Liza Lim

Liza Lim (born 1966 in Perth, Western Australia) is an Australian classical composer.

Liza Lim writes concert music (chamber and orchestral works) as well as music theatre and has collaborated with artists on a number of installation and video projects. Her work reflects her interests in Asian ritual culture, the aesthetics of Aboriginal art and shows the influence of non-Western music performance practice. She has written so far (2008) three operatic works.

Biography

At the age of 11, Liza Lim was encouraged by her teachers at Presbyterian Ladies' College, Melbourne to turn from piano and violin to composition. She has said that she "owes everything to them". [Liz van der Nieuwenhof, "Hello Liza Lim, composer", Weekend Australian magazine, 25-26 September 2004, p. 11] Lim earned her Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Queensland, her Master of Music from the University of Melbourne (1996), and her Bachelor of Arts from the Victorian College of the Arts (1986). She has studied composition in Melbourne with Richard David Hames, Riccardo Formosa, and in Amsterdam with Ton de Leeuw. She has been a guest lecturer at the Darmstadt Summer School, the University of California, San Diego, Cornell University, Getty Research Institute, major Australian universities and at the IRCAM Agora Festival. She was a lecturer of composition at Melbourne University in 1991. Liza Lim was the guest curator for the twilight concert series of the 2006 Adelaide Festival of Arts.

She has been commissioned by some of the most eminent performers in the world including the Los Angeles Philharmonic (for whom she wrote 'Ecstatic Architecture' for the inaugural season of the Frank Gehry-designed Walt Disney Concert Hall), Ensemble InterContemporain, Ensemble Modern, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Arditti String Quartet. Her work has featured at festivals such as Festival d'automne à Paris, MaerzMusik at the Berliner Festspiele, Venice Biennale, Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival and all the major Australian festivals.

Since 1986, Lim has worked extensively with members of the [http://elision.org.au/ ELISION Ensemble] ; she is married to [http://elision.org.au/players/buckley.html Daryl Buckley] , its artistic director. In 2005, Lim was appointed the composer-in-residence with the Sydney Symphony for two years. Among other works, the orchestra commissioned –jointly with the radio station Bayerischer Rundfunk – her work "The Compass"; in its premiere performance on Date|2006-08-23 at the Sydney Opera House it was conducted by Alexander Briger, William Barton played the didgeridoo.

Sponsored by the German Academic Exchange Service, she spent one year in 2007/2008 as artist-in-residence in Berlin where she developed her third opera, "The Navigator", inspired by Tristan and Isolde to a libretto by Patricia Sykes. This work will be premiered at the 2008 Brisbane Festival. [http://brisbanefestival.com.au/e_thenavigator.html] . She has been appointed professor in composition at the University of Huddersfield from March 2008. [cite web
url = http://www.hud.ac.uk/mh/music/news_archive.php#mua101
title = Music and Music Technology News Archive
accessdate = 2008-04-29
year = 2008
month = March
publisher = University of Huddersfield]

elected Works

*1988/1989 "Garden of Earthly Desire" for flute, oboe, clarinet, electric guitar, mandolin, harp, violin, viola, violoncello, contrabass, percussion
*1989 "Voodoo Child" for soprano solo, flute/piccolo, clarinet, violin, violoncello, trombone, piano, percussion
*1990 "Diabolical Birds" for piccolo, bass clarinet, piano, violin, violoncello, vibraphone
*1991–1993 "The Oresteia, A Memory Theatre", opera
*1993 "Li Shang Lin" for coloratura soprano, 15 instruments
*1994/1995 "Sri-Vidya, Utterances of Adoration" for choir and orchestra
*1994/1995 "Bar-do'i-thos-grol", 7-night installation performance based on "The Tibetan Book of the Dead", artist Domenico de Clario
*1995 "Street of Crocodiles" for flute, oboe, alto saxophone, alto trombone, cimbalom/cymbal, violin, viola, violoncello, baroque violoncello
*1996 "The Alchemical Wedding" for orchestra (22 instruments)
*1996 "Inguz (Fertility)" for clarinet in A, violoncello
*1997 "The Heart's Ear" for flute/piccolo, clarinet, violin I, violin II, viola, violoncello
*1997 "Philtre", Hardanger fiddle solo or retuned violin
*1999 "Sonorous Bodies" for koto and voice solo, in collaboration with video artist Judith Wright
*1999 "Veil" for flute/bass flute, bass clarinet, trumpet in C, percussion, piano, violin, violoncello
*1999 "Yuè Lìng Jié" ("Moon Spirit Feasting"), A Chinese ritual street opera, libretto by Beth Yahp
*2001 "Machine for Contacting the Dead" for twenty-seven instruments
*2002–2004 "Ecstatic Architecture", commissioned for the inaugural season at the Walt Disney Concert Hall
*2004 "Immer Fliessender" ("Ever Flowing"), a companion-piece for Gustav Mahler's Ninth Symphony
*2004 "In the Shadow's Light" for string quartet, commissioned by Festival d'automne à Paris for the Kairos-Quartett
*2004/2005 "The Quickening" for soprano and qin, commissioned by the Festival d'Automne à Paris
*2005 "Flying Banner" "Fanfare" for orchestra, after Wang To
*2005 "Mother Tongue", for soprano & 15 instruments, poems by Patricia Sykes, commissioned by Festival d'Automne, Ensemble Intercontemporain & ELISION
*2005 "Songs Found in Dream" for oboe, bass clarinet, alto sax, trumpet, 2 percussion, viola, cello
*2005 "Glass House Mountains", installation work with artist Judy Watson
*2006 "The Compass" for orchestra with flute and didgeridoo soloists
*2006 "Shimmer Songs" for string quartet, harp, 3 percussion
*2006 "City of Falling Angels" for 12 percussion
*2007 "Weaver–of–Fictions" for alto Ganassi recorder
*2007 "The Long Forgetting" for tenor Ganassi recorder
*2007 "Wild Winged–one" for solo trumpet
*2007 "Sensorium" for soprano, C-tenor recorders, baroque harp, viola d'amore
*2007 "The Navigator", opera for 5 singers, 16 instruments and electronics, libretto by Patricia Sykes
*2008 "Ochred String" for oboe, viola, cello, double bass
*2008 "Sonorous Body" for solo BMusic|flat clarinet
*2008 "Well of Dreams" for solo alto trombone

Awards

*1996 Australia Council fellowship
*1996 (inaugural) Young Australian Creative Fellowship
*2002 APRA Classical Music Award (Best Composition)
*2004 [http://www.paullowin.perpetual.com.au/ Paul Lowin Award] for "Ecstatic Architecture"
*2007 APRA Classical Music Award (Orchestral Work Of The Year) for "Flying Banner"

References

* [http://www.elision.org.au/composers/lim/ Composer's home page]
*cite web
url = http://www.theage.com.au/cgi-bin/common/popupPrintArticle.pl?path=/articles/2008/04/20/1208629720175.html
title = Lim's pulse of life
accessdate = 2008-04-28
last = Shineberg
first = Susan
date = Date|2007-04-21
publisher = The Age

External links

* [http://www.amcoz.com.au/composers/composer.asp?id=344 Australian Music Centre: biography and library of her work]
* [http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-url?search-type=ss&index=music&field-artist=Liza%20Lim Recordings at Amazon]