Chris Perren is an Australian composer and video artist. He completed a PhD in music composition, supervised by Robert Davidson at The University of Queensland. Chris is the founder and principle composer of the math-rock group, Mr. Maps, the indie-chamber group, Nonsemble, and electronic duo Magic City Counterpoint. He has composed music for Ensemble Offspring, UQ Big Band, Camerata – Queensland’s Chamber Orchestra, and various soloists and production companies. A two-time QMA Finalist and MATA Festival Alumni, Chris’s instrumental compositions are highly regarded. He is also known for his experimental audiovisual works, which have been presented at International Computer Music Conference, Montana State University, 2high Festival, and Sonic State Festival, and have earned him commissions from TEDxBrisbane and Ensemble Offspring, an Australia Council New Work grant, and two MTAQ composer awards. Chris’s music spans contemporary chamber music, avant-pop, and experimental electronica, and has been released on Feral Media, New Weird Australia (Sydney), Sugarrush records, Corella Recordings, MADENOWMUSIC, lofly records (Brisbane), Friend of Mine records (Tokyo), and Bigo & Twigetti (London). His compositions have been featured by ABC Classic FM, WNYC’s New Sounds and I Care If You Listen. He has composed theatre scores for over 20 productions in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Singapore, and Hong Kong. Chris lives on Jagera land in Brisbane’s south with his wife and two children, rides a bicycle, and makes an acceptable flat white. Read Chris’s program note for his composition, A Luminous Moment, Unfolded (2017), available on Camerata’s album Sunshine Sounds (2023)
John (b. 1995), described by Limelight magazine as a ‘young, talented and innovative composer’, is an up and coming composer and conductor based in Brisbane, Australia. John’s eclectic oeuvre spans from the ridiculous to the sublime; from folky Slovenian string quartets to Ambient Electronic Gregorian Chant and from Big Band Charts to large works for Symphony Orchestra. Across this varied body of work the music is characterised by a strong sense of attachment and commentary on the institutions and history of music; it is a music which is full of life and always strives to emotionally communicate to and resonate with those who are willing to listen. In 2021, John joined Camerata as Emerging Composer-in-Residence. Read John’s program note for his composition, Plains Baked Golden in the Morning Light (2021), available to listen on Camerata’s album Sunshine Sounds (2023).
Queensland based composer Dr Samuel Dickenson has been hailed as one of Australia’s most exciting young talents, praised for his “singular and imaginative spark of individuality.” During his study at the Queensland Conservatorium of Music, Samuel achieved the Alan Lane Award for the highest achieving composition portfolio. He later completed a Ph.D. in composition at The University of Queensland. Samuel’s music has been performed internationally, reaching audiences in Malaysia, Singapore, Germany, Austria, France, and China. In 2017, he joined forces with fellow Brisbane composer Andrew Wrangell to create the popular YouTube channel Sheet Music Boss, which currently has over 3 million subscribers and more than 1 billion views. Read Samuel’s program note for his composition, Returning to the Sand (2019), available to listen on Camerata’s album Sunshine Sounds (2023).
Connor D’Netto (he/him) is a composer of contemporary classical music, described as “the model contemporary Australian composer” by ABC Classic FM. His music draws together post-minimal, neoclassical and pop influences, combined with the delicate incorporation of electronic music elements. As a performer, Connor explores the intersections of experimental electronica, ambient and electroacoustic music, combining hardware synthesisers, live instruments, guitar pedals and DIY creations. Connor is a producer and concert organiser, focusing on creating community-focused immersive post-genre experiences. He is an active visual artist, working across various mediums including photography, videography, painting and sculpture. Read Connor’s program note for his composition, Air & Fantasy (2017), available to listen on Camerata’s album Sunshine Sounds (2023).
Isabella Gerometta is an Australian composer and conductor. She has prepared and directed choruses for a number of events with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra, working alongside internationally recognised conductors such as Simone Young and Alondra de la Parra. She has also co-directed a number of concerts for The Australian Voices, including Everyday Requiem in collaboration with Expressions Dance Company in 2018. Isabella’s works have been performed nationally and internationally. Read Isabella’s program note for her composition, Beams and Waves (2018), available to listen on Camerata’s album Sunshine Sounds (2023).
Christopher Healey is a composer of music for modern hearts and minds. Solo music to full-bodied orchestral scores. One-minute miniatures to 80-minute operas. Transfixingly tender to disturbingly macabre. Modern listeners are multi-dimensional and emotionally complex; contemporary art music should be the same. Melbourne-based composer Christopher Healey holds a Bachelor of Music (Composition), Honours (Class I) from the University of Queensland. He has studied with renowned Australian composers Gerard Brophy and Robert Davidson. From 2018-2019, he also undertook further composition studies with the eminent American composer, Daron Hagen. He has also received mentoring from Australian composers, Carl Vine, Christopher Gordon and Holly Harrison, as well as American composers, Nico Muhly, Christopher Cerrone, and Missy Mazzoli. In 2019, he was selected as a participant in the Australian Youth Orchestra’s “Words About Music Program” with Phillip Sametz. Christopher has also completed his PhD in Composition (Title: ‘Exploring Metaxis: An exploration of Metamodern and Wabi Sabi aesthetics and philosophies in a folio of original compositions.’). Christopher Healey’s music is eclectic in style, atmospheric and evocative, from the transfixingly tender to the disturbingly macabre. He strives to create an emotionally and intellectually meaningful journey for his listeners, engaging and challenging them by combining the warmth of lyrical melodies with extended harmonies, contemporary textures and unusual musical forms. His catalogue comprises over 90 diverse works, including instrumental and vocal compositions, choral music, full-bodied orchestral scores, a set of miniatures, and a chamber opera. He has received commissions from eminent musicians and arts organisations in Australia, China, France, Holland, and the USA, including Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (Cybec), Omega Ensemble, 4MBS Classic FM, Camerata – Queensland’s Chamber Orchestra, the BRON Saxophone Quartet, Divisi Chamber Singers, BoB-Best of Brass, Ensemble Francaix, Ensemble Fabrique, and the Nickson Quartet. Christopher has also received prizes including the Alan Lane Award, A.G. Francis Prize, 2nd Place in the Arcadia Winds Composition Competition, 2nd Place in the ANZVS Composition Competition, and the Australian Postgraduate Award. In 2020, Christopher’s horn quintet, Idyll of a Sea Voyager was premiered in China by members of horn section of the Zhejiang Symphony Orchestra, led by Dr Armin Terzer. The performance was televised by Zhejiang Guangxi Live. In the same year, his Fugue of Confinement was premiered in Melbourne by Daniel Tan (violin) and Luke Severn (cello), and his Sonata for Trumpet and Piano was premiered in Sydney by Phillip O’Neill (trumpet) and Ingrid Sakurovs (piano). In 2021, Christopher’s works included compositions for Rockhampton Symphony Orchestra, Bendigo Symphony Orchestra and the Black Square String Quartet. Read Christopher’s program note for his composition, Renewing Rain (2015), available to listen on Camerata’s album Sunshine Sounds (2023).
Brisbane born Cameron Patrick is an alumnus of the University of Queensland and the University of Southern California, graduating from the latter’s Scoring for Motion Pictures and Television program in 1989. He spent 29 years based in Los Angeles, where he was active as a free-lance violinist and violist, composer, orchestrator and arranger in the Hollywood film, television and recording industries. He was also an instructor for UCLA Extension’s Entertainment Studies Film Scoring program, teaching orchestration from 2015 to 2017. As of January 2018, he has moved back to Australia and is now based in Sydney, where he is Head of Music at the Australian Film, Television & Radio School. Cameron was the Founding Leader of Camerata (then Camerata of St John’s) back in 1987-88 and is proud to have been commissioned to compose two concert works for the orchestra: Impressions Of Erin in 2012 and Little Corellas: Allora 1987 in 2021. Read Cameron’s program note for his composition, Little Corellas: Allora 1987 (2021), available to listen on Camerata’s album Sunshine Sounds (2023).
Alexander Voltz’s work takes inspiration from myth, politics and the historic. His music has been performed and supported by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Opera Queensland, Australian National Academy of Music, Camerata – Queensland’s Chamber Orchestra, Ensemble Offspring, Flinders Quartet, Australian Youth Orchestra, Queensland Youth Orchestras, The University of Queensland, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, and others. He was a winner in Artology’s 2015 Fanfare Competition (Australia) and reached the semi-finals of the Bartok World Composition Competition (Hungary) in both 2018 and 2020. He was awarded The University of Queensland's Prize for Composition in 2019 and 2021 and in 2022 placed second in the Harlow Chorus Young Composer Competition (United Kingdom). He lives in Brisbane, Australia. Read Alexander’s program note for his composition, Central Highland Rounds (2022), available to listen on Camerata’s album Sunshine Sounds (2023).
Robert Davidson is a prolific composer, bassist, lecturer and founder and artistic director of Topology. Davidson studied composition with Terry Riley in California before completing a composition PhD at the University of Queensland. He previously studied South Indian vocal music in Kerala, India. Davidson’s compositions are regularly performed, recorded and broadcast around the world, in venues including New York’s Lincoln Center, Sydney’s Opera House and London’s Barbican. All of Australia’s professional orchestras and many leading soloists and ensembles have commissioned and performed his works. With Topology he has released 15 albums and has directed numerous artistic collaborations with creators of many varied cultural and stylistic backgrounds. He has scored two documentary films: Joyride (Fifty Fifty films 2018), and Strong female lead (Northern Pictures, 2021 (premiering at the Sydney Film Festival on 21 August 2021)). Dr Davidson is the head of composition at the University of Queensland and his research is in artificial intelligence and music, music theory, collaboration, music literacy and music education. Read Robert’s program note for his composition, Elegy From A Short Hour Unseen (2000), available to listen on Camerata’s album Sunshine Sounds (2023).
Erik Griswold is a composer and pianist working in contemporary classical, improvised, and experimental forms. Particular interests include prepared piano, percussion, environmental music, and music of Sichuan province. Originally from San Diego, and now residing in Brisbane, he composes for adventurous musicians, performs as a soloist and in Clocked Out, and collaborates with musicians, artists, dancers, and poets. Read Erik’s program note for his composition, Love to Love Your Strings, Baby! (2013), available to listen on Camerata’s album Sunshine Sounds (2023).