Overseas rewards for graduates

Music

Two graduates from the Elder Conservatorium of Music have received Helpmann Academy grants to pursue their studies in Europe and the United States.

Composer Luke Harrald, who graduated with First Class Honours in Composition in 2002, undertook a summer intensive course in Paris last month with nine other international participants.

Luke attended the Centre de Creation Musicale Iannis Xenakis (CCMIX), a studio named after the well-known composer, who died in 2001.

Only 10 students are selected to take part in the summer school each year.

Luke was tutored by several world-renowned composers, including Gerrard Pape, the head of CCMIX, Trevor Wishart (UK) and Eduardo Miranda (Brazil).

"The main emphasis of the summer school is to create new work," Luke said. "It will be great to compose a new piece in a studio which has so much history behind it and to meet several of the tutors who have had so much influence on me."

This year the summer school focused on combining sound and vision, central to Luke's own work, which involves creating installations and writing film scores.

Prior to his Parisian sojourn, Luke spent some time in the UK undertaking research for his PhD in Music at the Elder Conservatorium. He was involved in the Live Algorithms for Music research group at Goldsmith College in London, and visited University College London and the University of Plymouth as well as the Sonic Arts Research Centre in Belfast.

"This has been a great experience because it has shown me how well the research that is happening in Australia stands up internationally," he said.

Meanwhile, percussionist Fleur Green headed to the US last month to take up a scholarship at the prestigious Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore.

One of only 10 musicians selected for a two-year, $15,000 scholarship, Fleur will study for a Graduate Diploma at the Peabody Conservatory, which is part of the Johns Hopkins University.

Selected from more than 90 applicants worldwide, it is the first time an Australian has been awarded a scholarship to study at the Conservatory.

Fleur will have weekly lessons with internationally renowned percussionist Professor Robert Van Sice, who has commissioned much of the marimba repertoire now available.

Fleur studied under James Bailey at the Elder Conservatorium of Music, achieving First Class Honours in Percussion Performance in 2005. Since graduating she has toured as a composer and percussionist with Windmill Performing Arts Company and studied under marimba virtuoso Keiko Abe in Japan.

Story by Candy Gibson

Open Day 2006

To hear more about the Elder Conservatorium of Music at the University of Adelaide, visit Open Day on Sunday 20 August, North Terrace, 10am-4pm.

www.adelaide.edu.au/openday