Nicole Murphy’s music has been described as “exquisite and sensitive” (Sydney Morning Herald), “strong and compelling” (Loudmouth) and “full of exhilarating tension” (Arts Knoxville). She has been commissioned by eminent arts organisations including the Australian Ballet, the Royal Academy of Dance (London), the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Experiments in Opera/Symphony Space (New York), Orchestra Victoria, Wild Rumpus (San Francisco), Chamber Sounds (Singapore), and the Definiens Project (Los Angeles). Her music has been performed by the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, Alarm Will Sound, NOWensemble, Ars Nova Dallas, and Halcyon (Sydney), and has been programmed at numerous festivals, including the Norfolk/Yale Chamber Music Festival, the Dallas Festival of Modern Music, the Nief Norf Festival, the Risuonanze Festival (Italy), and the Vox Feminae Festival (Tel Aviv). 

Nicole is the recipient of various awards, including the inaugural Layton Composer Fellowship at the University of NSW (2018), Ensemble Offspring’s Noisy Women Commission (2019), the MAFB International Commissioning Prize (2015), and the Theodore Front International Orchestral Prize (2013). Nicole was a Composer Fellow at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology’s ‘Intimacy of Creativity’ program (2018) and a Resident Composer at the Mizzou International Composers Festival (2019). Her piano trio, Spinning Top, was included on ABC Classic 2019 release, ‘Women of Note: A Century of Australian Music’. 

Nicole is the Composer-in-Residence at the Queensland Academy for Creative Industries and teaches composition at the Queensland Conservatorium, Griffith University. She holds a PhD from the University of Queensland. She is represented by the Australian Music Centre and her music is published by Wirripang.

Forest Collective is a not for profit arts organisation focusing on contemporary classical music. We commission, create, and present various art forms, often giving independent artists a platform to develop their practice and reach new audiences, within a supportive environment. Forest Collective is run by a volunteer team of creative, young professionals who strive to enrich audiences though multidisciplinary, innovative, collaborative, experimental, and traditional art forms from new, early and mid career artists. We pride ourselves on giving a voice to underperformed and underrepresented creators and composers. 

Led by Evan Lawson, Forest Collective was founded in 2009 by a group of students from the VCA. Forest Collective transformed from an artist collective of like minded individuals into one of Melbourne’s leading young arts companies and became a not for profit, multi-disciplinary arts organisation in 2012.

Since it’s first season Forest Collective has gone onto sell out performances at Melbourne Recital Centre, La Mama Court House, National Gallery of Victoria, Abbotsford Convent, Burrinja Cultural Centre and as a part of Metropolis New Music Festival and Melbourne Fringe Festival.

Highlights of past seasons include working with harpist Marshall Maguire, commissioning and performing the world premiere of Evan Lawson and Samuel Yeo’s opera Calypso, Elanor Webber’s dance work Texture of It for our 2014 interdisciplinary arts festival Flooding in the Garden, Michael Bakrencev’s chamber work The Virtuous Woman with the Watermelon, Evan Lawson’s spralling chamber work Orpheus and the Cave, Lisa Illean’s stunning And the black sea, Breaks… and Katriona Tsyrlin and Stephanie Osztreicher’s physical theatre and music work Holy Dying. In 2014 Forest Collective presented their own interdisciplinary festival, Flooding in the Garden, presenting various Melbourne artists to high acclaim.

Stephanie is a country born violinist, dedicated to bringing accessible music performances and education to all ages. After discovering Historically Informed Performance Practice while completing her Bachelor of music, she has since enjoyed touring nationally with esteemed Australian period instrument orchestras, whilst freelancing as a folk and alt pop artist. Stephanie has enjoyed teaching strings since a teenager across regional and metropolitan schools, including the philanthropically funded Heinz Music Project. Since the birth of her first child a year ago, Stephanie has been fascinated with the musical possibilities of connection and communication with children.

David Chisholm is internationally recognized as a composer defined by diverse and hybrid collaboration and a curator and producer of vision and courage. He was composer in residence for Philip Adams’ BalletLab and an Associate Artist for Malthouse Theatre, before becoming the founder and director of the highly acclaimed Bendigo International Festival of Exploratory Music and its roster ensemble Argonaut. David has been an artist in residencee at HIAP in Helsinki, EMPAC in New York, Centre Intermondes in La Rochelle and Camargo Foundation in Cassis. He was the first Australian composer to be a featured guest of the Encuentro Internacional de Compositores in Santiago, Chile. David was an inaugural recipient of the Victorian Government’s Creator Grants. He holds a PhD from University of Melbourne and is currently Urumatua o te whare o ngā pukōrero pūoro|Head of the School of Music at Waipapa Taumata Rau|University of Auckland, Aotearoa|New Zealand.  A member of SOUNZ and the Australian Music Centre, David is published by Babel Scores, Paris.

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