Kalkadungu, on which the title track is the piece written by William Barton and myself, won this year’s ARIA award for Best Classical album.

The disc also includes pieces by William and by Peter Sculthorpe.

Congratulations William!

The first is my new ballet for the Birmingham Royal Ballet, Faster. I am in Birmingham for the rehearsals and the performances. It’s tremendously exciting to see the work of such an outstanding choreographer as David Bintley, and a joy to see music ‘interpreted’ to movement in this manner.

Back in Sydney, the major work that I co-composed with William Barton, Kalkadungu, will be performed with William as the soloist with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, conducted by David
Robertson.

When premiered in 2008, this work was reviewed as “winning the audience and given a standing ovation… Kalkadungu opens new opportunities for Australian music” (Murray Black, The Australian), and “The most compelling few minutes of indigenous – inspired fast music to come from any white Australian.” (Graeme Skinner, The Sydney Morning Herald).

More recently it received standing ovations at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl in Melbourne, with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, and at the National Reconciliation Concert with the Monash Academy.

A CD containing Kalkadungu has very recently been released on ABC Classics.

In Melbourne, my Siegfried Interlude No. 4 – Ride of the Viola Valkyries, will be performed as part of the Viola Festival being held at the Australian National Academy of Music. This work is for 8 violas, and is a contemporary reinterpretation of Wagner’s famous excerpt from Die Walkure.

On the other side of the world again, in Alaska, my string quartet no. 1, Industrial Night Music, will be performed by The Attacca Quartet in the Sitka Festival.

The Attacca Quartet

The only shame is that I can’t be in 4 places at once to hear them all.

Graham Abbott

It was a fun interview and it seems that many people around Australia enjoyed it.

ABC Classic FM has enabled this interview to be streamed until around the end of May. It is available here.

Many of my pieces will be performed, plus I have curated a concert of the music of Paul Stanhope and will be running a composition weekend as well.

Here is a blog article about the position.

It is a great honour to be attached in this way to this important Australian institution.