Antarctica Suite (1991) is a composition for orchestra and solo guitar by Australian composer Nigel Westlake, which he adapted as a stand-alone work from his score for the IMAX documentary film Antarctica . [1] The suite was commissioned by ABC for their 60th birthday. It is divided into four movements:
The Antarctica Suite was originally recorded by the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra with Tim Kain on guitar. [2] The work was voted number 29 in the 2011 Classic 100 Twentieth Century (ABC), number 36 in the Classic 100 Swoon (ABC) in 2015, and 38 in Classic 100 Music For the Screen in 2022. [3]
Ollie Olsen is an Australian multi-instrumentalist, composer and sound designer. He has performed, recorded and produced rock, electronic and experimental music since the mid-1970s. His post punk groups included Whirlywirld (1978–80), Orchestra of Skin and Bone (1984–86) and No (1987–89). Olsen joined with Michael Hutchence to form a short-term band, Max Q, which issued an album in 1989. He co-founded the alternative electronic music record label Psy-Harmonics with Andrew Till in 1993. In 2014 he formed Taipan Tiger Girls.
Lior Attar, better known simply as Lior, is an independent Australian singer-songwriter based in Melbourne. He is best known for his 2005 debut studio album Autumn Flow and for the song "Hoot's Lullaby".
Matthew Ingvald Dewey is an Australian classical music composer, singer, and music producer.
Ross Edwards is an Australian composer of a wide variety of music including orchestral and chamber music, choral music, children's music, opera and film music. His distinctive sound world reflects his interest in deep ecology and his belief in the need to reconnect music with elemental forces, as well as restore its traditional association with ritual and dance. He also recognises the profound importance of music as an agent of healing. His music, universal in that it is concerned with age-old mysteries surrounding humanity, is at the same time connected to its roots in Australia, whose cultural diversity it celebrates, and from whose natural environment it draws inspiration, especially birdsong and the mysterious patterns and drones of insects. As a composer living and working on the Pacific Rim, he is aware of the exciting potential of this vast region.
Nigel Westlake is an Australian composer, musician and conductor. As a composer for the screen, his film credits include the feature films Ali's Wedding, Paper Planes, Miss Potter, Babe, Babe: Pig in the City, Children of the Revolution and The Nugget. He also composed the theme for SBS World News.
The APRA Music Awards in Australia are annual awards to celebrate excellence in contemporary music, which honour the skills of member composers, songwriters, and publishers who have achieved outstanding success in sales and airplay performance.
Colin James Brumby was an Australian composer and conductor.
Philip Bračanin is an Australian composer and musicologist.
Australian classical music has developed from early years in the Australian colonies, until today. Today, each state has an orchestra and there are many major venues where classical music is performed.
Allan Zavod was an Australian pianist, composer, jazz musician and occasional conductor whose career was mainly in America.
ABC Music is Australia's largest independent record label. It operates under the ABC Commercial division of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. It covers a wide range of music genres, including classical, children’s and adult contemporary music, blues, roots, rock, and Australian country music. Its imprints include ABC Classics and FOUR FOUR.
Genevieve Lacey is an Australian musician and recorder virtuoso, working as a performer, creator, curator and cultural leader. The practice of listening is central to her works, which are created collaboratively with artists from around the world. Lacey plays handmade recorders made by Joanne Saunders and Fred Morgan. In her collection, she also has instruments by David Coomber, Monika Musch, Michael Grinter, Paul Whinray and Herbert Paetzold.
ABC Classic 2 is an Australian classical music internet radio station available internationally online. It is operated by the ABC Classic team at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).
Kyls Burtland is a Canadian-born Australian composer working in film, television, advertising, sound installation and VR. Her TV credits include Bad Mothers (2019), Here Come the Habibs (2016), Whitlam: The Power and the Passion (2015), music for the Shanghai Pavilion interactive experience at World Expo 2010, music for the projections on the Sydney Opera House for Vivid Sydney (2013), and the song "Triumph of the One" for the 2006 Asian Games closing ceremony in Doha, sung by Aladdin (2007) star, Lea Salonga. In November 2019, she was awarded a full scholarship by composer and Song Hubs curator Ashley Irwin to attend APRA's Screen Song Hubs in LA and co-write songs for screen with artists including Megan Washington, John Dafario, Shelley Peikin and Daniel Denholm.
Raymond Charles Argall is best known as a cinematographer and director for both film and television. He has also worked as an editor. His multi-award-winning feature film Return Home (1990) is regarded by many critics as an Australian cinema classic. Argall served on the board of the Australian Directors Guild (ADG) for sixteen years, holding the position of president from 2006 to 2015 and secretary from 2015 to 2017. In 2016, Argall launched a business restoring archival films through his production company Piccolo Films. In 2018 the ADG presented him with its prestigious Cecil Holmes Award.
Katy Abbott is an Australian composer. Abbott writes music for orchestra, chamber ensemble and voice. Her work reflects her interests in contemporary Australian cultures and often explores notions of home, place, humour and connection.
Antarctica is a 1991 IMAX film documenting the continent of Antarctica. The film has a 38-minute runtime, and consists of aerial footage of the topography and fauna of the continent. It was narrated by Alex Scott and has music by Australian composer Nigel Westlake, who later adapted his score into a popular concert suite of the same name for guitar and orchestra.
Compassion is a live album recorded at the Sydney Opera House in September 2013 by Nigel Westlake, Lior and Sydney Symphony Orchestra. Compassion is an orchestral song cycle for voice and orchestra consisting of original melodies and orchestration set to ancient texts in Hebrew and Arabic, all centred around the wisdom of compassion. The album was released in November 2013.
Sally Greenaway is a composer and pianist based in Canberra, Australia.
Brenda Gifford is a Yuin classical composer, saxophonist and pianist. She was a member of the Australian rock band Mixed Relations and is an archivist in the Indigenous Collection Branch of the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia (NFSA).