Stephen Leek

Stephen Leek (born 1959) is an Australian composer, conductor, educator, and publisher.

Early life

Leek was born in Sydney, Australia in 1959, lived in Brisbane from 1964 through 1969, and then spent the rest of his childhood in Canberra. After coming late to music, Leek took up the cello as a teenager and also became a member of the Canberra Children's Choir. He attended Melrose High School.

Following school and after a period of working in Sydney, Leek returned to Canberra in 1979 and commenced a Bachelor of Arts degree at the Canberra School of Music. [ [http://www.stephenleek.com/?page_id=19 Stephen Leek » Biography ] ] After graduating in 1984 with a double degree majoring in Cello Performance and Composition, [ [http://www.stephenleek.com/?page_id=19 Stephen Leek » Biography ] ] Leek moved to Sydney where he free-lanced as a cellist and as a composer - getting more work as a music copyist than anything else. As a music copyist he was able work for many of the active composers around Sydney at that time. He also worked as a music copyist and arranger for Musica Viva Australia, the Australian Broadcasting Commission, and the Midday Show. [ [http://www.stephenleek.com/?page_id=19 Stephen Leek » Biography ] ]

Choral work and composition

The Australian Music Centre website describes Leek as a pioneer of composer residency schemes in the Australian music community, and states that his involvement with numerous groups across Australia has strongly influenced the nature and directions of new Australian choral music. [ [http://www.amcoz.com.au/composers/composer.asp?id=135 Stephen Leek, Represented Composer, Australian Music Centre ] ] He has been described as Australia's best known choral composer. [ [http://www.mca.org.au/web/content/view/68/6 Music Council of Australia - New Music: Now! - Young Composers, their work and ideas ] ]

Over the past 20 years Leek has worked with ensembles including The Sydney Children's Choir, Tasmanian Dance Company, AusDance, Gondwana Voices, St Peters Chorale at St. Peters Lutheran College (Brisbane), Glenn Ellyn Children's Choir (USA), The Australian Youth Orchestra, Opera Queensland, Tapiola Children's Choir (Finland), Taipei American School (Taiwan), Leeds Girls' High School (UK) and The Formosa Choir (Taiwan).

Leek continues to compose, and also undertakes residencies, teaching and conducting engagements. His music is published by Morton Music, Oxford University Press, Boosey & Hawkes and through his own international publishing venture. He teaches Composition and Improvisation at the Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University.

The Australian Voices

In 1993 Leek, with Graeme Morton, founded The Australian Voices, an elite ensemble of young adult singers who work to promote Australian composers and change the landscape of choral music in Australia. [ [http://www.theaustralianvoices.com/?cat=32 The Australian Voices » Staff ] ] The Australian Voices has performed and promoted new Australian music throughout the UK, Europe, North and South America, Canada and Asia. They have performed for Australian Broadcasting Commission radio live concerts, appeared at major concerts for festivals and events, and produced 7 CDs and 2 kits on creative choral singing. Leek continues as artistic director and conductor of the group, which is based in Brisbane.

The Australian Voices have received numerous accolades under Leek and Morton, including multiple gold medals at the World Choir Games in China (2006), First Prize in the Youth Choir Category, First Prize in the Chamber Choir Category and finalists in the Choir of the World Competition at the International Choral Eisteddfod in Llangollen, Wales (2001), Best Performance and other major prizes at the Bela Bartok International Choral Competition in Hungary (1998), an invitation to perform as the official Australian Choir at the 4th World Symposium on Choral Music, held in Sydney (1996), and the Sunnie Award for Best Classical Recording, for the CD “Great Southern Spirits” (1994). [ [http://www.theaustralianvoices.com/?cat=16 The Australian Voices » About ] ]

Acclaim and awards

Leek has been the recipient of a Sounds Australian National Award for the Most Distinguished Contribution to Australian Fine Music by an Individual, an Australia Council Fellowship, a Churchill Fellowship, and the Australian Federation Medal. [ [http://www.amcoz.com.au/composers/composer.asp?id=135 Stephen Leek, Represented Composer, Australian Music Centre ] ]

In 2003 Leek was awarded the Robert Edler International Prize for Choral Music. Leek was cited by an international jury for his ‘decisive influence’ on both the Australian music scene and the international choral community as a composer and conductor. [ [http://www.gramophone.co.uk/newsMainTemplate.asp?storyID=1796&newssectionID=1 Gramophone - News - The world's best classical music magazine ] ]

In 2004, his composition "die dunkle Erde" was commissioned by the Brisbane Writers Festival and in 2006 was selected by the Australian Broadcasting Commission to represent Australia at the UNESCO International Rostrum of Composers in Paris. [ [http://www.abc.net.au/classic/daily/stories/s1718025.htm ABC Classic FM Music Details: Thursday 7 September 2006 ] ] Based on texts by the contemporary Brisbane-based indigenous poet Samuel Wagan Watson, the work is scored for speaker, didgeridoo and voices.

In 2005 Leek was Composer in Residence at the Marktoberdorf Musik Akademy in Bavaria, Germany, and guest conductor with the acclaimed Formosa Choir in concerts in Taiwan.

In 2006, Leek presented workshop sessions and concerts at the Australian National Conference of Orff Schulwerk. [ [http://www.ancos.org.au/conference/programme.htm National Conference Daily Programme ] ]

In 2007 he fulfilled numerous commissions and undertook several guest conducting positions around the world including work and concerts with The Taiwan National Youth Choir.

References