19 December 2013

Australia Council music fellowships announced

Four outstanding Australian musicians and composers have received this years prestigious Music Fellowships from the Australia Council for the Arts.
Australia Council Director Music Paul Mason said the music fellowships were an important way to recognise outstanding, established artists and provided an opportunity for them to create work for up to two years. Successful fellows will have demonstrated significant achievement nationally or internationally and have created a body of highly regarded work, Mr Mason said. This years fellows are a diverse and accomplished line up of performers, composers and producers who cover musical theatre, classical, contemporary popular and contemporary art music. This years Australia Council Music Fellowship recipients are: Guitarist Karin Schaupp (Qld). Percussionist and artistic director Claire Edwardes (NSW). Producer, performer and composer Paul Mac (NSW). Singer, lyricist and composer Matthew Robinson (Vic). Karin Schaupp is an accomplished classical guitarist who has performed in Australia, Europe, Asia, the US, Mexico and Canada as a recitalist and concerto soloist. She has released six highly acclaimed solo CDs as well an album with Australian singer Katie Noonan. During her fellowship, she will work on a number of collaborative projects with highly regarded artists, including oud player Joseph Tawadros, recorder player Genevieve Lacey and again with Noonan. Claire Edwardes has been a driving force in percussion performance, both in Australia and internationally. She will use her fellowship to stage the premiere of a new children's show she has created based on two stories by Rudyard Kipling, with music written in collaboration with Sydney composer Drew Crawford. She will also travel to Berlin to work with composers Juan Felipe Waller and Simon Steen-Andersen on new works written especially for her. Paul Mac has a long and impressive track record, which includes writing scores for film, television and the theatre and his work with electronic music. He plans to undertake an ambitious work schedule during his fellowship, which includes producing works for Stereogamous and Ngaiire and collaborating with Daniel Johns from Silverchair. He will also write and produce a solo album and tour it in Berlin, score a film featuring the Bangarra Dance Theatre and create a major installation for Performance Space. Matthew Robinson is an award-winning composer and lyricist and has contributed to new musical theatre productions in Australia, Singapore, New York and London. The fellowship will support him to write and develop three new musical works Atlantis; Happy People; and As Night Descends. He will also spend time in New York to be mentored by leading composer and lyricist Stephen Schwartz. This years recipients were chosen by peers Deborah Conway (Vic), Johannes Luebbers (WA), Rosalind Page (NSW) and Holly Throsby (NSW). Past recipients include Erik Griswold, Lucas Abela, Gareth Liddiard, Simon Barker and Genevieve Lacey.

The music assessment panel also assessed applications for project fellowships and skills and arts development grants. The successful applications are listed here: http://www.australiacouncil.gov.au/grants/grant-decisions/reports/music/music-assessment-meeting-reportnovember-2013-don-banks-award,-fellowships,-project-fellowships-and-skills-and-arts-development

Media contact Karen Smith 02 9215 9030 | 0498 123 541 k.smith@australiacouncil.gov.au

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The Australia Council for the Arts is the Australian Governments arts funding and advisory body