225 WORD BIOGRAPHY

(2024)

Claire Edwardes OAM is Australia's ‘sorceress of percussion’ (City News, Canberra) and the only Australian to win the 'APRA Art Music Luminary Award’ four times. A charismatic percussion virtuosi, Claire leaps between her role as Ensemble Offspring’s Artistic Director (Australia’s leading new music ensemble), solo recitals and concerto performances with all of the Australian symphony orchestras including recent premieres of works by Anne Cawrse, Natalie Williams and Iain Grandage. In 2022 Claire was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia for her indelible contribution to Australian music and in 2023 she was the recipient of the Australian Women in Music Award for Creative Leadership. 

Recently described in Limelight as a ‘unique treasure of Australia’s musical community’ and in The Age as ‘an invigorating musical life force’, Claire has hosted Play School, been an ARIA Award finalist twice and has performed as a soloist all over the world – from Vancouver to Amsterdam, the Gold Coast to Malta, and Huddersfield to Alice Springs. Widely known for her genre-spanning solo concerts, plus commissioning and premiering hundreds of new works for marimba, vibraphone, drums and more unusual instruments such as the waterphone, she passionately advocates for gender equity and diversity in all that she undertakes. As a true trailblazer Claire breaks down barriers between art music and audiences with her famous on-stage infectious enthusiasm for bringing new music to new audiences.