So it has been a ridiculously long time since I posted here, and much has changed since my last blog. Firstly, I departed my northern city of Brisbane back in October 2015 and now reside in the changeable but beautiful Melbourne, Victoria. It has been an incredible 7 years in Brisbane. I will miss the endless sunshine, the never-far beautiful beaches, my time at the Queensland Conservatorium, friends and family, the small town feel especially of the quaint suburbs (Paddington, Bulimba etc), and that unique Brisbane look – a harsh contrast of brutal modernist architecture next to fresh new skyscrapers, sitting alongside the meandering Brisbane River, straddled by charming stilted queenslander homes.
So trading the subtropical outdoor lifestyle of Brisbane, I now reside in St Kilda East, Melbourne, only 2 minutes from a tram and a bike ride away from Balaclava. For the next 2 years I will be studying at the University of Melbourne, undertaking my Masters in composition at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music, studying with Elliott Gyger. Last year I frequently travelled between Melbourne and Brisbane, getting a taste for the southern metropolis, learning privately with composer extraordinaire Liza Lim, and preparing for further study.
This year will see a number of performances of my new and older works, across both cities. The incredible Kurilpa String Quartet (Graeme Jennings, Yoko Okayasu, Brendan Joyce & Katherine Philp) will be performing my first work for string quartet as part of the commission prize I won graduating from my Bachelor. Kupka’s Piano (Brisbane’s new music specialists) will also perform a new commission of mine in April, and Melbourne’s Halfsound (Saxophone duo) will be touring a new work of mine across south-east Asia. As part of my Masters here I will be writing an orchestral piece which the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra shall workshop, and a large set of piano works for my partner in crime Sine Winther! And I’m sure many more to come…
Additionally a number of new recordings can be found under the tab Music, including Atmosphoria for orchestra, a trio for bass, mezzo & piano, and Yegâh for solo violin. The latter two delving into the world of Turkish music, an area I am increasingly fascinated by, opening up a world of new structural, developmental, and pitch possibilities.
I shall endeavour to blog more often and delve into my personal approach to composition throughout the year…
Jakob Bragg 