Sydney Australia 5 December 2018: Bundanon Trust announced today that six Australian composers have been awarded the Prelude residencies at four historic houses during 2019. Prelude is a national network of long-term residencies for Australian composers, housed in historic buildings and providing time and space for the creation of new work. In 2019 the six composers in-residence will be Sarah Blasko, Tim Dargaville, William Gardiner, Chris McNulty, Thomas Meadowcroft and Ngaiire. The historic houses are located in Perth WA, Adelaide SA, Sydney’s Paddington and the NSW Southern Highlands.
Prelude is based on the sentiment expressed by Peggy Glanville-Hicks in 1958 that, “It is apparent that leisure and silence are absolute prerequisites for composers if they are to engage fully the many forms of awareness involved in creative activity.” Prelude is in its third year and is managed by Bundanon Trust, which runs the largest artist-in-residence program in the country from its home on the NSW south coast.
In 2019 the programme builds on the established residencies at Peggy Glanville-Hicks House in Sydney, Gallop House in Perth and Beaumont Cottage in Adelaide, by expanding to include Golden Vale Homestead in Sutton Forest NSW. The successful applicants are provided with sole occupancy of the houses as well as a stipend to cover living costs and travel. Prelude is open to Australian composers in all musical genres and practices, including world music, jazz, new classical/art music, pop, film and rock. Residencies can be for research and development or for the creation of new work.
The four houses and six composers taking residence in 2019 are:
Gallop House, Dalkeith WA. A two-storey Victorian-style home built in 1877, nestled on the Swan River in Perth.
- Sarah Blasko is an acclaimed singer, songwriter and musician and three-time ARIA Award winner. She has released six studio albums and three EPs under her own name as well as one album as part of Seeker Lover Keeper and countless projects outside of the realms of contemporary popular music including compositions for Bell Shakespeare and the Sydney Dance Company. Blasko continues to expand her music work in the realms of film, theatre and dance.
- Chris McNulty is a vocal jazz musician, composer, educator and author with a career spanning over four decades, based in New York City and Melbourne. Her recordings, performances and compositions have received widespread international acclaim, and she has maintained a consistent presence on the international touring scene, performing regularly at major festivals and jazz venues in the USA, Russia, the UK, the Middle East, Europe and Australia.
Peggy Glanville-Hicks House, Paddington NSW. A beautifully restored terrace house in the heart of Sydney.
- Ngaiire (pronounced ny-ree), is a Papua New Guinea-born, Sydney-based R&B and future soul singer-songwriter. A multi-award winning recording artist, Ngaiire has composed for dance company Marrugeku, and career highlights include performing at Glastonbury festival and at the opening ceremony for the 2015 Pacific Games. Her debut solo album, Lamentations, was released in 2013. Her second album, Blastoma, came out in 2016 and peaked in the ARIA Albums Chart top 50.
Beaumont Cottage, Beaumont SA. A charming caretaker’s cottage surrounded by picturesque heritage gardens, adjacent to the historical Beaumont House in Beaumont, eight kilometres from Adelaide’s CBD.
- William Gardiner is an Australian composer of music for acoustic and electronic instruments. A graduate of the Yale School of Music, he has been commissioned by the composer John Adams and his partner Deborah O’Grady to compose for the Berkley Symphony, and is co-creating a video opera with DRELLER. Gardiner’s output includes works for symphony orchestra, chamber music, and early music ensembles, but also frequently involves electronic media and amplified instruments, drawing on his ongoing activity in electronic production and influences ranging from the French baroque to contemporary electronic music.
Golden Vale Homestead, Sutton Forest NSW. A grand sandstone house, gifted to the National Trust (NSW), located in the Southern Highlands of NSW near Moss Vale, set amid English style gardens.
- Thomas Meadowcroft is an established composer of significant standing both in Australia and internationally. Based in Berlin since 1998, he has forged a successful international composition career with commissions in Europe, USA and Australia. Thomas’s music examines aspects of cultural memory in contemporary society as well as the social and political economies of music in its realisation. His orchestral work has been translated successfully onto the avant-garde European theatre, and, as performer, he has been an active organist and electronic musician and appeared at festivals and venues in Europe, USA and Australia.
- Tim Dargaville’s creative work has been recognised as a distinctive synthesis drawing from diverse traditions, grounded in intercultural exploration that engages with the poetry of the ordinary. His music has received prestigious awards, including the Albert Maggs Award and the Jean Bogan Prize, and has been acclaimed both internationally and in Australia with performances at major events including the Warsaw Autumn Festival (Poland), the Melbourne Festival, the Sydney Festival, the East-West Music and Dance Encounter (India), the Wigmore Hall Masters Series (London, UK), and the Rotterdam Bach Festival (the Netherlands). Prelude is a unique collaboration between Bundanon Trust, Peggy Glanville-Hicks Composers Trust, The National Trust of Western Australia, the National Trust of South Australia, The National Trust (NSW), The National Trusts of Australia, APRA AMCOS, the Helpmann Academy, Arts SA and the Australian Government through the Australia Council for the Arts.
