Earlier in September I had the honour of being accepted into the Symphony Australia TSO Composers’ School. Below is an excerpt from a CutCommon article in which myself and the 3 other composers (Chris Williams, Stephen de Filippo & Timothy Tate) reflect on our experiences:
” Symphony Australia’s Composers’ School has been a programme I’ve had my eye on ever since my undergrad. With an intense 5 days working alongside the TSO (when does a composer ever get access to a symphony orchestra for this length of time!), the ‘school’ taught me to refine my orchestral writing: from notational issues, to harnessing the most from each performer and instrument. Alongside the combined expertise and experience of James Ledger, Richard Mills, Hamish McKeich and the staff at TSO, I also learn just as much from my fellow composer participants, more often than not over a few drinks. The school culminated in the performance of my work Atmosphoria (a sort of textural tone poem depicting a Brisbane summer downpour), reworked for the TSO forces, and an orchestration task (we were each given) of Bach’s Prelude and Fugue no. 9, Book 2. No Hobart trip was complete without a visit to MONA, which I squeezed in before flying out, and equally compositionally insightful; a vast cavern of confronting artistic ideas and practices. ”
Currently I’ve just completed a new work entitled Ochrelîla for a reading and recording session with the MSO (as part of my Masters at the Melbourne Conservatorium), and yesterday heard Kurilpa String Quartet rehearse my work Unravelling Graphite for it’s premiere this Friday (21st, October). Promise a proper blog post is coming soon in which I’ll talk more about these 2 pieces!!!
Jakob Bragg 