Liza Lim AM (born 30 August 1966) is an Australian composer. 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.

Early life and education

Liza Lim was born in Perth, Western Australia, to Chinese parents. They were doctors who during her early years spent long periods working and studying in Brunei, and she was sent to boarding school.[1] At the age of 11, she 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".[2] 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.

Career

Lim has been a guest lecturer at the Darmstadt Summer School, the University of California, San Diego, Cornell University, Getty Research Institute, major Australian universities[which?] and at the IRCAM Agora Festival. She was a lecturer of composition at Melbourne University in 1991. Lim was the guest curator for the twilight concert series of the 2006 Adelaide Festival of Arts.

Lim 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 and the Cikada Ensemble. Her work has featured at festivals such as Festival d'automne à Paris [fr], MaerzMusik at the Berliner Festspiele, Venice Biennale, Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival and all[clarification needed] the major Australian festivals.

Since 1986, Lim has worked extensively with members of the ELISION Ensemble; she is married to Daryl Buckley, its artistic director. In 2005, Lim was appointed the composer-in-residence with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra 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 23 August 2006 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. She was appointed professor in composition at the University of Huddersfield in March 2008.[3]

In March 2017 her appointment to the composition unit at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music was announced.

Selected works

Stage works

Orchestra works

Ensemble works

Chamber music

Solo works

Awards and nominations

APRA Classical Music Awards

The APRA Classical Music Awards are presented annually by Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) and Australian Music Centre (AMC).[5]

Year Nominee / work Award Result
2007 Flying Banner (After Wang To) (Liza Lim) – Sydney Symphony, Gianluigi Gelmetti (conductor) Orchestral Work of the Year[6] Won
Liza Lim – Sydney Symphony Composer Residency Outstanding Contribution by an Individual[7] Nominated

Don Banks Music Award

The Don Banks Music Award was established in 1984 to publicly honour a senior artist of high distinction who has made an outstanding and sustained contribution to music in Australia.[8] It was founded by the Australia Council in honour of Don Banks, Australian composer, performer and the first chair of its music board.

Year Nominee / work Award Result
2018 Liza Lim Don Banks Music Award awarded

Other awards

References

  1. ^ Miriam Cosic, "Out on a Lim", Weekend Australian, 19–20 June 1999, Review, p. 16
  2. ^ Liz van der Nieuwenhof, Hello Liza Lim, composer, Weekend Australian Magazine, 25–26 September 2004, p. 11
  3. ^ "Music and Music Technology News Archive". University of Huddersfield. March 2008. Archived from the original on 25 June 2008. Retrieved 29 April 2008.
  4. ^ "Singing in Tongues" by Alex Ross, The New Yorker, 28 April 2014; review of Mother Tongue at the Miller Theatre, 2014
  5. ^ "Classical Awards". Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA). Archived from the original on 25 March 2010. Retrieved 2 May 2010.
  6. ^ "2007 Winners – Classical Music Awards". Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA). Retrieved 2 May 2010.
  7. ^ "2007 Finalists – Classical Music Awards". Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA). Retrieved 1 May 2010.
  8. ^ "Don Banks Music Award: Prize". Australian Music Centre. Archived from the original on 18 August 2015. Retrieved 2 October 2017.

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