Join us for the concert performance on Saturday, 31st May, at 7:30 PM at the Blackburn High School Auditorium for an unforgettable evening of musical discovery. Prior to the concert, immerse yourself in the creative process during the Pre-Concert Talk, “Meet The Composers,” starting at 6:15 PM. This interactive session provides an intimate glimpse into the minds behind the music, allowing attendees to gain insights into the inspiration, techniques, and stories behind each composition. Don’t miss your chance to be part of this extraordinary musical odyssey, where tradition meets innovation and the future of Australian music takes centre stage.
Tickets are available now, and we look forward to welcoming you to this exceptional event! The Pre-Concert Talk is free for purchasers of tickets.
For a link to TryBooking to book ticket click here.
Please note only cash sales at the door. For your comfort, we recommend that you bring a cushion to sit on. The orange seats are hard!
To download a hi-res poster click here.
To download a pdf of the printed program click here later when it is available.
ALLAN PENNINGS “IONIC BEAM”
In the field of imaging, it is common place to use a device called a “focused ion beam” in order to image objects on the scale of nanometers. These devices work by taking atoms out of their chaotic state of existence, ripping away their electrons and smashing them against the surface which is being imaged.
Ionic Beam is a composition designed to capture this process from the perspective of an atom. It is structured in four short and distinct movements, each corresponding to a different phase of the device’s operation.
– The first movement, “Vapor,” depicts the initial state of the atoms as they exist in a high-speed vapor cloud, traveling at hundreds of meters per second. In this chaotic environment, the atoms constantly collide with one another and with the walls of their container, occasionally finding brief moments of calm. The movement’s fast melody and underlying quaver pulse evoke this frenetic and unpredictable atmosphere.
– The second section, “Drift,” represents the isolation an atom experiences after being extracted from the vapor cloud and prepared for its journey down the ion beam. This sense of solitude is captured by a lone alto saxophone, symbolizing the atom’s moment of suspension before its acceleration.
Subsequently the brass section quickly rips away the electrons from this atom at the start of the next movement “Acceleration”. The theme begins as a long, flowing idea but quickly accelerates as the atom gains speed. The melody intensifies, repeating and speeding up, mirroring the atom’s journey as it rushes toward its final destination.
– The final section, “Spheres,” reflects the atom’s final moments as it approaches a sample of tin spheres. The movement tries to capture the enormous size of these spheres, which initially appear almost planetary to the atom. Yet, upon closer examination, it becomes apparent that there is no end to how small these spheres can become—there is always a smaller one. This concept is conveyed by repeating a three-note snippet from the movement’s theme at varying speeds across the band, creating a pseudo-mensuration canon.
Allan is a multi-instrumentalist and music educator, with a strong background in both
music and physics. He began his musical journey at Blackburn High School, where he
developed his skills across a range of instruments and ensemble settings. After finishing
high school, Allan chose to pursue a Bachelor of Science at the University of Melbourne,
majoring in physics. However, his passion for music remained strong, and he continued
his studies by completing a Diploma of Music concurrently.
Since graduating, he has actively engaged in community music, performing with a range
of ensembles including brass bands, wind symphonies, stage bands, orchestras, and small
jazz combos. As part of his community involvement, Allan has arranged and composed
works for chamber ensembles and stage bands, contributing actively to local music-
making. More recently, he has begun shifting focus to refine and expand his orchestration
skills by writing for larger ensembles.
ARIE MADDEN WELTI “PATCHWORK MOMENTS”
Patchwork Moments explores an array of musical ideas, linearly strong together in a moment/mosaic form structure. The title reflects this process of composition and musical structure, acting as a work of moments patch together.
DANI MAREE ASHMORE “TRIPPED UP TANGO”
Inspired by the popular dance style, “Tripped Up Tango” offers a fresh and lively take on the classic tango, blending traditional rhythms with a playful, modern flair. Whilst maintaining the dance’s passion, spontaneity, and characteristic pulse, the piece incorporates syncopated rhythms and regularly omits beats, cleverly ‘tripping up’ its usual flow. The result is an energetic and vibrant composition that will keep both listeners and performers on their toes from beginning to end.
Dani Maree Ashmore is a Melbourne-based composer and musician. Her love for music was nurtured during her school years, where she formally learned violin and cello. However, over the years she self-taught and performed with many different instruments including piano, guitar, electric bass, and percussion. Currently she enjoys both writing for and being actively involved as a percussionist with local orchestras and concert bands.
Her composition journey began as a singer-songwriter, performing her own music and writing songs for local musical theatre. After completing a Bachelor of Applied Music (Composition) at Box Hill Institute in 2014, she began focusing on writing orchestral music and film scores. Throughout her career, Dani has composed both original works and arrangements for various ensembles including wind bands and orchestras. Additionally, her music has been featured in short films, advertisements and music videos; many of which were competition finalists. Ultimately, Dani aims to write
music that is both fun to play and enjoyable to listen to.
DAVID GODDARD “NOW FAR AHEAD THE ROAD HAS GONE”
Program notes:
‘Now far ahead the Road has gone’ aims to evoke, and was largely inspired by, my favourite era of music -40’s, 50’s and early 60’s jazz pop with its unique harmonic language of vocal writing. Namely, Mildred Bailey’s cover of ‘It’s So Peaceful In the Country’, Nat King Cole’s cover of ‘Was That The Human Thing To Do?’, Brenda Lee’s covers of ‘Back In Your Own Backyard’ and ‘Pennies from Heaven’ and the recent cover of ‘Time After Time’ by the Beantones served as major sources of inspiration.
I have tried to balance moments where a melody is harmonised vertically, utilising all 4 voices moving in rhythmic parallel and where harmony is implied horizontally, each voice taking up a more independent role.
I initially began writing this piece for a clarinet quartet during mid-2024, basing it off what I learnt from a score study of Naomi Crelin’s ‘A Country Mile’, which was similarly inspired by jazz ballads of old. I repurposed it for wind band in late 2024, recognising it as a good opportunity to study the wind band setting of ‘A Country Mile’ by Edward Fairlie and take on the challenge of restricting writing to 4 parts while keeping the sound full.
David has been studying composition for 4 years – 2 years of study for his VCE (2021-2022) taking the subjects Music Styles and Composition and Music Investigation, and in the past 2 years maintaining a combination of independent study and private tutoring in his free time while pursuing an undergraduate Science degree majoring in Chemistry/Geographical Science at Monash University.
While David’s time composing has been short, he has been fortunate enough to have numerous opportunities to hear his works performed. He owes a debt of gratitude to the Blackburn High School clarinet ensemble for patiently working through early in-progress pieces. His main work in his VCE portfolio was generously recorded by a big band headed by Toshi Clinch, and that performance was taken to Top Sound 2023.
David’s works have been predominantly composed for big band and small wind ensembles, as well as solo piano. This is the second debut of a piece he has written for wind band by the Grainger Wind Symphony, which he has been a member of since 2022.
DOMINIC HINSCHEN “THREE SKETCHES”
“Three Sketches for Wind Band”, written for the Grainger Wind Symphony in 2025, is a collection of three completely unrelated movements.
The first movement is one of free metre. Chords are built up slowly one note at a time at the behest of the conductor. There is no set tempo and the conductor is encouraged to hold on to each note/moment for as long as possible, to the point where the audience questions if there is any music at all beyond the current chord.
The second movement is the polar opposite of the first; unyieldingly fast and energetic. The audience should be thoroughly frightened at this movement’s inception and must not be given a moment’s respite until its conclusion. The harmony lacks traditional progression, instead sitting on a single root note and cycling chord qualities for most of its duration. It is not until the climax that a wider range of chords are used.
The third movement contrasts the dissection of 9 beats as 5+4 and 3+3+3. These are introduced separately at first and are superimposed from bar 154 onwards. This may sound dissonant at times but performers are encouraged to play each note confidently to allow the polychords to resolve. The composer likes to think of this movement as a peaceful midnight stroll on a Sunday night.
About the Composer
Dominic Hinschen is a Melbourne based musician with his eggs in many baskets. Primarily a composer, he plays clarinet, violin and trumpet and is frequently seen conducting the John Mallinson Youth Band in Nunawading. He is currently completing his capstone major project as part of a Bachelor of Music at Box Hill Institute where he also runs studio recording sessions for other students.
His music aims to combine the familiar and the avante-garde in equal measure to ensure there is ‘a little something for everyone’. Future aspirations include learning every instrument and working with more community groups.
HAYDEN TAYLOR “SYMMETRY CELEBRATION”
Inspired by my time as Composer in Residence at the Percy Grainger Museum, Symmetry Celebration is a joyous voyage across the textures the wind symphony can produce. The piece opens in boisterous energy, climbing right across the range of the wind symphony. The music then passes through five further episodes mystical, melodic, jagged, undulating, and heterophonic before a return of the opening leads to a collapse of all the previous sections into a glorious and exciting coda as each atmosphere fights to be heard.
I would like to thank the Grainger Wind Symphony for including me in their Made In Australia 2025 program. Their feedback, support, and willingness to programme new music is essential for composers today.
Composer Bio:
Hayden Taylor is an emerging composer based in Melbourne. Having nearly completed a Bachelor of Music Composition, Hayden is concurrently undertaking a Diploma of Pure Mathematics at the University of Melbourne. He studied composition with Elliott Gyger, Stuart Greenbaum, Melody Eötvös, Christine McCombe, and Calvin Bowman.
In 2024 Hayden completed a composer residency at the Percy Grainger Museum (supported by IgniteLAB) delivering a 22-minute chamber group soundscape currently playing in the museum. His works have been performed by the Melbourne Conservatorium Saxophone Ensemble (two pieces), MYRIAD (Melbourne Conservatorium Percussion Ensemble), Queensland Youth Orchestra, Melbourne Youth Orchestra and the Grainger Wind Symphony – the last fulfilling his desire to work with community ensembles.
Hayden is a member of the Melbourne Composers League and has had a performance with them. His music has also been played on 3MBS and he has appeared on ‘The Talent’. Hayden explores how his interests in advanced mathematics, spirituality, and history can be applied to music, and enjoys dreaming, thinking, and theorising about the relationships between these fields. He seeks to create new and unique soundscapes that reflect personal emotions, working with players to create rewarding concert experiences for performer and listener alike.
A keen cellist, Hayden studies cello with Richard Narroway. He has performed his own music as a soloist (including his cello sonata) and loves playing in chamber and orchestral settings. He particularly enjoys historically informed performance and has performed continuo at the Melbourne Conservatorium showcase concert representing the Early Music Faculty.
LUCIA RIVERA “PILGRIMAGE”
Program Note
Pilgrimage is inspired by the cyclical journey of migratory birds and its parallels with human migration. Both phenomena share similarities: the temporary or permanent abandonment of a place in search of something better. The piece unfolds in several moments, each reflecting different stages of this journey.
– The first moment captures the beginning of the journey: the initial impulse, the takeoff into the unknown.
– This leads to the second moment, which explores the possibilities of what lies ahead. From there, the music transitions into moments of tension and disorientation, evoked by harsh conditions, dangers, and uncertainty: a section shrouded in mystery.
– The next moment introduces intense and violent changes, representing the birds navigating the dynamic forces of the wind, including shifts in direction, intensity, and cyclical patterns.
– Finally, the music reaches a moment of stability, where the new environment begins to be understood and appreciated. In the end, the last moment emerges, blending the beauty of the new with a deep sense of nostalgia for the place of origin.
Composer Bio
Lucía Rivera is a Colombian musician and cellist, graduated from the Conservatory of Cali with a focus on cello performance. She has performed in various orchestral settings, including symphony orchestras, chamber ensembles, and Baroque groups. Currently, she is studying composition in Melbourne, Australia, at the Box Hill Institute. In 2023, she was awarded the Screen and Media (Film and TV) Best Score by Swinburne University of Technology and is a finalist for the same diploma in 2024.
NICK SHIRREFS “MOROCKO”
Morocko – Program Notes
The inception of “Morocko” realistically took place about 18 years ago when I got the opportunity to perform with my jazz band in a concert in Horsham that included special guest Wilbur Wilde. Whilst performing the Charlie Parker tune “Yardbird Suite”, Wilbur played a harmony on a particular note that, as I like to describe it, perfectly straddled the line between right and wrong. Since that experience, I have always enjoyed the challenge of putting carefully balanced dissonance in my music, incorporating intriguing jazz harmonies.
One of the methods of composition I employ is choosing two chords that, from a music theory point of view, have very little to do with each other. Then I go looking for an interesting harmonic series that can get me from the first chord to the second. I knew I was heading in the right direction with a particular harmonic series, but it wasn’t quite there. Then, in a moment of pure serendipity, my finger slipped off the E flat onto the E, causing an E diminished chord. Instantly I knew I had something interesting. I was so excited by the chord progression I messaged the details to my music-theory-guitar-playing-nerd colleague who replied with enthusiasm, saying it had a real Moroccan feel about it. Well… in an instant I had the entire piece in my head.
I had recently gone down yet another rabbit hole, this time of musical hybrids. Music where a couple of distinctly different genres had been carefully united with stunning success. “Morocko” was going to be my first contribution to the Hard Rock/Middle Eastern genre which, after a quick search on Spotify, is most definitely a thing. I knew I was heading in the right direction when I played some of my ideas to my senior students, who collectively reacted with that face you make when you hear something that just aligns with your soul, and there is no more honest a sounding board than teenagers.
And thus, “Morocko” was born. Written using the C Phrygian mode, it is all at once a Cecil B. DeMille film overture, a James Bond action sequence, a groove-laden adventure through a Soukh in Marrakesh, or whatever your imagination provides you.
Nick Shirrefs Bio
Born and raised in Southwest Victoria, Nick spent his adolescence in the picture-perfect seaside town of Port Fairy. Nick was surrounded by music from day one, with his Dad being a highly competent jazz pianist. Nick took up the piano himself at the age of 6 and then took up trombone at high school in 1992. Since then, being a regional music teacher, Nick has had to broaden his instrumental horizon dramatically and now plays the complete spectrum of typical orchestral brass instruments, drums, percussion, a snifter of bass guitar, ukulele, didgeridoo and continues to play the piano. With enough Dutch courage, he even occasionally has a bit of a sing.
Nick’s passion for composition was ignited, probably subconsciously for a start, with his love of film. When his peers were out socialising, Nick preferred to tuck himself away in front of the T.V. (much to his parent’s chagrin) and watch and re-watch movie after movie. This would have looked to an outsider as a childhood wasted, but Nick refuses to see it that way. The music of John Williams, Ennio Morricone, Danny Elfman, Alan Silvestri, Howard Shore and many more had taken hold and Nick found himself in 2000 moving to Sydney to study composition under Dr. David Hush at the Australian Institute of Music.
Nowadays Nick uses these skills to produce original music that has been performed around the region and country in various guises. Highlights of Nick’s career thus far include the premiere of “Origin – A Cosmic Voyage” by the Limestone Coast Symphony Orchestra, “Some Music For Sailing Ships” performed by both the Hamilton Symphony Orchestra and the Percy Grainger Youth Orchestra, “Flute Sonata in D” performed by Mark Shiell, “Violin Sonata in A” performed by Julia Chen, and “Gallipoli” performed by the Grainger Wind Symphony. Also, jamming with Wilbur Wilde, and the publication of two concert band works, “Insert Superheroes Here:” and “Aradale”.
Nick hopes you enjoy tonight’s performance of “Morocko”, and that it does indeed rock your Fez off.
SHELBY ROSE HILLS “PETRIE DISH”
Programme notes:
The playful character was inspired by the way in which my brother and I converse with one another, enthusiastically interrupting one another, responding to a phrase that was almost finished but not quite. Swinging then to long, thoughtful and comfortable silences. While I could not interact with other people in this way without being considered rude, there is such an ease and harmony to the way we converse. I wanted to try and capture the unconventional flow of a conversation in which sentences overlap, diverge and trail off, only to come back together with ease and joy.
‘Petrie dish’ comes from the idea that often when I am talking to him, I too am hearing what I am saying for the very first time. Our conversations hold a space in which we can sound out ideas without any fear of judgement or rejection.
Biography:
I am a composer, harpist, songwriter and film composer based in Melbourne. I am currently undertaking my third year of studies at Box Hill Institute majoring in Composition. I have had the great honour of having my work Kaleidoscope performed by the Victorian Symphony Youth Orchestra and I have written for a handful of solo instruments including harp, violin, piano, clarinet, cello and small female choir ensemble.
The harp is a deeply sonorous instrument. When a note is played, it lingers and haunts the room like a ghost. Muffling its resonance is a choice in itself – sometimes its silence can be quite loud. Being a harpist has taught me to be deliberate in not only the notes I am choosing to play, but its consequences – the note’s resonance and the other notes that will also ring in sympathy. This is something I believe has translated to all instruments I have written for, whether or not a harp is part of its soundscape. I make an effort to honour the idiosyncrasies of every instrument and the role they play in building the textures that turn my ideas into a living and breathing piece of music and to utilise the relationship between an instrument and the room it is being played in as a vital aspect of the compositional process.
As a contemporary composer, it can be overwhelming to think about how many sounds – acoustic, electronic or even sounds from the busy world around us – are available for use. Writing for acoustic instruments is the easiest fix to this problem, in my opinion.
Each note is played by someone who has decided to dedicate their only life on earth to their instrument – a dedication I am deeply familiar with.
In addition, there is just something so special about knowing that each note that is being played by someone is one of a kind and will never happen again, even if the same note is played again or the music it exists in is played more than once.
Whether it’s a melody at the forefront, a soft texture melded into the background or if it’s just a ghost resonating quietly in the room – its existence is of so much importance to the overall experience and wouldn’t be the same without it.
TODD ROBINSON “MOTIONLESS CLOUDS”
Program Note/Poem:
An excerpt from Motionless Clouds:
‘In “Motionless Clouds,” I think of a close friend. While the trees in the orchard are beginning
to bloom, I drink some new rice wine. My wishes unattained, my heart overflows with sighs.
I
Overhead motionless clouds
drizzling down spring rain
every direction indistinct
all the roads impassable
sitting beside the east window
alone drinking new year wine
somewhere in the distance is a friend
I scratch my head and wait
II
Motionless clouds overhead
spring rain drizzling down
every direction indistinct
the land is now a river
but I have wine new wine
I sip beside the east window
hoping for the one in my thoughts
but no boat or cart arrives’
- Written by Tao Yuanming,
translated by Red Pine
BIOGRAPHY TODD ROBINSON
I’m a storyteller with sound. I currently study at the University of Melbourne in my third year of attaining a Bachelor of Music (Composition). I have grown up from a large pool of music from classical music mixed with art rock and jazz inspirations ranging from Liszt to the Beach Boys, Gustav Holst to Jorge Ben Jor, and Joe Hisaishi to Charles Ives.
I have a passion for literature which, alongside being a part of the queer community, has influenced my music with the aim of creating music that brings people together between woven bonds and evoke primal yet intricate psychological narratives. I hope my music can speak to you, regardless of your walk of life.
The Australian environment has also help evolve my music, like taking into aspect the unique birdsong of Western Victoria, particularly the magpies, willie wagtails, and galahs. Sounds of places like Toolern Creek are familiarly imbued into my music, like the sound of water rushing against pebbles and the brush of the gumtrees in the wind above me.
I have attained achievements like win Third Prize in the Composition Competition 2022 Recorder Orchestra for Orpheus Music, and am currently working with the Southern Voices Melbourne choir to perform a work at the Choral@Montsalvat 2024.