English/Australian composer
Andrew Ford
OAM (born 1957) is an English-born Australian
composer , writer, and
radio presenter , known for
The Music Show on ABC
Radio National .
Early life and education
Andrew Ford was born in 1957 in
Liverpool , UK.
[1]
[2]
He attended
St Olave's Grammar School in
Orpington ,
Kent , then studied at
Lancaster University with
Edward Cowie and
John Buller . As a student, a meeting with
Sir Michael Tippett had a profound influence on him, when he told him "to forget about musical systems and trust his instincts".
[3]
Career
Ford was a
research fellow in music
Bradford University from 1978 to 1982.
[4]
After moving to Australia, he lectured at the School of Creative Arts at the
University of Wollongong , NSW, from 1983 to 1995,
[4] and during this time earned a
PhD for his thesis on "musical word setting from
Elvis Costello to
Elliott Carter .
[3]
Ford was
composer-in-residence with the
Australian Chamber Orchestra (1992–94),
[3] held the
Peggy Glanville-Hicks Composer Fellowship from 1998 to 2000 and was awarded a two-year fellowship by the Music Board of the
Australia Council for the Arts for 2005 to 2006.
[5] He was appointed composer-in-residence at the
Australian National Academy of Music in 2009.
[3]
Other activities
He has written widely on music and published ten books. For the
Australian Broadcasting Corporation , he wrote, presented and co-produced the radio series Illegal Harmonies , Dots on the Landscape , Music and Fashion , Earth Dances and Three Front Doors a Paddock (with painter
Ben Quilty )
[3]
Since 1995 he has presented
The Music Show on ABC
Radio National .
[3]
Recognition and awards
1982: Yorkshire Arts Composers Award, joint winner (with
Mark-Anthony Turnage ) for Portraits
[3]
1998:
Peggy Glanville-Hicks Composer Fellowship, a two-year fellowship during which he began work on The Waltz Book
[3]
1998:
Pascall Prize for critical writing
[3]
1998: Sydney Spring Festival award, for Tattoo
[3]
2002:
Jean Bogan Prize , for The Waltz Book
[3]
2004: Paul Lowin Song Cycle Prize, for Learning to Howl
[3]
2007: shortlisted, Prix Italia, for his radiophonic work Elegy in a Country Graveyard
2010:
Green Room Award , for the music for the opera Rembrandt's Wife
[3]
2012:
Albert H. Maggs Composition Award for his work Rauha
[3]
2013: shortlisted, Paul Lowin Prize, for Blitz and Willow Songs
2014: Poynter Fellow and visiting composer at
Yale University
[3]
2015: visiting lecturer at the
Shanghai Conservatory
[3]
2016: shortlisted, Paul Lowin Prize, for Last Words
[6]
2016:
Order of Australia Medal
[3]
2018: H. C. Coombs Creative Arts Fellow at the
Australian National University
[3]
2020:
Sidney Myer Performing Arts Award , Facilitator's Prize (awarded 2021)
[7]
APRA / Art Music Awards
The
APRA Awards are presented annually from 1982 by the
Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA).
[8] They include the
Art Music Awards (until 2009 Classical Music Awards) which are distributed by APRA and the
Australian Music Centre (AMC).
[9] These awards include:
[5]
Selected works
Music theatre
Poe , opera (1983, premiered 1985,
Sydney Opera House )
[18]
Whispers for tenor and chamber orchestra (1990)
Casanova Confined for baritone and backing track (1995)
Night and Dreams: The Death of Sigmund Freud for tenor and backing track (1999)
Rembrandt's Wife (libretto by Sue Smith), opera (2007–2009)
[3]
Peter Pan , children's opera (2017), for Gondwana Choirs
Orchestral
Concerto for Orchestra (1980)
The Big Parade (1986)
Manhattan Epiphanies for string orchestra (1999)
The Furry Dance (1999)
Scenes from Bruegel for chamber orchestra (2006)
Headlong (2006), for 75th birthday of Sydney Symphony Orchestra
Symphony (2008)
Bright Shiners for string orchestra (2009)
Blitz for orchestra, (optional) chorus and pre-recorded voices (2011)
Big Bang for orchestra (2019)
The Meaning of Trees for orchestra (2020), for
Australian Youth Orchestra , premiered 2022
[3]
Concertos
Piano Concerto: Imaginings (1991)
The Great Memory for cello and orchestra (1994)
The Unquiet Grave for viola and chamber orchestra (1997–1998)
Raga for electric guitar and orchestra (2015–2016)
Vocal and choral
A Martian Sends a Postcard Home for tenor, horn and piano (1986)
Wassails and Lullabies for SATB choir and percussion (1989), recorded by
ABC Classics
Harbour for tenor and string orchestra (1992)
The Past for counter-tenor, flute and string orchestra (with ad lib didgeridoo) (1997), a setting of
Oodgeroo Noonuccal 's poem 'The Past' and excerpts from James Cook's ship's log
Learning to Howl for soprano, clarinet/sax, harp and percussion (2001)
Tales of the Supernatural for folk singer and string quartet (2002)
An die Musik for SATB choir (2005)
Elegy in a Country Graveyard for SATB choir, brass or concert band (flexible instrumentation) and pre-recorded voices and instruments (2007)
Domestic Advice for soprano and piano (2007)
A Singing Quilt for SATB choir, percussion ensemble and pre-recorded voices (2008)
Willow Songs: six poems of Anne Stevenson for soprano, mezzo-soprano and mixed ensemble (2009)
Waiting for the Barbarians for large chorus (2011), based on
the poem by
Constantine P. Cavafy
Last Words ,
song cycle for
piano trio and soprano (2013 premiered by
Anna Goldsworthy , Seraphim Trio,
Jane Sheldon )
[19]
The Drowners for baritone and chamber orchestra (2015)
Missa brevis for SATB choir and organ (2015)
Comeclose and Sleepnow for singer and jazz ensemble (2016), to words by
Adrian Henri ,
Brian Patten and
Roger McGough
Nature for mezzo-soprano and ensemble (2019), to words by Jen Hadfield,
R.S. Thomas ,
Robert Adamson ,
Tomas Tranströmer ,
Maria Takolander ,
Edward Thomas and
W.B. Yeats
The Blessing for mezzo-soprano and oboe (2021), libretto by
J.M. Coetzee based on a scene from his novel
Elizabeth Costello
Red Dirt Hymns for voices and instruments (2020–24), lyrics by
Jordie Albiston ,
David McCooey ,
John Kinsella ,
Ellen van Neerven ,
Judith Bishop ,
Judith Beveridge ,
Sarah Holland-Batt ,
Stephen Edgar ,
Kate Fagan ,
Merlinda Bobis , Mark Wakely,
Felicity Plunkett , Philip Harvey,
Erik Jensen ,
Jill Jones ,
Maria Takolander ,
Melanie Horsnell ,
Martha Marlow , Alison Flett and Lisa Brockwell
Ensemble
Chamber Concerto No 3: In Constant Flight for solo violin and ensemble (1988)
Ringing the Changes for piccolo, bass clarinet and piano (1990)
Pastoral for string octet (1991)
Tattoo for 12 timpani (6 players) and 4 pianos (1998)
Icarus Drowning (1998)
Chamber Concerto No. 4 (2002)
Sad Jigs for string quintet (2005)
A Reel, a Fling and a Ghostly Galliard (String Quartet No 2) (2006)
Oma kodu for clarinet and string quartet (2006)
Nine Fantasies about Brahms for piano trio (2009)
On Winter's Traces for piccolo, bass clarinet, piano and string quartet (2009) for the 30th anniversary of the Australia Ensemble
The Rising (2010) for the
Black Dyke Band
The Scattering of Light for piano quartet (2010) commissioned to mark the centenary of the University of Queensland
String Quartet No 3 (2012) for the
Brodsky Quartet
String Quartet No 4 (2012) for the NOISE String Quartet
String Quartet No 5 (2013) for the
Australian String Quartet
Uproar for 11 trombones and four bass drums (2013)
Common Ground for two string quartets (2014)
Contradance for 11 players (2015)
String Quartet No 6 (2014–17) for the
Flinders Quartet
Scenes from Streeton (2019) for Arcadia Winds
String Quartet No 7: Eden Ablaze (2020) for the Brodsky Quartet and
William Barton
Instrumental
Like Icarus ascending for solo violin (1984)
Swansong for solo viola (1987)
Spinning for solo alto flute (1988)
The Very End of Harvest for viola and piano (2000)
The Waltz Book (60 one-minute waltzes for solo piano, 2002; commissioned by
Ian Munro )
[3]
War and Peace for violin and percussion (2004)
Chorales from an Ox Life for viola and double bass (2007)
Folly for solo piano (2007)
You Must Sleep, but I Must Dance for viola and percussion (2010)
On Reflection for two pianos (2012)
Once upon a time there were two brothers... for flute and voice (2013)
Hook for solo vibraphone (2018)
In My Solitude for solo viola (2020)
Radiophonic
Deirdre of the Sorrows (1989)
Elegy in a Country Graveyard (2007)
Untuning the Sky (2013)
Bibliography
Composer to Composer: Conversations about Contemporary Music (paperback 1993,
ISBN
1-86373-443-0 , hardback 1993,
ISBN
0-7043-7061-1 , 2nd edition paperback 1997,
ISBN
0-86806-631-1 )
Illegal Harmonies: Music in the 20th Century (hardback 1997,
ISBN
0-86806-635-4 , 2nd edition paperback 2002,
ISBN
0-7333-1130-X )
Undue Noise: Words about Music (paperback 2002,
ISBN
0-7333-1057-5 )
Speaking in Tongues: The Songs of Van Morrison by Martin Buzacott and Andrew Ford (paperback 2005,
ISBN
0-7333-1297-7 )
In Defence of Classical Music (hardback 2005,
ISBN
0-7333-1594-1 )
The Sound of Pictures: listening to the movies from Hitchcock to High Fidelity (paperback 2010,
ISBN
9781863955102 )
Illegal Harmonies: Music in the Modern Age (expanded 3rd edition paperback 2011,
ISBN
9781863955287 )
Try Whistling This: writings about music (paperback 2012,
ISBN
9781863955713 )
Earth Dances: music in search of the primitive (paperback 2015,
ISBN
9781863957120 )
The Memory of Music , Black Inc (2017,
ISBN
9781863959490 )
The Song Remains the Same: 800 Years of Love Songs, Laments and Lullabies by Andrew Ford and Anni Heino, La Trobe University Press/Black Inc. (2019, ISBN 9781760640118)
The Shortest History of Music , Old Street Publishing (2024,
ISBN
978-1913083656 )
References
Further reading
External links
International National Artists Other