Hidden Thoughts III: Stories of Awe
*(2024)*
Narrator + Voices + Orchestra
Duration: 45 minutes
Text: Katy Abbott with Maureen Johnson.
Please contribute a story for this work by completing this short questionnaire: bit.ly/stories-of-awe
Premiere August 9 + 10, 2024 Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.
> See this page for more details
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Glacial Thunder
(2024)
String Orchestra
Duration: 8:00 minutes
Glacial Thunder was composed for and commissioned by Melbourne Chamber Orchestra for the opening of their 2024 Season, Music Speaks.
Glacial Thunder aims to pick up on the nuances of resonance in regards to communication; through playful gestures and ensemble “stillness”. Without any direct or specific narrative, the work “plays” with ideas and illuminates the interaction and communication between the musicians and also the composer-orchestra-audience dynamic.
Dedicated to Heather Rowell on the occasion of her 80th birthday.
“Striking, gestural, and crunchy at times… tightly packed melodies and interlocking rhythms ricocheted around the ensemble, morphing into catchy thematic fragments… demonstrating Abbott’s skill in being able to challenge both performer and listener without straying into esotericism.
It was an electric – and thoughtful – choice to kick off MCO’s first concert of the season.”
Lily Begg, Limelight Magazine, March 1, 2024.
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(coming soon)
Fanfare for the Melancholy
(2021)
Brass Ensemble
Duration: 3:45 minutes
Fast Ride In A Suave Machine
(2006/arr.2020, Steven Stanke)
Orchestra
Duration: 7 minutes
3.2.3.2. 4.3.3.1. Timp + 2. 10.8.6.4.2.
With thanks to Steven Stanke for this Orchestral arrangement.
Fast Ride in a Suave Machine is a play on a well-known tune. Sometimes, when we re-visit rhymes that we knew as children, it is a curious revelation to understand the true and gruesome nature of the text.
Examples of this are Ring-a-Ring-a-Rosie which had its origins in the era of the Black Plague or Rock-a-bye-Baby, where the baby falls ‘cradle and all’.
This work was commissioned by Orchestras Australia as part of a composer attachment in 2005/06. It was supported with the assistance of the Australia Council Music Board in the Composer_Connecting_Community initiative.
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Stars That Split The Night
(2017/arr. 2023, Joseph Twist)
Mezzo-sop + Male Chorus + Orchestra
Duration: 8 minutes
Commissioned by Don Immel and Melbourne Conservatorium of Music
Sister work for Fanfare for the Melancholy (2021)
Purchase Punch: The Brass Music of Katy Abbott on CD
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1.1.2.1+ sax. 1.1.1.0. Hp. Timp + 2. 8.6.4.2.1.
Commissioned: Melbourne Symphony Orchestra together with Albert H. Maggs Award.
Premiere: March 5-7, 2014, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra/Dollman.
Process Diary & Analysis available from Katy Abbott by request.
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Cross Sections
(2014)
Brass Ensemble + Solo Trumpet + Trombone
Duration: 16 minutes
Premiere: Sydney International Festival of Brass and MCM Brass Ensemble Tour to China in 2014.
This work is in three movements: Cross Section I, II and III. It is suitable for tertiary brass ensemble with advanced players on the solo trumpet and trombone lines. The commission was to feature Assoc Prof Joel Brennan (trumpet) with Prof Don Immel (trombone) as soloists whilst giving both students and teachers that chance to musically interact, to create stronger human and musical connections through the score.
‘Cross Section II’ uses the composer’s Nespresso Coffee Machine daily habit as a launching point for the textural drone in the haunting second movement.
Appears on Punch: The Brass Music of Katy Abbott.
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1.1.1.1. 2.1.1.1. Hp. Narr. Timp + 2. 8.6.4.2.1.
Commissioned by Adelaide Symphony Orchestra and Symphony Australia
Recording: ABC Classics featuring Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra.
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Resources (see The Peasant Prince Feature Page for full list)
Teacher Resource Book for Primary Classroom (Digital and Hardcopy available)
Souls of Fire: Symphony No. 1
(2004)
Orchestra
Duration: 25 minutes
2222 – 4221 – Timp + 2 – Hp – Strings
Recorded: MasterWorks of the New Era Vol 12: Kiev Philharmonic Orchestra/Winston
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Carmen Vitae: Orchestral Fanfare
(2000)
Orchestra
Duration: 4 minutes
2.1.2.0 (+ opt saxophone section). 4.3.3.1. Hp. Timp + 3. 10.8.6.4.2.
Carmen Vitae: Orchestral Fanfare was commissioned by Presbyterian Ladies’ College, Melbourne for the school’s 125th Anniversary celebration concert at Hamer Hall in 2000.
It has since been performed by Sydney Symphony Orchestra together with the SYO, and the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra together with the AdYO, amongst other performances.
A version for Wind Symphony will be available later in 2024. Please contact if interested.
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Fast Ride In A Suave Machine
(2006/arr.2021, Nicholas Enrico Williams)
Wind Symphony
Duration: 7 minutes
With deep thanks to Nicholas Enrico Williams for this 2021 arrangement for Wind Symphony of Fast Ride In A Suave Machine. This arrangement was premiered in April 9, 2022 at the Melbourne Recital Centre by the University of Melbourne Wind Symphony.
Fast Ride in a Suave Machine is a play on a well-known tune. Sometimes, when we re-visit rhymes that we knew as children, it is a curious revelation to understand the true and gruesome nature of the text.
Examples of this are Ring-a-Ring-a-Rosie which had its origins in the era of the Black Plague or Rock-a-bye-Baby, where the baby falls ‘cradle and all’.
This work was commissioned by Orchestras Australia as part of a composer attachment in 2005/06. It was supported with the assistance of the Australia Council Music Board in the Composer_Connecting_Community initiative.
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Jumeirah Jane
(2008)
Wind Symphony
Duration: 3 minutes
The term ‘Jumeirah Jane’ is a colloquial Dubai description of an expatriate woman who has accompanied her husband to Dubai and lives the high life in the lovely beach suburb of Jumeirah (pronounced Joo-mear-ah as in ‘hear’). A Jumeirah Jane spends her days at the gym, the café and ferrying her children to soccer and ballet lessons in between mani/pedicures and organising her staff.
Further research on chat-sites, blogs and information boards (which can be quite heated and opinionated – just google ‘Jumeirah Jane’) suggests that a Jumeirah Jane lives in Dubai with no understanding of her cultural environment nor inclination to learn. At the most extreme (negative) end of the continuum, a Jumeirah Jane thinks herself above those around her.
This piece is a response to my initial observations of such women and a cheeky play at the imagined attitudes they have towards others in Dubai, strutting their stuff around the footpath with a superiority complex over people from other cultures who come here to work to support their families at home.
It is perhaps also written in response to my niggling fear that I may be thought of as Jumeirah Jane myself – because really, pedicures are lovely, I love my coffee and I ferry my children to and from school! Perhaps I will have to learn how to spend more on designer clothes and stop work to strut my stuff at the beach and shopping malls!
This piece is dedicated to my God-daughter Isobel – quite sure of the fact that (although beautiful) she will one day not become a Jumeirah Jane of Sydney!
Katy Abbott. 2008
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Listen on Soundcloud
University of Melbourne Wind Symphony/Williams.
Fanfare for the Melancholy
(2021)
Brass Ensemble
Duration: 3:45 minutes
Cross Sections
(2014)
Brass Ensemble + Solo Trumpet + Trombone
Duration: 16 minutes
Premiere: Sydney International Festival of Brass and MCM Brass Ensemble Tour to China in 2014.
This work is in three movements: Cross Section I, II and III. It is suitable for tertiary brass ensemble with advanced players on the solo trumpet and trombone lines. The commission was to feature Assoc Prof Joel Brennan (trumpet) with Prof Don Immel (trombone) as soloists whilst giving both students and teachers that chance to musically interact, to create stronger human and musical connections through the score.
‘Cross Section II’ uses the composer’s Nespresso Coffee Machine daily habit as a launching point for the textural drone in the haunting second movement.
Appears on Punch: The Brass Music of Katy Abbott.
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Commissioned by Don Immel and Melbourne Conservatorium of Music
Sister work for Fanfare for the Melancholy (2021)
Purchase Punch: The Brass Music of Katy Abbott on CD
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Hidden Thoughts III: Stories of Awe
*(2024)*
Narrator + Voices + Orchestra
Duration: 45 minutes
Text: Katy Abbott with Maureen Johnson.
Please contribute a story for this work by completing this short questionnaire: bit.ly/stories-of-awe
Premiere August 9 + 10, 2024 Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.
> See this page for more details
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Hidden Thoughts II: Return to Sender
(2020)
Mezzo-sop + Narrator + String Quartet
Duration: 60 minutes
Text: Katy Abbott with Maureen Johnson.
From the unopened, returned letters of encouragement from Australians to asylum seekers on Nauru Island.
Composed with support of a Australia Council for the Arts Fellowship (Music).
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Also available for String Orchestra. Score + Parts available soon. Please use the Contact Page.
Hidden Thoughts I: Do I Matter?
(2017)
Vocal Sextet + Mixed Sextet
Duration: 60 minutes
SSATBB Voices + Mixed Sextet (Flute, Clarinet in Bb, Piano, Percussion, Violin, Cello)
Anonymous answers from a survey created by Katy Abbott and writer and cartoonist Kaz Cooke asking women for their ‘hidden thoughts’.
Commissioned with the assistance of Australia Council for the Arts (Arts Projects for Individuals).
This work was the winner of the 2019 Paul Lowin Prize (song-cycle category).
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Interview and (almost full) recording on ABC FM New Waves Podcast
Milushka: A Chamber Opera in One Act
(2000)
Soprano, Mezzo-Soprano and Baritone (cast). Mixed Quintet: Clarinet in Bb, Bassoon, Percussion, Violin, Cello.
Duration: 40 minutes
Soprano
Mezzo Soprano
Baritone
Clarinet in Bb
Bassoon
Percussion
Violin
Cello
Libretto: Megan McLean + Katy Abbott
Winner of the University of Melbourne Opera Composition Award 2000.
Subsequent performances at Port Fairy Spring Music Festival, Chamber Made Opera, Macedon Music and ABC FM Young Australia Program.
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Hidden Thoughts III: Stories of Awe
*(2024)*
Narrator + Voices + Orchestra
Duration: 45 minutes
Text: Katy Abbott with Maureen Johnson.
Please contribute a story for this work by completing this short questionnaire: bit.ly/stories-of-awe
Premiere August 9 + 10, 2024 Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.
> See this page for more details
. . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Hidden Thoughts II: Return to Sender
(2020)
Mezzo-sop + Narrator + String Quartet
Duration: 60 minutes
Text: Katy Abbott with Maureen Johnson.
From the unopened, returned letters of encouragement from Australians to asylum seekers on Nauru Island.
Composed with support of a Australia Council for the Arts Fellowship (Music).
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Also available for String Orchestra. Score + Parts available soon. Please use the Contact Page.
1.1.1.1. 2.1.1.1. Hp. Narr. Timp + 2. 8.6.4.2.1.
Commissioned by Adelaide Symphony Orchestra and Symphony Australia
Recording: ABC Classics featuring Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra.
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Resources (see The Peasant Prince Feature Page for full list)
Teacher Resource Book for Primary Classroom (Digital and Hardcopy available)
Crime Scene Investigation
(2004)
Narrator + SSA Choir + String Orchestra
Duration: 8 minutes
Text: Bec Christensen + Katy Abbott
Commissioned: MLC School, Sydney.
Premiere: 5 May 2005, Sydney Opera House.
Appears on Famous: The Choral Music of Katy Abbott (ABC Classics).
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Feature article on Australian Music Centre’s Resonate Magazine
