Composer 2022: Adam Cook “Renard morts de la nuit”

Adam is a pianist, composer/arranger, and teacher based in the Great Southern of Western Australia.

He began his studies with jazz pianist/composer/arranger Will Upson at Great Southern Grammar School, and later with composer Roger Smalley and pianist Anna Sleptsova at the University of Western Australia in Perth, WA.

He completed my university study in Piano Performance and Composition under the mentorship of Em. Prof. Larry Sitsky and Geoffrey Lancaster at the Australian National University.
During this time, Adam also studied in France with Emeritus Professor of the University of Ottawa, Jean-Paul Sevilla, and completed a Diplôme d’études musicales to jury unanimity.

Adam immediately began professional work in 2011 as the resident accompanist for the ANU, working with all instrument and voice types in the classical and jazz/contemporary idioms, while working also upon several arrangement and composition contracts.

Completing his degree in 2012, Adam gave the world première of Sitsky’s Sonata No. 2, in three movements, composed for him. He was also the recipient of the Michael Kieran Harvey Scholarship.

Upon leaving Canberra and moving to Melbourne, Adam worked as the Principal Accompanist of the Australian Children’s Choir, a role involving both national and international touring, performing in many major European cities and venues. Adam also worked as a Piano Teacher / Accompanist at Westbourne Grammar School, becoming involved in many performances, while also engaging in student-specific arrangements of popular repertoire.

In late 2020, Adam returned to his hometown, Denmark, in the Great Southern of WA, where he currently conducts both Albany Choral Society and Denmark Baroque Incorporated.

Adam also runs his own private teaching studio and musical services business, and performs regularly as a conductor, accompanist, and solo pianist/keyboardist in styles spanning from Baroque to jazz and funk.

PROGRAM NOTES “Renards morts la nuit” from “Obsèques des animaux des bois”

At the time of writing, this movement is the first in what I intend to be a suite of three movements, dealing in the subject matter of the imaginary funerary rites of various woodland creatures.

The piece is inspired very vaguely by the British-French children’s television program “The Animals of Farthing Wood” / « Les Animaux du Bois de Quat’sous » – although many years have passed since seeing the program, my vague recollections have served as basic images for the texture and character of these short movements.

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