Dr Katy Abbott’s compositions have been commissioned, performed, published and recorded around the world, brought to life by many of leading Australian ensembles and orchestras including Sydney, Adelaide, Tasmanian and Melbourne Symphony Orchestras Flinders Quartet, Halcyon, Ensemble Three, The Song Company, Syzygy Ensemble, Ensemble Offspring.
Her works have been performed prominently in the USA as well as UK, Europe, Asia and featured in many Australian and International music festivals.
Katy will be Melbourne Symphony Orchestra’s Composer-In-Residence in 2024.
Dr Katy Abbott’s compositions have been commissioned, performed, published and recorded around the world, brought to life by many of leading Australian ensembles and orchestras including Sydney, Adelaide, Tasmanian and Melbourne Symphony Orchestras Flinders Quartet, Halcyon, Ensemble Three, The Song Company, Syzygy Ensemble, Ensemble Offspring.
Her works have been performed prominently in the USA as well as UK, Europe, Asia and featured in many Australian and International music festivals.
Premiere of 'Splitting The Ambivalence', Melbourne Recital Centre, 2022
“There is an honesty in this writing that is compelling, arresting and holds the attention”
— Linda Kouvaras, musicologist, author and composer
Gondwana Chorale
Hidden Thoughts II: Return To Sender, performers at MONA
Ensemble Three: 'Midnight Songs'
Premiere of Hidden Thoughts I: Do I Matter? Syzygy Ensemble at the Ath2, Melbourne
“Abbott demonstrates a keen ability to musically capture and transform human experience through a poignantly sensitive approach to composition.”
— International Alliance of Women in Music Journal, 2012
Dr Katy Abbott says of her music:
“With my music, I try to capture the unique, the ordinary and the quirky; the things that make us human. I am curious about our relationships, with each other and with ourselves. I listen for the stories we tell and the quiet reflections we keep to ourselves and look for the moments of beauty, of struggle and grief and the humour that connects us across time and place.”
Dr Katy Abbott says of her music:
“With my music, I try to capture the unique, the ordinary and the quirky; the things that make us human.
I am curious about our relationships, with each other and with ourselves.
I listen for the stories we tell and the quiet reflections we keep to ourselves and look for the moments of beauty, of struggle and grief and the humour that connects us across time and place.”
Katy Abbott: Featured Works
This work merges real-life stories and climate realities using the artwork of Australian Artist Matthew Quick as a launching point.
A symphonic tale for narrator and orchestra depicting the empowering and inspiring story of Li Cunxin, Mao’s Last Dancer.
The current and acclaimed series of festival works sourcing text from the public: Do I Matter?, Return To Sender and Stories of Awe (2024).
Punch for Brass Ensemble + Timpani (with companion piece Fanfare for the Melancholy for Brass Ensemble).
Duo for vibraphone and cello, this lush and evocative work was composed for Claire Edwardes and Julian Smiles.
Structurally based on the Scarlatti Sonatas, Glisten is a popular sparkling, short virtuosic work.
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Introduced Species, Sydney Symphony Orchestra
“Katy Abbott delivers something exceptional in this work – a real marriage of the disturbing message of the intersection of a supposedly innocent baby’s toy and insidious environmental catastrophe and the extraordinarily evocative musical language from simple ideas that both entertains while it disturbs.”
Professor Rhoderick McNeill
Introduced Species, Sydney Symphony Orchestra
“Katy Abbott delivers something exceptional in this work – a real marriage of the disturbing message of the intersection of a supposedly innocent baby’s toy and insidious environmental catastrophe and the extraordinarily evocative musical language from simple ideas that both entertains while it disturbs.”
Professor Rhoderick McNeill