Andrew Ford OAM (born 1957) is an English-born Australian composer, writer, and radio presenter, known for The Music Show on ABC Radio National.
Andrew Ford was born in 1957 in Liverpool, UK.[1][2]
He attended St Olave's Grammar School in Orpington, Kent, then studied at Lancaster University with Edward Cowie and John Buller. As a student, a meeting with Sir Michael Tippett had a profound influence on him, when he told him "to forget about musical systems and trust his instincts".[3]
Ford was a research fellow in music Bradford University from 1978 to 1982.[4]
After moving to Australia, he lectured at the School of Creative Arts at the University of Wollongong, NSW, from 1983 to 1995,[4] and during this time earned a PhD for his thesis on "musical word setting from Elvis Costello to Elliott Carter.[3]
Ford was composer-in-residence with the Australian Chamber Orchestra (1992–94),[3] held the Peggy Glanville-Hicks Composer Fellowship from 1998 to 2000 and was awarded a two-year fellowship by the Music Board of the Australia Council for the Arts for 2005 to 2006.[5] He was appointed composer-in-residence at the Australian National Academy of Music in 2009.[3]
He has written widely on music and published ten books. He wrote, presented and co-produced the radio series Illegal Harmonies, Dots on the Landscape and Music and Fashion.[3]
Since 1995 he has presented The Music Show on ABC Radio National.[3]
The APRA Awards are presented annually from 1982 by the Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA).[8] They include the Art Music Awards (until 2009 Classical Music Awards) which are distributed by APRA and the Australian Music Centre (AMC).[9] These awards include:[5]
Year | Nominee / work | Award | Result |
---|---|---|---|
2004 | Learning to Howl – Ford | Best Composition by an Australian Composer[10] | Won |
2005 | Tales of the Supernatural – Ford – Australian String Quartet, Jane Edwards | Vocal or Choral Work of the Year[11] | Won |
2008 | Ford | Outstanding Contribution by an Individual[12] | Nominated |
2009 | Learning to Howl – Ford – Arcko Symphonic Project | Best Performance of an Australian Composition[13] | Nominated |
2011 | A Dream of Drowning – Ford – West Australian Symphony Orchestra | Work of the Year – Orchestral[14] | Nominated |
2013 | Blitz – Ford – Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra | Work of the Year – Orchestral[15] | Nominated |
2014 | Last Words – Ford – Jane Sheldon and the Seraphim Trio | Work of the Year – Vocal/Choral[16][3] | Won |
String Quartet No. 5 – Ford – Australian String Quartet | Work of the Year – Instrumental[17] | Nominated |