BY SAMUEL COTTELL
Four emerging composers at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music have been selected for the first National Women Composers’ Development Program.
Through the two-year program, the students are undertaking workshops with leading Australian women in music such as Anne Boyd and Maria Grenfell, and will have their works performed by groups including the Goldner String Quartet, Sydney Philharmonia Choirs, and Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra.
Traditionally, it seems female composers are under-represented in composition. For instance, women only make up 26 per cent of the Australian Music Centre’s represented artists, and 44 per cent of the undergrad students at the Sydney Con. So to celebrate this new program for women in music, we interview the four composers involved.
About Clare Johnston, NWCDP participant: In 2015, Clare’s music was performed at the Australian Youth Orchestra National Music Camp. The same year, she received the David Henkels Award for Composition and her Gypsy Trio was presented at the 3MBS Performer of the Year Awards. She also attended the United States Walden School Creative Musicians Retreat and the Atlantic Music Festival. Her works have been played by Syzygy Ensemble, Wet Ink Ensemble, and the Icon Trio among others.
How did you first get into composing and how would you describe your own sound, style or compositional philosophy?
I’ve been composing since I was 11 years old and I started by writing short pieces at the piano. I then started writing songs and began instrumental composition as a project to orchestrate one of my pop songs. I compose because it is important to me to try and communicate my emotions and express myself in sound. It’s an internal need in me that must be fulfilled. For the most part, my musical language is closely connected to the Western classical tradition, especially in my treatment of tonality. However some of my music is modal or uses non-Western scales as the basis for melodic material. My music has a strong focus on melody and is often inspired by minimalist rhythms. I think of composing as putting together pieces of a puzzle. Even if I take a break from writing, I’m never fully happy without it and would probably explode if I couldn’t express myself musically!
Who are your top five all time favourite composers, and who is your biggest influence?
My all time favourite composers are Mozart, Schumann, Ravel, Copland and Nigel Westlake. Other composers whose music has a big influence on my own include: Arvo Pärt, Steve Reich, John Adams, Leonard Bernstein, David Lang and Morten Lauridsen. Film composers such as Thomas Newman, Elmer Bernstein, Danny Elfman and Rachel Portman definitely have an influence on my melodic writing. I also love listening to the music of my peers, the other young composers I’ve met in Australia and America.
What are some of the biggest challenges you face as a composer in Australia, and how do you approach these challenges?
I think the biggest challenge any composer faces is getting their works performed. Especially in the classical tradition, where performers have hundreds of years worth of repertoire to choose from, why would they choose to perform a new work? Just because it’s by one of their friends? How will they know it’s good music before they decide to commit to playing it? I think the best way to approach this challenge of getting works played is to make friends with musicians, build strong relationships with established composers and teachers at university, and give yourself the best opportunities possible by applying for camps and other composition programs. The most important thing you can do though is try to compose the best music you can.
You are one of four people enrolled in a post-graduate degree in composition specifically designed to give female composers further opportunities. Why do you think this is important?
I think it’s very important for female composers to be given further opportunities to have their works performed, as women only represent 26 per cent of composers in Australia. If more contemporary music by female composers is performed, this will lead to other young women being inspired to write music themselves and give rise to future roll models for later generations. I think sometimes female composers feel like they are given opportunities to meet a gender quota in programs normally accepting of only male composers. It’s important to lessen the gender divide in such a male-dominated area, and we can only do this by giving more female composers performance opportunities which will eventually lead to greater equality between men and women in the field of composition.
You are reaching the end of your first semester now. Can you give us a bit of information about this National Women Composers’ Development Program and the projects you’ve been working on?
This semester started with a work for solo cello for Georg Pedersen, which is being recorded next week. That was followed shortly after by a solo pitched percussion work for Claire Edwardes. It was wonderful having workshops with these performers and seeing their incredibly virtuosic capabilities on their instruments. The next piece for the Women Composers’ Program is our major work for semester one: a string quartet written for the Goldner String Quartet. It is such a privilege to work with all of these world-class Australian musicians. I have also been composing two works for separate commissions: a work for flute and string quartet for players from WASO and another for soprano, French horn and piano from a professional French horn player in the USA. So I’m having a very busy time composing and being creative, but loving every second of it!
Why do you feel there is an imbalance in regards to gender in composition, and how do you feel that a program, such as this, contributes to addressing this imbalance?
There is a desire now I think to improve gender equality within the compositional field. Although, I think it’s hard to represent female composers fairly because there is still a gender imbalance. I suspect it originates from a history in the Western classical tradition where, for hundreds of years, women were told they shouldn’t compose because it was unfeminine and women aren’t as creative, etc.. It’s strange that being a piano teacher was seen as acceptable for a woman, but not a composer! I have never regarded it as a disadvantage being in such a male-dominated field. I have always just been aware of it. Things are changing though for female composers and I think their music is being brought into the spotlight in recent times with more performances, radio broadcasts and now incredible programs such as the one I’m fortunate enough to be a part of. One of my favourite female composers, Julia Wolfe, just won the Pulitzer Prize for music, which demonstrates that women are being recognised more in the field of composition.
For more about the National Women Composers’ Development Program, visit the website here.
Image supplied. Credit: Mandy Campbell.
