Claire Edwardes OAM

I was honoured to receive Australia Day honours in the form of a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) on 26 January 2022. There hasn’t been a ceremony as yet so no medal to speak of to don at official functions, but as someone who is still relatively young and very much mid career this feels like a moment to celebrate for both the arts and an almost equal list of female recipients of these Australia Day honours. I have had so many people from my past and current life reach out with lovely words and congratulations - not least these very fond memories from Roger Woodward OBE:

"One of the few, very special moments which are impossible to forget from the period of the Sydney Spring Festival (1989-2001) was was when you first lifted your drum stick to Xenakis. Your inspirational direction since then, brought others together successfully for more than twenty-five years.

Throughout the 1990s when I told Xenakis about the fearless, Amazonian relationship you had created with his works he chuckled in delight even though it was during the final period when he had begun withdrawing from the world.

It was because of you and those with courage like you that the exploration of the new prevailed in Sydney when I believed it might not...I deeply admired your determination to preserve all that was worthwhile in Sydney. You confirmed everything I always believed about you as an artist and as the one who would provide convincing leadership. Your achievements over twenty-five years are amazing. You are a great musician and human being."

Read this Limelight article about all the artists who received honours. Photo by Shayne Leslie Photography.

RHYTHMS OF CHANGE - WHY NOW?

- a new Australian opus of percussion music, written by female identifying composers for the next generation -

Rhythms of Change (LISTEN) is my latest project directly addressing the current disparity in the representation of women in classical music and specifically in the world of solo percussion music. My project was triggered by the realisation that the majority of the pieces that I had been performing throughout my career were written by men. To re-address this gender disparity, for Rhythms of Change (WATCH) I commissioned seven of my favourite emerging and established female identifying Australian composers to write new works for solo mallet percussion – and I am so happy with the results!

As a commissioning and performance project my Rhythms of Change initiative ensures that the next opus of Australian percussion music will be more fairly represented by women, so that the next generation of musicians can do what makes sense in our day and age – play music written equally by male AND female composers. The works are designed to be performed by a range of musicians – from high school to tertiary students, through to professionals, with the compositions made readily available for purchase through the Australian Music Centre. I hope you enjoy listening to the works - and for those budding percussionists out there, I urge you to consider programming some of this awesome new Australian music in your next recital.

The new works are by a range of esteemed Australian composers from emerging to established and reflect our Australian culture and recent lived experiences. Maria Grenfell is a Tasmanian composer originally from New Zealand who has written a huge array of music for the Tasmanian Symphony especially. Her new marimba solo, Stings and Wings is in three movements and was inspired by her work on the film Quoll Farm with the various movements representing insects - jack jumpers, dragonfly’s and moths.

Peggy Polias is a mid-career composer who was recently part of the Classical Next Innovation Awards nominated Composing Women program at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. Written during the first outbreak of COVID in Australia in 2020, her new work Receptor is a response to the pandemic, specifically the physicality of the tiny virus entity in all its various stages.

Emerging composer Ella Macens wrote her piece Falling Embers during the 2019/2020 Australian bushfires. Tracing a glowing particle suspended above desolate land where all has been lost and destroyed, the piece beautifully explores the last moments of something – the final glow before life burns out. Her upbeat marimba solo Verve was written for me as part of the Composing Women project at the Sydney Conservatorium and it’s a real show stopper.

Percussionist, composer and long-time friend, Bree van Reyk’s innovative new vibraphone solo Slipstreams utilises superballs, hexbugs, finger cymbals, snare wire and hot rods to create an array of original textures, tone colours and funky rhythms.

Adelaide composer Anne Cawrse is currently experiencing a purple patch with double success at the 2021 Art Music Awards and a Peggy Glanville Hicks residency in 2022 – her new 3 movement marimba solo Dance Vignettes (1. Meditations & Hymns, 2. Fancy & Flight 3. Scamper & Scoot) can be performed as a set or as separate pieces and it is stunningly idiomatic writing with a notable Australian flavour influenced by Ross Edwards.

Alice Chance’s new vibraphone solo Mirrorings is a sweet and melodic homage to how people relate and interact through our recent lockdowns and periods of isolation. And Elena Kats-Chernin has written two works dedicated to my two daughters (Poppy’s Polka and Violet’s Etude) and they are just a pleasure to perform!

And what is the future of Rhythms of Change? Well I hope that Part 2 in the coming years will see the commissioning, recording and dissemination new percussion solos by international female-identifying composers. But for now I’m just catching my breath for a minute, to bask in this great new Australian music – I hope you enjoy it!

"I am very grateful for your project and feel that the gender balance among composers for percussion is the most important challenge we face currently - I feel the need for greater equity more than ever right now. Thank you for your efforts Claire!” Steve Schick (legendary US percussionist)

Putting My Marimba where My Mouth Is!

Claire Edwardes is putting her marimba where her mouth is for equality and representation

One of Australia's leading percussionists and advocates for change is determined to diversify the repertoire – even if she has to do it all herself.

by Hugh Robertson on 8 September, 2021

When looking at ways to address the lack of representation for female composers and composers of colour in mainstream repertoire, it can be hard to know where to start. Do you focus on live performances or on recordings? Do you commission new works or do you program repeat performances of recent commissions? Do you advocate for change at the top end of town, or do you focus on building from the ground up? For Claire Edwardes, the answer to these questions is simply ‘yes’.

Over 20 years, Edwardes has been one of the driving forces behind new music in Australia. Whether in her solo practice or with her group Ensemble Offspring, Edwardes is constantly interrogating the way things are done in this country, and advocating for them to be done better. You may be familiar with Offspring’s commitment to new music, or their long-standing encouragement and advocacy for Indigenous composers through the Ngarra-Burria program. But Edwardes also has three ongoing projects centred on her own practise as a percussionist.

READ FULL ARTICLE HERE
https://www.limelightmagazine.com.au/features/claire-edwardes-is-putting-her-marimba-where-her-mouth-is-for-equality-and-representation/

Claire 2020 Bells RMP.jpg