"Paper Stars" is a new musical theatre work, began in 2020 and currently in development. Book by Grace Chapple and Miranda Middleton, Music & Lyrics by Luke Byrne.
The musical is based on the life story of a young PL Travers as she leaves her native Australia and comes to London with a belief that she has "a great story inside, so much greater and better than my own". 

These tracks are my home-made demos of the songs with GarageBand instruments and all vocals by myself (and not pitch-corrected!)

Paper Stars 

PS4.WomansWork

Live recording of Gondwana Latitude 34 Choir in the Gondwana World Choral Symposium, Sydney Opera House July 2019. Piano Luke Byrne and conducted by Elizabeth Scott who also commissioned the work.

"Foundling" is the fourth of my "Four Songs from Grimm's". Like many of the Grimm's folk tales, this story is dark and atmospheric, but at its centre is the most beautiful bond between two children, who avoid various grim fates through their simple principle of "never leave me, and I'll never leave you". These pieces were initially inspired by Australian author and illustrator Shaun Tan's book "The Singing Bones" where he captures an essence of various Grimm's stories with a single sculpture and short excerpt of the text, in turn giving me an excellent model for my own compositions.

Foundling

"To those born after", music by Luke Byrne, poems by Bertolt Brecht, translated by Tom Kuhn. This work is a setting of Brecht's prophetic poem warning of the slow creep of fascism.

Commissioned by TORCH in association with Guildhall School of Music & Drama. Live recording of The Bauhaus Band & Singers with soloist Roza Herwig, conducted by John Harle at the Sheldonian Theatre, University of Oxford, 14/5/23.

To those born after

An excerpt of the live recording of "Bloody Murder", composed as part of the MA Opera Makers course at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama London and premiered in July 2022.

Murder.LIVE.Excerpt

A short cue of music I wrote for the 2023 LAMDA production of "Image of an Unknown Young Woman" by Elinor Cook.

LB.ImageUnknownWoman.FINALCUE

Four cues of music I wrote for the 2023 LAMDA production of "Mosquitoes" by Lucy Kirkwood. Mixed in to several of these tracks is the sound of a black hole as captured by NASA.

LB.Mosquitoes4.LASTEXPERIMENT

LB.Mosquitoes3.BLACKHOLE

LB.Mosquitoes2.BIGBANG

LB.Mosquitoes1.THEME

An excerpt from the chamber opera "The Proposal" (2024). 
Music by Luke Byrne, lyrics by Shirley Keane. 
Soprano Catherine Donnelly, piano Luke Byrne, recorded at the Irish Chamber Orchestra in Limerick, Ireland. 
A young woman laments the sudden death of her sweetheart as she stands vigil over his coffin with another woman in the West of Ireland, 1967.

Limestone Aria

Live recording of Part 2 of "The Proposal", a new chamber opera with libretto by Shirley Keane and music by Luke Byrne. This performance was at the Belltable Theatre in Limerick, Ireland in May 2024. For details please go to:
https://limetreebelltable.ie/events/the-ballybruff-trilogy/

LB.TheProposal.LIVE.EXCERPT

Luke Byrne is an Australian composer and musician, currently based in London where he is a Visiting Fellow at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama and Associate Teacher at the London Academy of Music & the Dramatic Art (LAMDA).

Luke’s choral compositions are performed around Australia and the world, from Sydney to Hannover, Uluru to Cambridge. These include "Desert Sea", "Capricorn" and "Earthrise" for Sydney Philharmonia, and "Storm Bird", "Buruwan Elegy" and "Birinyi" for Gondwana Indigenous Children’s Choir and the Australian Chamber Orchestra. 

Luke is also a musical director and composer in theatre, including "The Harp in the South", "Muriel’s Wedding" and "Chimerica" for the Sydney Theatre Company, and "Snugglepot & Cuddlepie", "Hamlet" and "The Events" for Belvoir St Theatre. Luke’s first musical "Between the Sea and Sky" was selected for the 2018 New York Musical Festival where it won five awards including Outstanding Score and Best Musical.

Foundling

Luke Byrne Composer

Recent comments

Heidi Roy

Related tracks