Helen Gifford

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Helen Margaret Gifford OAM (born 5 September 1935) is an Australian composer. On Australia Day (26 January) 1996 she was appointed to the Medal of the Order of Australia, "in recognition of service to music as a composer". At the APRA Music Awards of 2016 she won the category "Distinguished Services to Australian Music".

Biography[]

Helen Gifford was born in Melbourne, Australia, of Scots and Cornish heritage. She attended Tintern Junior School and Melbourne Girls Grammar, and then the University of Melbourne Conservatorium on a Commonwealth Scholarship. She studied with Roy Shepherd and Dorian Le Gallienne, graduating with a Bachelor of Music in 1958. She won the Dorian Le Gallienne Award in 1965, a Senior Composer's Fellowship in 1973, and served as composer-in-residence with the Australian Opera beginning in 1974. In the 1960s and early '70s, her music showed the influence of travel to India and Indonesia.[1][2] At the Australia Day Honours in 1996 she was appointed to the Medal of the Order of Australia, with a citation, "In recognition of service to music as a composer."[3] At the APRA Music Awards of 2016 she won the Art Music Award category, Distinguished Services to Australian Music.[4]

Works[]

Gifford composes for stage, orchestra, chamber ensemble and solo instruments, often incorporating elements of Balinese and Javanese music.[2] Selected works include:

  • Carol: As dew in Aprille (1955) for voice and piano
  • Fantasy (1958) for flute and piano
  • Piano sonata (1960) for solo piano
  • Skiagram (1963) for flute, viola and vibraphone
  • Phantasma (1963) for string orchestra
  • Red autumn in Valvins (1964) for soprano or mezzo-soprano and piano (text: Christopher Brennan)
  • Chimaera (1967) for orchestra
  • Fable (1967) for harp
  • Imperium (1969) for orchestra
  • Sonnet (1969) for guitar, flute and harpsichord
  • Of old Angkor (1970) for French horn and marimba
  • Regarding Faustus (1983)
  • Iphigenia in Exile (1985)
  • Music for the Adonia (1993) for chamber ensemble
  • Point of Ignition (1995) for mezzo-soprano and orchestra (text: Jessica Aldridge)
  • Choral Scenes: the Western Front, World War I (1999)
  • As foretold to Khayyám (1999) for piano solo
  • Catharsis (2001) choral work
  • Menin Gate (2005) for piano solo
  • The Tears of Things (2010) for speaker and choir
  • Shiva the auspicious one (2012) for piano solo
  • Parvati and Celebrations of the Apsaras (2013) for clarinet solo
  • Desperation (2015) for viola solo
  • Undertones of War (2015) for piano solo
  • Ancestress (2018) for viola and piano

References[]

  1. ^ "Gifford, Helen (1935-)". Retrieved 13 December 2010.
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b Sadie, Julie Anne; Samuel, Rhian (1994). The Norton/Grove dictionary of women composers (Digitized online by GoogleBooks). Retrieved 13 December 2010.
  3. ^ "Award Extract – Name: Gifford, Helen Margaret". It's an Honour. Retrieved 22 May 2018.
  4. ^ "Distinguished Services to Australian Music". Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) | Australasian Mechanical Copyright Owners Society (AMCOS) | Australian Music Centre (AMC). 2016. Archived from the original on 11 October 2016. Retrieved 22 May 2018.
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