The University of Queensland School of Music composition student Alexander Voltz has been selected to participate in the prestigious Cybec program in 2020.
Cybec is one of Australia's premiere opportunities for young composers, with participants spending twelve months writing music for the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (MSO).
Under the mentorship of a prominent composer Alexander will compose a 10-minute score for chamber orchestra.
The program also involves workshops in Melbourne, prior to the concert premiere of Alexander’s new work in January 2021.
"I chose my most recent piece Curtain!, which premiered during the Australian Youth Orchestra's 2020 National Music Camp," said Alexander when discussing his application for the residency.
"I'm looking forward to expanding my knowledge and establishing industry connections. The MSO is an amazing platform for any young musician to be working with, so I imagine I'll have my fair share of fun too!"
Alexander hopes to gain a professional recording from the experience; an essential requirement for succeeding in this competitive industry.
"It seems to be more the trend that audio realisations of new music just aren't considered good enough, which makes it very difficult for emerging composers to 'break in' to the scene."
Alexander's compositions have recently focused on using metaphor to recontextualise philosophical phenomena, with Curtain! investigating fiction as an extension of reality. He hopes to foster this compositional approach during the Cybec program.
"The University has nurtured my drive to be involved in as many opportunities as I can. I've been allowed to explore, and I'm not sure I'd be working at a national level without that," Alexander said.
"...I'll be including this work [Cybec composition] amongst others in my Honours thesis, which (if it doesn't change!) explores the personality of my harmonic language through a Non-Traditional Research Output."
The MSO founded Cybec in 2003, and since then it has supported over sixty Australian composers, including two of Alexander's mentors, Catherine Likhuta and Melody Eötvos.
Alexander’s chamber opera, Edward and Richard, will premiere in July.
