Dean's life full of musical interludes

Dec 06, 2004

When Professor Andrew Schultz, is not busy working as the Dean of Creative Arts at the University of Wollongong, he is working as a renowned musician -- composing symphonies and serenades and preparing himself for a number of premiere performances.

As his website suggests (Andrew Schultz Website), Professor Schultz's music, which covers a broad range of chamber, orchestral, operatic and vocal works, has been performed, recorded and broadcast widely by many leading groups and musicians and he is the recipient of awards and prizes including a Fulbright Scholarship, the National Opera Award, Arts Council Fellowships and APRA Classical Composition of the Year.

One of Professor Schultz's most recent large-scale works is a setting of the 'Song of Songs' with a new text by poet Barry Hill. The work was premiered at the Sydney Opera House in May this year and uses pre-recorded voices and instruments, and live singers to create a spatial tapestry that explores the sensual and dramatic elements of the text. In September 2004, the work was recorded in the ABC's Sydney studios for radiophonic use and will be broadcast on ABC-FM on Wednesday 8 December at 8pm.

The next release of work for Professor Schultz will be a composition entitled 'Journey to Horseshoe Bend', performed by the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and conducted by David Porcelijn. The ABC Classics CD is about to be released.

'Journey to Horseshoe Bend' (to a text by Gordon Kalton Williams) is a symphonic cantata, which had its first performance in May 2003 by the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Ntaria Ladies Choir and Sydney Philharmonia Motet Choir. It drew an extraordinary public response in its premiere and critical plaudits. One writer described it as "bridging a great divide, a cultural chasm centuries long," (Gramophone Magazine) and another as a "moving hymn to the transformative power of the Australian landscape" (Sydney Morning Herald).

In addition, 'little tree' is a new work of Professor Schultz's for the Sydney Children's Choir, Gondwana Voices and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra for their Christmas concerts, which take place on 17 and 18 December at the Sydney Opera House.

Chamber Music of Andrew Schultz, Volume 2 will also be released soon on a Tall Poppies CD, featuring 12 Variations and other works played by musicians from Brisbane, Melbourne and London. Another of Professor Schultz's pieces entitled 'Tonic Continent' will also soon be released on Riverrun Records and will feature Australian and British piano trios played by the Fiorini Trio.

"More recently, I have received an Australian Council Music Theatre Project Fellowship to work with Gordon Kalton Williams on the composition of a new opera between now and mid-2006," Professor Schultz said.

'Falling Man/Dancing Man' a new work for organ and orchestra will also be played by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra conducted by their new Chief Conductor, Oleg Caetani, at a Proms Concert in Melbourne Town Hall late next year."

For further information on upcoming concerts and performances contact: Professor Andrew Schultz on (02) 4221 3985

-RP

For more information, contact:

media@uow.edu.au
University of Wollongong
Ph: (02) 4221 5942; fax (02) 4221 3128