Program Areas
Music Commissions
Established in 1999, The Ian Potter Music Commissions are Australia’s premier music composition awards. Presented biennially, the Commissions are conducted by The Ian Potter Cultural Trust and judged by some of Australia’s most respected music artists, conductors and composers. The Music Commissions were established in 1999, to help put the spotlight on composition of new Australian music, an area that had been overlooked for some time yet should play a central role in our cultural and artistic landscape.
Initially the Commissions provided smaller grants to multiple recipients but following a review by the Judging Panel in 2003, the Trustees agreed to focus on two categories of composers. As explained by Mr Jonathon Mills, a judge on that Panel, “Too often in this country we give a little bit to everyone rather than have the courage to give a great deal to one person and back the individual’s vision. So rather than disbursing monies for a range of projects that, while worthy, will happen anyway, we have decided to encourage real ambitions and real scope: to select two fine artists with outstanding ideas and back them to allow these ideas to come to fruition.”
Since 2005, the Music Commissions have been granted as two Fellowships: one for an Emerging Composer and one for an Established Composer.
The Commissions aim to reward creative excellence, vision and ideas with the opportunity and scope to realise these in the development, creation and performance of new works. Moreover, the Trust’s intent is to recognise and invest in Australia’s most talented composers and provide them with the liberty to explore new possibilities in their work.
The Commissions are unique in Australia and represent the most substantial awards in this sector. The Ian Potter Cultural Trust is proud of the contribution the Commissions have made to the cultural life of Australia through the professional development of some of the country’s most talented composers and the production of several highly successful works over the past 10 years.
Over the past decade, the Music Commissions has supported the career development of such well-regarded composers and musicians as Martin Friedel, Kate Neal, Tim Dargaville, Matthew Hindson, Barry Conynham, Ross Edwards, Elena Kats-Chernin, Damian Barbeler, Liza Lim and Richard Mills, to name a few.
In keeping with the Trust’s remit to support all sectors of the Arts, 2009 will be the final year of the Music Commissions completing a decade of support for the composition of new Australian music.
Expressions of Interest for 2009
are now closed
AWARDS
to be announced
1 October 2009
Established Composer
Dr Liza Lim
Established Composer Fellowship 2007
$80,000
‘I am honoured to have received an Ian Potter Established Composer Fellowship. The Fellowships are highly regarded in the Australian musical world for their value and prestige. The Fellowship allows me to pursue large-scale projects over a period of time working closely with excellent musicians. It enables me to travel and engage in research on aspects of Indigenous culture in the Kimberley area.'
Liza Lim's music often explores forms of ritual and performance aesthetics drawn from both Asian and Australian Aboriginal sources. Her works, which range from operatic and orchestral scores to site-specific installations, have been performed by some of the world's most eminent ensembles. Recent major commissions have been received from the Festival d'Autumne Paris 2005, Salzburg Festival 2005, Sydney Symphony Composer-in-residence 2005-06, Bavarian Radio Orchestra in Munich 2007 and Lucerne Festival 2007.
The Ian Potter Music Commissions 2007 Fellowship is enabling Liza to explore different aspects of Australian Indigenous culture. This is an area of interest for Liza that has steadily been growing in the last few years.
Liza's portfolio of work for the Fellowship includes:
- Ochred String
(oboe, viola, cello, double bass) - Pearl, Ochre, Hairstring
(large-scale work for orchestra) - The Four Seasons (After Cy Twombly)
(piano)
Inspired by the work of Aboriginal artists in the Kimberley area of Northern Australia, Ochred String was completed in January 2008. The premiere performance took place in February 2008 in Munich.
A second performance by ELISION, conducted by Simon Hewett, was presented as part of the Maerzmusik Berliner Festspiele at the Jewish Museum in Berlin.ELISION also recorded this for broadcast on ABC Classic FM. The Ochred String is also the subject of a short documentary produced by Festival d'Autumne to be released later this year.
Liza traveled to the Kimberley region in Western Australia in August 2008 to undertake research for Pearl, Ochre, Hairstring meeting with aboriginal artists and custodians. This work be performed by the Bavarian Radio Orchestra and premiere in July 2010 in Munich and has also been scheduled for performance by the West Australian Symphony.
The Four Seasons (After Cy Twombly) was inspired by the massive four-paneled works of Cy Twombly on display at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. This work was recently completed and is published by Ricordi London. The premiere by Pianist Marilyn Nonken took place on February 10 at Musica Nova in Helsinki. Further performances are scheduled in North America throughout 2009. Ms Nonken also plans to record the work for CD.
Liza will be travelling to New York to work further on the piece with Marilyn Nonken and conduct a number of masterclasses.
Emerging Composer
Anthony Pateras
Emerging Composer Fellowship 2007
$20,000
‘Receiving the Emerging Composer Fellowship has given me more time to do my thing without worrying as much about day-to-day stress involving money ... I have [approached] the four works to make them as exploratory as possible, attempting to search for new sounds and new means of organising it to the best of my ability.'
Anthony Pateras is a musician and composer based in Melbourne. He is a specialist in prepared piano, and works extensively in film and live electronics. His composed works have been performed by the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Percussion Group The Hague, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Vanessa Tomlinson, Flux String Quartet and Slave Pianos. He has collaborated with distinguished conductors such as James McMillan, Brett Dean and Markus Stenz, and released his second portrait disc on John Zorn's Tzadik label in 2008.
The works Anthony proposed as part of his Fellowship are:
- Mutant Theatre Act III (solo percussion)
- 1913 (vocal sextet and electronics)
- Refractions (percussion sextet and electronics)
- Lines (large ensemble)
Now halfway through his Fellowship, Anthony has progressed one of these works to completion and the others continue to develop and evolve.
Following from Mutant Theatre Acts I and II, Mutant Theatre Act III is now complete furthering Anthony's exploration of the solo percussion medium.
It incorporates a vast array of traditional and non-traditional percussion, as well as specifically constructed devices for the piece. This will be premiered at the Canberra Music Festival in May 2009 performed by Vanessa Tomlinson.
Original plans for the piece 1913 have had to be altered and instead Anthony is working on a 15 - 20 minute radiophonic work to be premiered on ABC Classic FM later this year.
Refractions will expand on Anthony's work in his earlier percussion works, but move the sextet into a surround sound configuration, placing each member of the sextet around the audience. The piece is well progressed and due for completion in April this year.
The proposed Lines work will pay homage to the late works of Morton Feldman such as For Samuel Beckett and Coptic Light. This will be performed by Ensemble Integrales.
Anthony has also taken up a full-time position as a Lecturer in Composition at the West Australian Academy for Performing Arts.