2nd movement of String Quartet no.2 by Paul Stanhope, performed by the Pavel Haas Quartet

String Quartet no. 2 - 2nd movement

Performed by the Syzygy Ensemble at the University of Melbourne.
In this work I experimented with the different harmonies and tone colours that could express the notion of daydreaming. The musical swells reflect the varying nature of daydreams: from building in energy to calm and sedate. The dovetailing between the instruments should be as smooth as possible as should the changes in tempo between the sections, giving the piece continuous flow.

Daydreams

Elegies And Dances

“In January 1788 the First Fleet arrived in New South Wales and a thousand British men and women encountered the people who would be their new neighbours—the beach nomads of Australia. ‘These people mixed with ours, ’wrote a British observer soon after landfall, ‘and all hands danced together’”.

Dancing With Strangers

Performed by Julia Bentley, mezzo soprano, and Kuang-Hao Huang, piano. 

The text for “What is the Grass” was taken from lines 90-101 of Song of Myself, the first book of Leaves of Grass by the American poet Walt Whitman. The text is modified from its original version, cutting lines and reworking sentences, in order to get across the message clearly in the music – that all humans are created equal; we share the same world and are made of the same stuff, much like the grass of the earth.

What is the Grass

Awarded the 2016 WSOC/102.5 Fine Music Young Composer Award.  Performed by the Willoughby Symphony Orchestra with clarinet soloist Som Howie. Conducted by Paul Fitzsimon. Audio Engineer - Jayson McBride. Composed by Elizabeth Younan.

Clarinet Concerto

Performed by Claire Edwardes. Composed by Elizabeth Younan (2016).

Agitation

VERVE | composed for and performed by percussionist Claire Edwardes [2016].

Ella Macens's Album

VERVE for Solo Marimba

Composition Masters Folio USyd

Moonlight

Performed by Arcadia Winds at the Musica Viva Festival (23/04/17). Recorded by ABC Classic FM. Composed by Elizabeth Younan (2015).

Shoreditch Grind

Awarded the Fine Music FM 102.5 Young Composer Award for 2017.

Performed by the Willoughby Symphony Orchestra under the baton of conductor Matthew Wood.

FLIGHT | For Symphony Orchestra

Clare Strong (née Johnston) is an Australian composer, based in Melbourne.
Clare has composed works for some of Australia’s leading performers and ensembles including: the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, the Goldner String Quartet, Sydney Philharmonia Choirs, Plexus, Claire Edwardes (percussion), Sarah Curro (violin), Stefanie Farrands (viola), Virginia Taylor (flute), Alice Giles (harp) and Louise Johnson (harp). She has completed a Masters as part of the inaugural National Women Composers' Development Program run by the Sydney Conservatorium. 

Clare completed a Bachelor of Music from the University of Melbourne in 2013, where she was awarded the Esther Rofe Award for Composition. In 2015 she won the David Henkels Award for Composition and had her Gypsy Trio performed at the 3MBS Performer of the Year Awards.

In 2015 Clare was selected to participate as a composer in the Walden School Creative Musicians Retreat in New Hampshire, USA. She studied with composer Martin Bresnick and had one of her compositions performed by the Wet Ink Ensemble from New York City. Clare was also selected to participate in the Atlantic Music Festival in Maine, USA where she studied with leading American composers and had her works performed and recorded by the Contemporary Ensemble at the festival and the AMF Orchestra.

Clare was chosen as one of four composers at the AYO National Music Camp 2015 where her music was conducted by James Judd and performed by leading international musicians.

Daydreams

Clare Strong

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