Dive Bomb
(2026)
Solo Cello
Duration: 6 minutes
Advanced work for solo cello, composed for Zoe Knighton.
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Indoor Yachting
from The Domestic Sublime
(arr. 2026)
Cello + Piano
Duration: 3:20 minutes
‘Indoor Yachting’ is a playful exploration of the mundane made extraordinary. Originally part of the song cycle The Domestic Sublime, this arrangement for cello and piano retains the rhythmic wit and evocative character of the original. It depicts the moment, when changing the bed linen, a sheet is shaken into the air and floats down, like a sail. It seeks the ordinary in a sophisticated yet accessible contemporary lens.
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At The Clothesline
from The Domestic Sublime
(arr. 2026)
Cello + Piano
Duration: 5:30 minutes
‘At the Clothesline’ is a meditation on the intersection of the mundane and the ethereal. Inspired by Chris Wallace-Crabbe’s poem from The Domestic Sublime, the work captures the sudden ache of a memory.
As a shadow falls across the grass, a routine moment of hanging out the laundry transforms into a visceral connection with someone missed through deep, expansive emotional resonance.
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Coat Hangers Galore
from The Domestic Sublime
(arr. 2026)
Cello + Piano
Duration: 5:30 minutes
‘Coat Hangers Galore’ is a study in sublime irony. The work begins with a soulful, melodic opening reminiscent of Gregorian chant, immediately imbuing the music with an unexpected sense of the sacred.
This depth is playfully juxtaposed against the subject matter: the inevitable, frustrating tangle of the common coat hanger. It acknowledges how music can bring weight or depth to any subject, finding beauty and wit in the mundane, capturing the duality of domestic utility and expression. From Chris Wallace-Crabbe’s The Domestic Sublime and an arrangement of Katy Abbott’s award-winning song-cycle for soprano + piano.
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Whirl
(2023)
Solo Snare Drum
Duration: 5 minutes
Commissioned by Melbourne Symphony Orchestra for the 2003 Snare Drum Award
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Seranade
(2022)
Viola and Double Bass
Duration: 3 minutes
Still
(2020)
Clarinet in Bb and piano
Duration: 5:30 minutes
Commissioned by Australia Ensemble for David Griffiths and Ian Munro.
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Performance Watch the Australia Ensemble perform Still – with interviews with performers and composer.
Earth Lullaby
(2017)
Shakuhachi + String Quartet
Duration: 10 minutes
Commissioned by and composed for Enigma Quartet + Riley Lee.
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Culturally, we have lost the art of trusting our intuition as individuals or a group. This piece requires the musicians to trust their own instincts as well as each other’s sense of musicality. It requires trust ideally with one instrument not being more ‘present’ than another.
The musical and human elements must interlock in order to function fully.
Our environment – the Earth, is a most wonderful role model.
‘Taking Chances’ from Hidden Thoughts I: Do I Matter?
(2017)
Solo Percussion (2 hi-hats + crotales)
Duration: 2 minutes
This work, for solo player (2 hi-hats + crotales) is the opening movement of Hidden Thoughts I: Do I Matter?, winner of the 2019 Paul Lowin Prize for Composition (song-cycle).
The movement aims to be a palette cleanser for the audience as they settle in to the one-hour performance comprising of hidden thoughts.
Also available as a percussion quartet work (arr Eric Wilie, USA).
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Composed and arranged for Claire Edwardes (pc) and Julian Smiles (cello).
It also appears as a recording on Kammerbox (ABC Classics)
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Interview with Katy Abbott on Re-Echo being chosen as one of three Australian pieces to be presented to the 2016 International Rostrum of Composers in Wroclaw, Poland.
Performance of Re-Echo by Claire Edwardes (vibraphone) and Blair Harris (cello)
Structurally based on the Scarlatti Sonatas, Glisten is a sparkling, short virtuosic work. It is popular as a concert opener, post-graduate piano recitals and aims to bring lightness to a concert program.
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UndercurrenT
(2011)
Soprano Saxophone + Piano
Duration: 11:40 minutes
Appears on HD Duo’s disc Incandescence (Tall Poppies Records) Commissioned by HD Duo.
UndercurrenT II is an arrangement for trumpet, trombone and electric guitar.
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Valentine
(2011)
Flute + Piano
Duration: 7:30 minutes
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MultiSonics!
(2010)
Solo Bassoon
Duration: 10 minutes
Composed for Mark Gaydon (bassoon). Also available for saxophone.
Advanced level.
Appears on Sunburnt Aftertones: The Chamber Music of Katy Abbott.
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Sapphire Shimmer, Silica Slide
(2005)
Piano: 4 hands
Duration: 4 minutes
The coast was spectacular; huge white dangerous dunes and the sparkling ocean. We were told we had to ride exactly in the path of the leader or risk being fatally surprised by a dune that could collapse or avalanche. We rode as we were told and the exhilaration coupled with the beauty made for a wonderful morning. The bikes were noisy but the stillness of the ocean and sand was magic.
This piece is dedicated to Mavis Shannon, my childhood neighbour and piano teacher, who encouraged me musically and was like my second grandmother.
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Egyptian Wish
(2001)
Soprano Saxophone + Electronics
Duration: 7 minutes
Also available as Soprano Saxophone Trio.
Appears on Sunburnt Aftertones: The Chamber Music of Katy Abbott.
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Echoes of Another Age
(2001)
Tuba and Piano
Duration: 5 minutes
Composed for Per Forsberg (tuba).
Also available for bass trombone and piano.
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Not Just Another Day
(2001)
Solo Piano
Duration: 2:30 minutes
Composed to celebrate the birth of Sophie Saunders, December 2001.
Recorded on Jeanell Carrigan’s Piano CD Skins (2011).
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Not Just Another Day
(2001)
Solo Piano
Duration: 2:30 minutes
Composed to celebrate the birth of Sophie Saunders, December 2001.
Recorded on Jeanell Carrigan’s Piano CD Skins (2011).
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Autumn Song
(1996/rev.2001)
Saxophone + Piano (+ other arr)
Duration: 4 minutes
AMEB Alto Saxophone Grade 5 List.
Also available for most woodwind, brass and string instruments.
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Autumn Song
(1996)
Piano Trio
Duration: 5 minutes
This version of Autumn Song is for Piano Trio and arranged for Sutherland Trio.
Autumn Song is also available for other instrumentation.
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