Phillip Houghton (26 April 1954 – 30 September 2017) was an Australian classical guitarist and composer. Born in Melbourne, he began studying music at the age of 20 at Melba Conservatorium of Music. After a year, he then began studying privately with well-known classical pianist and guitarist Sebastian Jorgenson at the Montsalvat Artists Colony in Eltham, Victoria. [1]
Although Houghton had little compositional training, his music has achieved critical acclaim. In particular, his piece Stélé was recorded by John Williams in his 1998 album The Guitarist. [2] Karin Schaupp made the first complete recording. Houghton composed music for film and Television, including the motion picture "The Custodian" (John Dingwall) and the animation series Plasmo (Tony Lawrence). He wrote a large number of unpublished sketches for electronic media and produced a record of his own experimental improvisations on electric guitar and piano frame, distributed privately.
Houghton lived for many years in Sydney, teaching from his home in Petersham and then Summer Hill. He was highly regarded as a teacher, with a profound understanding of guitar technique and musical interpretation. He died, unexpectedly, within months of his returning to live in Melbourne in 2017. A posthumous personal reflection on Houghton has been written by Aleksandr Tsiboulski. [3] A fortnight after his death, Michael MacManus played at the Monsalvat Artists Colony a selection of Houghton's works studied with the composer since his return to Melbourne in a fitting and poignant tribute to Houghton's life and music. [4]
Saffire or Saffire: The Australian Guitar Quartet were an Australian classical music group, which formed in 2002. It consisted of four guitarists Anthony Field, Slava Grigoryan, Gareth Koch and Karin Schaupp. Leonard Grigoryan, Slava's younger brother, replaced Field in 2005. The members also worked as solo performers and in other ensembles. Their debut album, Saffire: The Australian Guitar Quartet, was released in June 2003, which peaked at No. 46 on the ARIA Albums Chart and No. 1 on the related ARIA Classical Chart. At the ARIA Music Awards of 2003 it won the Best Classical Album category. They released two more albums, Nostálgica and Renaissance before disbanding in 2007.
Bruce Clarke OAM was an Australian jazz guitarist, composer, and educator.
Oliver Fartach-Naini is a German guitarist living in Australia where he teaches at the Elder Conservatorium of Music, University of Adelaide. He is regularly involved in organising festivals and performing classical guitar for the public.
The Arts in Australia refers to the visual arts, literature, performing arts and music in the area of, on the subject of, or by the people of the Commonwealth of Australia and its preceding Indigenous and colonial societies. Indigenous Australian art, music and story telling attaches to a 40–60,000-year heritage and continues to affect the broader arts and culture of Australia. During its early western history, Australia was a collection of British colonies, therefore, its literary, visual and theatrical traditions began with strong links to the broader traditions of English and Irish literature, British art and English and Celtic music. However, the works of Australian artists – including Indigenous as well as Anglo-Celtic and multicultural migrant Australians – has, since 1788, introduced the character of a new continent to the global arts scene – exploring such themes as Aboriginality, Australian landscape, migrant and national identity, distance from other Western nations and proximity to Asia, the complexities of urban living and the "beauty and the terror" of life in the Australian bush.
Theatre of Australia refers to the history of the performing arts in Australia, or produced by Australians. There are theatrical and dramatic aspects to a number of Indigenous Australian ceremonies such as the corroboree. During its colonial period, Australian theatrical arts were generally linked to the broader traditions of English literature and to British and Irish theatre. Australian literature and theatrical artists have over the last two centuries introduced the culture of Australia and the character of a new continent to the world stage.
The Australian Music Centre (AMC) is a national organisation promoting and supporting art music in Australia. It provides advocacy, representation, and publishing services as well as career support and professional development programmes. Initially focussed on contemporary classical music, its purview has expanded to experimental music, sound art, contemporary jazz, and improvisatory music. In 1990 it briefly changed its name to Sounds Australian.
Brenton Thomas Broadstock is an Australian composer. He was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia on Australia Day in 2014 for "significant service to music as a composer, educator and mentor."
Philip Bračanin is an Australian composer and musicologist.
Zane Banks is an Australian guitarist from Sydney, who plays both classical and electric guitars in a variety of musical genres. Banks premiered the 1-hour long solo electric guitar work, Ingwe, by composer Georges Lentz.
Jonathan David Little FCLM, FISM, FRSA is a contemporary classical composer, arts educator and author on cultural history based in the UK and Australia. In 2008 his first CD was voted one of the top recordings of the year by US Fanfare magazine. He was subsequently featured in a news article in Musical Opinion in early 2009. As a composer, he first came to prominence in America in 2006 when The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) ran an article on him having five of his works accepted for recording (2004–07) by the US-headquartered French contemporary music label ERM, aimed at showcasing international contemporary composers. He was awarded the Collard Fellowship of the Worshipful Company of Musicians in 2011, and in 2012 was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. He was appointed inaugural Professor of Composition and Music History at the University of Chichester in 2017, and Emeritus Professor from 2019.
Blackchords are an alternative rock band from Melbourne, Australia, consisting of Nick Milwright, Damian Cazaly, Sarah Galdes (drums) and Tristan Courtney (bass).
Ben Opie is a classically trained oboist and artistic director from Victoria, Australia.
Richard Sydney DivallAO OBE was an Australian conductor and musicologist.
The earliest western musical influences in Australia can be traced to two distinct sources: in the first settlements, the large body of convicts, soldiers and sailors who brought the traditional folk music of England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland; and the first free settlers, some of whom had been exposed to the European classical music tradition in their upbringing. An example of original music by a convict would be an 1861 tune dedicated to settler James Gordon by fiddler constable Alexander Laing. Very little music has survived from this early period, although there are samples of music originating from Sydney and Hobart that date back to the early 19th century. Musical publications from this period preserved in Australian libraries include works by Charles Edward Horsley, William Stanley, Isaac Nathan, Charles Sandys Packer, Frederick Augustus Packer, Carl Linger, Francis Hartwell Henslowe, Frederick Ellard, Raimund Pechotsch and Julius Siede.
Lyle Chan is an Australian composer known for his unique approach of writing cumulative works with only one work per genre.
Peter Knight is an Australian musician and composer. He is the artistic director of the Australian Art Orchestra and founding member of Melbourne group Way Out West., 5+2 Brass Ensemble and Clocked Out.
The Australian Art Orchestra (AAO) is one of Australia's leading contemporary ensembles. Founded by pianist Paul Grabowsky in 1994, it has been led by composer/trumpeter/sound artist Peter Knight since 2013. The Orchestra explores relationships between musical disciplines and cultures, imagining new musical concepts that reference how 21st century Australia responds to its cultural and musical history.
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.
Sally Greenaway is a composer and pianist based in Canberra, Australia.
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