New Australian Works

Applicants to The Sydney 2023 are encouraged to explore the range of new Australian works entered into the 2021 Composing the Future competition for inclusion in their Preliminary Round Recital programs. All works listed on list page meet the criteria of being composed after 1 January 2000 and applicants should check that the duration is of 7 minutes or longer. We encourage applicants to make email contact with the composer directly as in some cases you may even be giving the premiere in 2023!

The Sydney has a history of commissioning renowned Australian composers to write works to be played by all competitors in the Competition. In 2016, Artistic Director Piers Lane AO decided, while making the performance of an Australian work the only compulsory requirement in the solo rounds of The Sydney, to make the choice of that work entirely the competitors’ own, hoping that a wider range of Australian works would be explored and performed.

A selection of entries into the 2021 Composing the Future competition from which 2023 applicants may choose to select their Australian work/s from.

Composer Work Score Contact
Julian Yu The Well-Tampered Klavier Full Score
Colin Spiers Piano Sonata No.6 (Sonata Classica) Sample Contact for Score
Ronan Apcar Three Stages of Accepting an Ugly Self-Portrait Sample Contact for Score
Colin Spiers Eine Kleine Nachtmusik Contact for Score
Mark Isaacs Sonata for Piano Sample Contact for Score
Mark Isaacs Songs Without Words Sample Contact for Score
Alicia Grant Solar Flares Sample Purchase Score
Robert  Constable Three Silent Film Scenes – for Piano Sample Contact for Score
Martin Lass Journey to Sydney – Snapshots from an Uncommon Childhood Sample Contact for Score
Jack Symonds Guardare, meravigliarsi… five nocturnes for solo piano Sample Contact for Score
Barry Conyngham Haiku Sample Contact for Score
Sam Wu Tiny Forests Sample Contact for Score
Aristea Mellos Preludes Sample Contact for Score
Mark Grandison Broken Threads Full Score
Gina Ismene Chitty The Dance of the Robotic Cyborg Sample Purchase Score
Gina Ismene Chitty Hexagonal Etude Augmentations Sample Purchase Score
John Rotar Sonata No.1 Gongs and Bells from the Black Bamboo Cathedra Sample Contact for Score
Amanda Handel  The Reckoning  Sample Contact for Score
Anthony Bozicevic Twelve Minor Preludes Sample Contact for Score
Robert Hao Songwriting Sample Contact for Score
Tristan Coelho Ice Monuments Sample Contact for Score
Chris Williams Upon the Shore of a Strange Land Sample Contact for Score
Peggy Polias Sonata: Ode Sample Contact for Score
Emma Greenhill Pixels Sample Purchase Score
Justin Wiliams Three Intermezzi Sample Contact for Score
Robert Melbourne Constellations Sample Contact for Score
Karen Lemon The Mark of Sorrow Sample Contact for Score
Gordon Kerry Piano Sonata No.2 Full Score

Composing the Future Prize Winners

Colin Spiers was awarded the first prize of $20,000 with his winning composition titled ‘Eine Kleine Nachtmusik’, which is a work inspired by a surrrealist painting. In four movements and just under twenty minutes in length it is dazzling pianistically. Mr Spiers’ work will receive a world premiere by Italian/Slovenian pianist Alexander Gadjiev, the winner of the 2021 Sydney International Online Piano Competition, during his national tour in October and November in 2022.

Five other entries were awarded cash prizes of $2,000 each and will be given public performances by the jury pianists during 2022, to mark the 45th anniversary of The Sydney. 

Justin Williams
Justin Williams holds the position of Assistant Principal Viola with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and is the founding violist of the Tinalley String Quartet (TSQ).
Martin Lass
Martin Lass is a classical and classical crossover violinist and composer. After studying at the Conservatorium of Music in Sydney—violin with John Gould, Robert Pikler, and Lim Kek Tjiang and composition with Ross Edwards and Edwin Carr—he played with the Australian Chamber Orchestra in its early years, was a principle player in the Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra, and played with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra for over fifteen years.
Colin Spiers
Brisbane-born pianist Colin Spiers studied at the Q’ld Conservatorium of Music where he graduated with its medal for excellence in 1979.
Tristan Coelho
Tristan Coelho is a Sydney-based composer who writes music largely inspired by nature or our digital, data-driven world. Project highlights include Hokusai Mixtape for flute, viola, harp and live electronics toured by Contra Concerts in 2021; Rhythm City, for piano, live video sampler and electronics performed by Zubin Kanga; Smell of the Earth, commissioned for the Canberra International Music Festival and performed by Tambuco Percussion; read/write error, commissioned by Ensemble Offspring and finalist in the APRA Art Music Awards, and an interactive music soundscape walk inspired by the local surrounds of Mount Wilson in the Blue Mountains created in collaboration with harpist Emily Granger.
Sam Wu
Sam Wu’s music deals with the beauty in blurred boundaries. Many of his works center around extra-musical themes: architecture and urban planning, climate science, and the search for exoplanets that harbor life.
Peggy Polias
Peggy Polias is a composer, music engraver, curator and arts professional residing and working on Darug land in Sydney. She is currently undertaking a Doctor of Musical Arts in Composition at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.

Composing the Future is supported by Creative Partnerships Australia through Plus 1