen. These three works represent different branches of my compositional practice, yet all stem from a desire to collaborate widely with artists and form deep connections in the process. I talk in more detail about the experience in the article released by the Australian Music Centre called ‘What I learnt whilst composing three new works for the Canberra international Music Festival’. You can read the article via the link below.
The three concerts my works featured in were:
Portrait Concert
Part of the MOSSO:Music in Motion festival takeover at the national Film and Sound Archive this concert featured a performance of the glorious film Circumstance by film maker Sue Healey. Performed live by Ensemble Contrechamps Geneva and the Australian String Quartet, conducted by Eugene Ughetti, it was a joy to hear the music brought to life by these incredible performers. My orchestral work Śūnyatā was played with the gorgeous film made by Sue Healey. Following that my new work, composed for Geneva based Joshua Hyde, UnderOnBelow was performed. Devised as an immersive performance, responsive visuals were created by the incredible Fausto Brusamolino, responding in real time to the live saxophone. This was such a special concert for me as being in the Arc Cinema and having the full surround sound audio system in full action was brilliant. Big shoutout to Tilman Robinson who did an amazing job on sound.
Mappa
Also performed in MOSSO, this work was a bold step into a crossover interdisciplinary work with improvisation at its core. Inviting the audience in to wander the and discover the space was a real treat. This work was devised during a Bundanon residency in early 2026 with dancer and choreographer Miranda Wheen. As our now 5th collaboration together we really wanted to explore the boundaries of what’s possible. Drawing inspiration from Elizabeth Wayland Barber’s book ‘Women’s Work the First 20 000 Years’ we sonified thread and fabric making in a quasi installation/performance piece that encouraged us all to slow down and take our time discovering the intricacies of fabric making. Wonderful performers Umki, Tom Fell and Ensemble Contrechamps, alongside Miranda Wheen made for a riveting performance that pushed boundaries on many levels.
Festival Finale
Newly commissioned by CiMF the festival finale featured If Only We Could Listen. A new work for two pianos and two percussionists. The central question framing this work is – what if we really took the time to stop and listen, to each other as well as the world around us? Brought to life by the incredible performers Kristian Chong, Timothy Young, Kaylie Melville and Eugene Ughetti, I took the opportunity to explore the use of space on stage and ideas of fixedness versus fluidity.
Soon to launch on my site will be more in depth representations of the works. If you’re interested to read more and see scores you can get there via the article link below on the Australian Music Centre website.
