Music

Ahead of Yamandu Costa’s performance at the Melbourne Conservatorium in early August, guitarist and Faculty of Fine Arts and Music alumna Rose de La Montaña speaks to the Brazilian superstar....

After completing a three-year diploma in music composition at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts in Singapore, Ng Sze Min moved to Melbourne to study Interactive Composition. She discusses daily life at the Conservatorium, personal highlights from her studies, and her hopes for the future....

Ahead of the First Commissions exhibition in Melbourne on 27 and 28 July, multidisciplinary artist – and Vice-Chancellors Professorial Fellow of the University of Melbourne – Sally Smart tells Mireille Stahle about the “commission” that launched her career, and how Australian artists are turning their gaze to the rest of the world. The one thing that's critical for a young artist …

Open House Melbourne visitors can be among the first to see the Faculty of Fine Arts and Music's new world-class spaces at Southbank on 27 and 28 July, as part of a broader Open House Melbourne program at the University of Melbourne....

Elijah Wald is a musician, writer and historian who has been playing guitar for more than 50 years. Ahead of his keynote address at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music’s academic conference The Guitar Century (c. 1880-1980): Global Trends and Local Contexts – part of the Guitar Perspectives Winter Celebration (2–4 August 2019) – he talks to Head of Guitar Dr Ken Murray....

The International Symposium on Performance Science (ISPS) is a biennial meeting of performers and scientists that provides a platform to discuss all facets of performance and the skills that underpin it. Ahead of his keynote address at this year’s symposium in Melbourne, Michigan State University Professor Zach Hambrick argues for a move beyond "born or made" in musical ability.  By Zach …

His talents and virtuosity are recognised and celebrated worldwide. Ahead of Brazilian guitarist Yamandu Costa's performance at the Melbourne Conservatorium next month, Head of Guitar Dr Ken Murray takes us on a whistle-stop tour of Costa's work. ...

Bill Henson is one of Australia's best-known contemporary photographers – but it was not always thus. As the First Commissions art project launches ahead of an exhibition in Melbourne on 27 and 28 July, he tells Mireille Stahle about his early years as an artist. ...

A major Australian arts project presented by the University of Melbourne has been launched at the feet of Michelangelo’s David, the world’s most famous statement on physical perfection, ahead of exhibitions in Florence and Melbourne this month....

The International Symposium on Performance Science (ISPS) is a biennial meeting of performers and scientists that provides a platform to discuss all facets of performance and the skills that underpin it. Ahead of this year's symposium – convened by Melbourne Conservatorium Director Professor Gary McPherson, the Conservatorium's Dr Solange Glasser and the Royal College of London's Professor Aaron Williamon – …

Acclaimed Yorta Yorta soprano, composer and Artistic Director of Short Black Opera, Deborah Cheetham AO, has been awarded the 2019 Sir Bernard Heinze Memorial Award....

More than 250 student and staff musicians helped bring The Ian Potter Southbank Centre to life for the official launch on 1 June 2019, with a program featuring orchestral works, world-premieres and specially-commissioned pieces....

Students and staff at the University of Melbourne will have unparalleled access to education and research opportunities with a $1 million partnership with the Australian Chamber Orchestra (ACO)....

The percussionist, composer, conductor and artistic director of Speak Percussion is known for tackling complex and ambitious art music projects. Here, he discusses his time at the Victorian College of the Arts. ...

UNESCO's 2019 International Jazz Day will be presented this month in partnership with the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music. Head of Jazz and Improvisation Associate Professor Rob Vincs explains more. ...

Composer, performer and academic Dr Anthony Lyons has created an incredibly diverse range of music in his career, from orchestral works to EDM to multimedia installations. But how does this all tie together? Hi Anthony, how would you sum up Interactive Composition to someone who's never heard of it? If I had to sum it up in three words, I’d say it’s …

More than 1,000 students and staff have moved into the new state-of-the-art Ian Potter Southbank Centre, home to the new Melbourne Conservatorium of Music....

Professor Kenny McAlpine is the New Melbourne Enterprise Fellow in Interactive Composition at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music. He talks to us about the creativity born of constraint, and what attracted him to working at the University of Melbourne....

Percussionist Hannes Lackmann was performing regularly on the Melbourne music scene after graduating – so what inspired this Jazz & Improvisation graduate to pursue teaching?...

It defies easy definition, but those who have had anything to do with Interactive Composition at The Faculty of Fine Arts and Music know its value. It's a course for innovators, creators, collaborators and ground-breakers. When Interactive Composition graduates leave the University, they go into the world and make their mark....

"Heaven has been corporatised, and no-one hates his job more than Michael ..." Winging It is a seven-part web series developed as part of a Faculty of Fine Arts and Music interdisciplinary collaboration. Meet two of its writers, and watch the first episode, below.  By Thuy On The Faculty of Fine Arts and Music's inaugural Web Series, an ongoing annual project that …

The Faculty of Fine Arts and Music, percentage-wise, has the highest number of Indigenous students of any faculty at any university in Victoria, and now there are plans to rename campus paths and walkways with local Indigenous place names. Acting Head of the Wilin Centre for Indigenous Arts and Cultural Development, Tiriki Onus, tells us more. ...

Composer Natalie Williams has been awarded the 2018 Albert H Maggs Composition Award for her string octet Saudade....

As part of our ongoing Staff Stories, Dr Erin Helyard discusses conducting, his favourite writers and the trait he most deplores in others.  What can you tell us about what you’re holding in the photo above? That’s the tuning hammer I use to tune the instrument I play the most: the harpsichord. It has been my constant companion for 20 years. It …

The role of artistic researchers is not to describe their work – it's something else entirely....

French horn player Chloe Uhrmacher is in the final year of a Bachelor of Science at the University of Melbourne with a concurrent Diploma in Music at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music. So, how can she combine those twin passions? I grew up in the United States, but when I was in Year 10 I came to Melbourne to visit family. …

Over five evenings in November, Interactive Composition students from the University of Melbourne took over Grant Street Theatre with collaborative sound and media works which incorporating sound with film, animation, dance, theatre, installation, visual art, production, songwriting and performance. Here are some highlights from Folio Live 2018 by photographer Sav Schulman....

Victoria's Minister for Creative Industries Martin Foley was welcomed to The Ian Potter Southbank Centre today, with a performance by Conservatorium brass students Hannah Rundell, Natalia Edwards and Kiran Samuel. The University of Melbourne’s Ian Potter Southbank Centre today opened for a sneak peek by Victoria’s Creative Industries Minister Martin Foley. The new $109 million building will be home to the Melbourne …

Between 23 September and 29 September 2018, the University of Melbourne Symphony Orchestra performed in Singapore and Shanghai, the first time it had ever travelled overseas. This is the story of that tour....

We hear a lot about social practice in the arts, but what actually is it? We asked course coordinator of the University of Melbourne's new Bachelor of Fine Arts (Honours) in Social Practice and Community Engagement Dr Danny Butt....

The reimagining of Melbourne's Southbank is a source of disruption, possibility and hope for the people and organisations of the Arts Precinct. ...

Berlin was always part of the plan for Tillman Jex – and he knows how to make it work for him....

More than 100 young musicians will embark on their first international tour when the University of Melbourne Symphony Orchestra travels to Singapore and Shanghai later this month. Among the works being performed is the world-premiere of Tide by composer and arranger Alice Humphries ... although she won't be there to see it. ...

Prominent jazz pianist and teacher Judy Bailey has been awarded the 2018 Sir Bernard Heinze Memorial Award....

The University of Melbourne's Music Therapy team has a strong connection with the German city of Würzburg  – and it's only going to get stronger....

Third-year PhD candidate at the Melbourne Conservatorium Annaliese Gill would like to create a resource to help music students and their teachers develop complementary psychological performance skills. ...

In this video, as part of our ongoing How To series, VCA Production Lecturer in Design Anna Cordingley demonstrates how to digitally render a costume design. Find out more about Production at the Victorian College of the Arts. See also: How to make an acid dance track with the Roland TB-303. How to create backing tracks with the Boss RC-30 Loop Station. …

Philanthropists come in all shapes and sizes, but for Martyn Myer there's only one approach: roll up your sleeves and don't take no for an answer. ...

The 2018 Mimir Chamber Music Festival will be held at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music in August and September. Founded by the Conservatorium’s Dr Curt Thompson, the Festival brings outstanding international chamber musicians to Australian audiences, and world-class mentoring to students across Victoria....

Ahead of his visit to the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music next week, world-renowned and acclaimed composer Stephen Goss speaks to Ken Murray about his compositional process, his influences, and what it's like to hear your music performed by an orchestra....

After working in hospitality, retail, and as an electrician, Andrew Bucknall finally heeded his calling to help others through music. Now a second-year Master of Music Therapy student at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music, he gives some insight into the course and into the growing world of music therapy....

Victorian Opera's latest production is set to be bigger than Ben Hur. Ahead of opening night on 14 July, we caught up with former Melbourne Conservatorium of Music student and William Tell cast member Jeremy Kleeman to find out more....

Dr John Carpente is a world expert in music therapy for children on the autism spectrum. In advance of his 9 July seminar on Musical Play to Support Children on the Autism Spectrum to Express their Identity, he answers a few questions about his work....

World-renowned Lieder accompanist Dr Graham Johnson OBE explains the origins and delves into the poetic beauty of this enduring musical form....

She's won multiple ARIA and Australian Jazz "Bell" Awards, written and recorded dozens of albums, and is a strong voice for women in jazz – so what would pianist and composer Andrea Keller have done if she hadn't studied music? ...

Dr Amanda Krause is a postdoctoral research fellow in the ARC Centre of Excellence for the History of Emotions and Melbourne Conservatorium of Music. Here, she explains her new research into radio listening habits of older listeners, and how you can get involved.  Hi Amanda, can you tell us about your current research project – what's involved and how did it …

For the latest in our How To video series at the Faculty of Fine Arts and Music, Dr Margaret Osborne, Lecturer in Music (Performance Science) and Psychology, Melbourne Conservatorium of Music and Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, gives practical tips for overcoming nerves and performing at your very best. Know someone who would benefit from this? Pass it on!...

Associate Professor Richard Frankland is Head of the Wilin Centre for Indigenous Arts and Cultural Development at the University of Melbourne. He's also a key figure in ongoing talks with the Victorian Government to establish a treaty or treaties to acknowledge the unique position of Aboriginal Australians, and a participant in the Victorian Government's recently-launched Deadly Questions initiative.  ...

Having moved from the northern hemisphere to join the Melbourne Conservatorium as Senior Lecturer in Music (Online Learning and Educational Technologies), and having just published a book on online music pedagogy, Dr Carol Johnson is making sure the way we teach music keeps up with the ever-multiplying possibilities of modern technology. ...

It's the 17th-century witch-hunt story everybody knows, but what relevance does Arthur Miller's play The Crucible have today? Acclaimed theatre director Adena Jacobs explains how she's given the story a new setting in an upcoming production by the Victorian College of the Arts' Production and Acting Company 2018....