Recent Activity
 

AUGUST 20, 2010
CHRISTMAS MUSIC SAMPLES
In recent weeks I have been sending out copies of my email newsletter. Did you recieve one? If not, just email me and I will put you on the lists. With each of my regular email newsletters I am sending out free sample copies of works to add to your Stephen Leek Music Sample file on your computer. The works I sent out in the last few days have featured…. you guessed it, CHRISTMAS MUSIC. 
Has that time come around again already?!!!!
If you would like to perform any of the following works please purchase a copying licence from me via my email. Your honesty is appreciated!
peace-satb-sample.pdf
bright-stars-sample-copy.pdf
a-gibber-plains-noel-sa-sample.pdf
a-gibber-plains-noel-satb-sample.pdf
under-the-stars-satb-piano-master-sample.pdf
christmas-cootamundra-sample.pdf
christmas-joy-sample.pdf

AUGUST 11, 2010
This week I have been working in Adelaide with the wonderful Lumina Ensemble as part of their Future Now! project - a series of workshops for Adelaide composers and for choral workshops with the general community. In the Future Now! sessions the 12 composers of varying ages and experience were treated to fine readings of their new works to which I offered feedback and suggestions in a relaxed workshop setting - and in so doing, I was also able to discuss various thoughts on choral writing, compositional techniques and working with the choral instrument.
With limited financial assistance, this was a courageous undertaking for the Lumina ensemble. They are to be commended for their work in putting the program together and for the many long hours of rehearsal they gave to each of the composers new works prior to the sessions. This was a very successful project that I hope will be a model for Adelaide in the future.

Visiting Adelaide also gave me the opportunity to finally meet and hear the wonderful work being done by Conductor, Aldis Sils and the Marryatville High School Choir. For some time I had heard of this great choir from people around the world who had told me of hearing various of my pieces on Youtube as sing by this ensemble. I was fortunate whilst in Adelaide to get to work with the choir and was impresed by their responsiveness to my demands, their fresh sound, their good humour and their unbounded energy. Also in my whirlwind trip to South Australia I was able to run a session on choral composition with the Composition Students of the Elder Conservatorium, University of South Australia.  It is really great to see (and hear) that young composers are now taking a serious interest in writing effectively and creatively for the voice. Thank you to all my hosts in Adelaide. I had a very stimulating and productive time. Thank you too to Ivan Christian for the great pics.
   

AUGUST 3, 2010
It has been a busy time since my last update. Working backwards, I have just returned from Brisbane after attending the world premiere of my new work “Warrumbungles Burning” - a 20 minute work for SATB choir and 2 virtuosic pianos warrumbungles-sample.pdf  Commissioned by my old friends Graeme Morton and the St Peters Chorale, the work featured former St Peters Alumni (and now Fellow in Piano at the University of Queensland Music Department) Liam Viney and his wife Anna Grinberg, on 2 grand pianos. The performance at Customs House on Sunday was magnificent and capped off a full concert which also contained works by Lutoslawski, Bach and Mary Ellen Childs. Thank you Graeme and the St Peters Chorale for your continuing excellence in the choral arena and for being brave enough to commission large scale Australian works for addition to the Australian choral repertoire. A huge thank you too, to my old friend and collegaue Liam Viney and Anna Grinberg for their magnificent artistry on the piano and in their 2 piano skills which were extraordinary. Lets do it again sometime!
   

Prior to my weekend in Queensland I was Composer and Conductor in Residence at SCEGGS Darlinghurst, a private school for girls in Sydney. With a schedule of workshops and rehearsals I was able to share some of my music and some thoughts about my music with the girls from Grade 3 to 12. Thank you SCEGGS for your hospitality and your support of my music.

Prior to that week at SCEGGS I attended my second phase of Composer-in-Residence at the Presbyterian Ladies College in Croydon, Sydney. Again, I had the chance to build on the previous work that the students and I had shared in our first session together.

Tomorrow, compositional workshops with the Sydney Childrens Choir…. looking forward to it.

Next week… Adelaide, for workshops for composers and singers through the Lumina Ensemble, the Elder Conservatorium and Marrayatville High School. I am looking forward to that too.

JULY 15, 2010

So much to tell about the past 2 weeks!

Claude. Sadly last week, due to a long illness with renal failure,  I had to have my cat and long-time companion, Claude put to sleep. He will be remembered by me and many others for his intelligence, loyalty, loving nature and individual character - some would say a character that matched my own in many ways…. many a time Claude protected me from snakes on my farm, other perils of Australian life and was a great companion. He will be sorely missed.

Sydney Childrens Choir / Gondwana Choirs celebrated 21 glorious years in a concert in the Concert Hall of the Sydney Opera House. With SCC/ Gondwana banners blazing on Sydney’s inner city streets, it was a day that I will long remember and cherish. The 700+ performers were drawn from the multiple choirs and their ages ranged from the very cute littlies (6 years) in their “Where’s Wally” outfits, to the 100 or so accumulated alumni who had returned from around Australia and abroad to sing in the concert, and also to fill the audience to capacity. The visual spectacle of so many singers on stage at the same time was surpassed by the spectacular quality of the music-making. The program featured seminal works from the choirs history - most of which had been commissioned by the organisation over the years. My new work “The Mountain” with the aid of my good friends, hornist soloists, Robyn Smiles and Robert Johnson, had a magnificent premiere. Scored for all the singers of the concert, it featured each choir and choir sound in turn and enmasse. A particularly moving moment for my colleague and author of the text of my piece, Greg Lehman, was when the indigeneous choir sang the names of the forgotten tribes of his native homeland, Tasmania. Congratulations Lyn and all the team, past and present for a wonderful memory of 21 + extraordinary years. The after-party was a great opportunity to catch up with old choir friends and collagues.

(more pics in the gallery)

IFCM This past weekend I was in Spain working with my colleagues on the Board of the IFCM (International Federation of Choral Music). The meetings were very open and transparent, and I believe were very productive for future directions of this important international organisation. If you are not yet a member of the IFCM, you should be! It was great to be working alongside colleagues who have similar passions for choral music in all its forms, and to be in a forum which encouraged discussion and reflection as well as formulating strategic moving forward. I also had some opportunites once again to take in some of the wornderful sights of Barcelona, and to revel in the warm summer evenings by the Mediteranean and exotic Spanish cuisine…. who could ask for anything more! The winning of the World Cup by Spain only added an extra air of anticipation and excitement to the stay. Thank you to our wonderful hosts in Barcelona for a great opportunity to work in a focussed way and not have to worry about anything else, whilst enjoying all the beauties of the Basque culture.
(see gallery for some pics)

JUNE 21, 2010
As the celebrations of the Sydney Childrens Choir/Gondwana Choirs draw closer the excitement mounts. Today the banners of celebration for SCC will go up in the inner city streets of Sydney marking the event. The 500 or so singers are being assembling next week for the final rehearsals and the concert is set for what I know will be a really landmark concert event in the Concert Hall of the Sydney Opera House on July 4. The concert, directed by the indefatigable Lyn Williams, will be a retrospective of some of the fabulous music that this vibrant organisation has commissioned over the years, some of the favourites, and also some new music. If you dont have a ticket, sorry, because the concert sold out in hours several months ago. If you were able to secure a ticket I look forward to seeing you to be part of the celebrations and to hear the premiere of my new work “The Mountain” sung by all the choirs of the SCC/GV  the alumni and the National Indigeneous Choirs. It is scored for multiple choirs and 2 horns. (very young childrens choirs, SSA, SSAA, SATB, , 2 horns in F)(aprox. 6- 7 minutes in duration).

Last week I finished my latest piece titled “Warrumbungles Burning” for SATB choir and two virtuosic pianos (20 minutes duration). Commissioned by my good friends Graeme Morton and the St Peters Chorale, Brisbane, the new work is dedicated to my old friend  (and pianist extraordinaire) Liam Viney and his wife, Anna Grinberg. The premiere performance is on August 1, 2010 in Customs House in Brisbane. It is so great to be working once again with old and very special friends and I am looking forward to hearing my music come to life by this amazing collection of fine artists.

NEW PRICING POLICY 
DID YOU KNOW that the Education Departments of each state in Australia currently only pay APRA/AMCOS the miserly sum of 65c per student annually for licences which allow educational institutions to photocopy books, music and other materials? Theoretically the school must own (and have in use) one original copy of music to every 5 copies that they are licenced to make under this agreement.
THIS IS AN OUTRAGE! At present only 150 schools across the country are used as a sample on which to base the distribution of this pathetic amount to its authors. This means, that in most instances, composers do not receive suitable reimbursement for lost sales of the music that is copied and used in schools in Australia. And, this situation does not even cover performances given of musical works in a educational settings, so, no performance royalties are collected for these works either.
ABSOLUTELY OUTRAGEOUS!
This situation contributes greatly to the on-going dearth of skilled, creative people who are able to work in the education area. Skilled workers (teachers, maintenance persons etc) and unskilled workers (ie. cleaners, lawn mowers etc) working in schools, all get paid fairly for their skills and for the work that they do in schools, so why dont composers, authors and other creative people?
WAKE UP AUSTRALIA! Ask questions of your principals and politicians - see if they are aware of the gross abuse of our work in your schools! So, due to the lack of return from the APRA/AMCOS photocopying licence scheme in educational institutions in Australia, I unfortunately need to increase the cost of my original scores to try and compensate for lost sales. This will not affect the cost of licences and I would encourage schools and other educational institutions on moral grounds to purchase licences for the number of copies that you will use in future, rather than buying a hard copies.
Apologies if this sounds like I am taking a hard line, but I have been fighting this unfair situation for at least 20 years now and there is still no change on the horizon.

June 1, 2010
Last week I was working with the students of the Emanuel School (Randwick) at their annual music camp. Despite the extreme wet and cold conditions of the camp site, the students managed to work on the following pieces of mine - Morning Tide, Hey Rain, Rainstorm, Out Beyond the Black Stump, Wurundjuri Song, Kungala and Ngana.

May 22, 2010
Cantabile Girls Choir heading to Llangollen in Wales!
The Cantabile Girls Choir from Canterbury College, Brisbane, is heading off to compete in the famous Llangollen International Choral Eisteddfod in a couple of weeks. I am very honoured that they have selected several of my works to sing in that tough competition. Last week when I was in Queensland I had the opportunity to work with the Susan Gouchee (Conductor) and the girls on some of the finer details of their performance. I know you will do very well ladies, good luck, safe travels, and have a great trip.This week also I worked with my old friends of the wonderful St Peters Chorale from St Peters Lutheran College, Brisbane, on the new work I am writing for them with Liam Viney and Anna Grinsberg - two of this countries greatest piano virtuosos (and old friends). The work has its premiere on August 1, 2010, so I need to get cracking with the composition titled “Warrumbungles Burning” - SATB and two pianos.The real reason I was actually in Queensland this past week was to present some sessions in the Music Department of the University of Queensland. Thank you to the staff and students for your hospitality -  it was a great opportunity to catch up with old friends and colleagues on staff and cross paths with the next generation of young musicians.

May 7, 2010
Premiere of “Murray Boat Song”
This week as part of the Encounters III program in Brisbane The Song Company - Directed by Roland Peelman, premiered my new piece “Murray Boat Song”. The festival focussed on the Chinese/Australian connection and this work was inspired by the Australian pioneer of the Murray River, river boat captain and entrepreneur, Chinese born, John Egge. The work is available for sample or sale. Email me.

Newcastle Grammar School
This week I had the pleasure to work with the students of Newcastle Grammar School at their annual music camp which was held in Sydney.The choir worked hard and performed for the other students at the completion of the camp. Well done singers.

Sydney Childrens Choir at ISCM Festival
(International Society for Contemporary Music Festival)
Another highlight this week was the ISCM performance by the Sydney Childrens Choir - conducted by Lyn Williams at the Sydney Conservatorium on Friday night. The choir sang this program of very difficult contemporary music with passion, professionalism and amazing artistry. To an international audience of composers, this concert was a wonderful testiment to where Australian choral music stands on the world stage, and the diversity of Australian repertoire that is being created for young singers in this country. The concert included my work “Canecutters Lament” and featured other works such as Elana Kats-Chirnin’s “Deep Sea Dreaming”, Ross Edwards’ “Dawn Canticle” and Elliott Gyger’s ” I am not born yet”. Congratulations to Lyn and the team for representing Australian choral music with such distinction at this important international event.

April 28, 2010
The Sydney Childrens Choir celebrate 21 years on the 4th of July
In the past couple of weeks I have been busy completing a new commission for the Gondwana Choirs titled “The Mountain” for performance by the massed choir as part of the 21st birthday celebrations of The Sydney Childrens Choir (Gondwana’s former parent organisation) in the Concert Hall of the Sydney Opera House on July 4, 2010. It should be a great event and it will be fun to meet up with alumni singers going back 21 years as well as hearing the splendid sounds of the current bacth of choristers. In this piece have tried to highlight the different sounds and characteristics of each of the groups that will be featured in the concert.  I was very lucky to be able to work with a great text by my long time friend, writer, educator and Tasmanian poet Greg Lehman. In this potent text Greg poetically speaks of the sacred place of the mountain (Mt Wellington in Hobart) and how it relates to his heritage as its traditional owners. This should be a landmark concert not to miss if you are in Sydney.

Composer in Residence @ Presbyterian Ladies College, Croydon, NSW
This past week I commenced a new collaboration with the staff and students of PLC, Croydon, where I will be monthly visiting the school over the next few months to work on compositional ideas with their students. “Composer-NOT-in-residence” with the Choral Artists of San Francisco
Recently I accepted an invitation to become “Composer-not-in-residence” with the terrific american group, the Choral Artists of San Francisco. This is a group that has long developed and nurtured composers from the Bay area of San Francisco, and has a very fine history and reputation for their choral singing as well as their commitment to seeking out and developing new American music. The slight deviation from this mission by inviting me to work with them over 2010/2011, explains the rather unusual derivation of the CIR tag. Working with Magan Soloman and the gang should be fun.April 1, 2010
This week I had the very great pleasure of hearing the wonderful St Peters Chorale from St Peters Lutheran College under the direction of my good friend Graeme Morton in a performance of ‘The Future’ with The Southern Cross Soloists in the Concert Hall of the Queensland Performing Arts Centre. I thought the singers and instrumentalists brought the work to life in the performance and was a great testiment to the talents of all concerned that QPAC had the courage to program and promote such an exciting event. It was also terrific opportunityfor me to reacquaint myself with the young singers in preparation for writing a new piece for them in the coming months. Congratulations to Graeme and the Chorale team and to Southern Cross Soloists for an excellent concert. Stephen Leek celebrating with the St Peters Chorale
While I was in Brisbane this week I also had the opportunity to work again with my former student, now film maker, Martin Ingle, recording a short documentary on the creative process. Also I met up with the great Yr 10, 11 and 12 Music Students of Brisbane State High for some intensive vocal and composition workshops. Thanks for a great day.

SINGAPORE - March 2010
 

In March I was working in Singapore and had the very great pleasure to work with choral groups across all the areas of the Singapore American School. I was very impressed by the school - the facilities, the welcome and support of the staff, the disposition of the students and mostly by the preparation that had been undertaken in anticipation of my arrival. Despite the heat and the air conditioning all groups worked well in our sessions and the results were demonstrated to parents and friends at the conclusion of the time. Thank you SAS for such a great time.There are some great pics too that were a result of the visit, thanks to the photographic artistry of teacher Leanne Pepple. There are more pics in my gallery section. Check them out!GONDWANA CHORAL SCHOOL
Over the summer I had the very great pleasure of working with a selection of young composers from across the region at the Gondwana Choral School. This team of talented teenagers and I shared a great time discussing and exploring Choral compositional ideas and hopefully we will hear more of these young composers in the years to come. I also had opportunity to have great compositional sessions with each of the 4 choirs a the school, and there were some amazing results all round I thought. Well done singers!   SEA CHANGES
In a major move over the Christmas season I have uprooted from Queenland, where I have lived for the past 20 years, and relocating further south, near Sydney. This marks the start of another exciting new chapter for me, and allows me to devote more time to freelance commissions, workshop and conducting opportunities.If you are in the Sydney /Newcastle region this is an excellent time to nab me for some work with your singers and students!My postal address has changed and is now:
PO Box 263 Brooklyn NSW 2083
Ph: +61 2 99858355My mobile phone, email, and website addresses remain the same Other news and events….READ a great article about me and my work (one of very, very few), excellently written by Dr Helen Lancaster in the Resonance magazine of The Australian Music Centre.

http://www.australianmusiccentre.com.au/article/it-can-t-get-any-better-than-this Read…. my farewell speech to The Australian Voices in the current issue of the Sing Out magazine Australian National Choral Association magazine).Accepted… I have just accepted a non-remunerative invitation to sit on the Board of the International Federation for Choral Music (IFCM) as representative for the South Pacific Region. This provides me with an international forum to continue voicing the issues and challenges that face us in this part of the world and look at them with a global perspective. If you would like to send me your thoughts on the activity in this region I would be happy to hear them.Maestro Nelson Cooke - turns 90.
It was my very great honour to attend the celebrations of my former cello teacher and master musician Nelson Cooke in Melbourne in November. Nelson is one of the great masters of Australian music making who is known in the cello world for his extraordinary contribution to cello performance, but more importantly since his return to Australia, he has been teacher to most of the prominent chamber music cellists in this country today. Even though I no longer play the cello (certainly in public) I use the many aspects of musicianship and artistry that I gleaned from Nelson in my work every day. Lets hope there are many many more years we can share in Nelson’s mastery to come.
 Crystal Childrens Choirs in USA
In the past months I have been involved in a flurry of activity across a large part of the globe. in June/July The Australian Voices tour into Malaysia, Singapore and then in Taiwan, before heading home to repack to spend 10 days in the USA working with the wonderful singers and conductors of the Crystal Childrens Choirs in San Francisco. I enjoyed my time with the singers of the Crystal Choirs and found them to be extremely, commited, talented groups and great fun to work with and be with. Thank you to Carl Chang and Jenny Chiang and all my friends at the Crystal Choirs for making my stay so enjoyable and productive. I look forward to the time when I can meet and work with you again sometime soon.
    My final concert with 
The Australian Voices
August 27, 7.00pm,
Queensland Conservatorium Theatre, Brisbane
Thank you to all my friends, TAV alumni and others who made my final concert with The Australian Voices such a memorable musical event and special occasion.  The Australian Voices were in full flight after our extraordinarily successful Asian tour, and our special invited guests,The Eltham East Primary School Choir under the direction of Anne Williams was extraordinary and a examplar of all that is artistically possible when you bring talented and skilled direction, good music and a well disciplined and commited group of youngsters together. This very special occasion will stay with me and I am sure with those present, for a very very long time. I now hand over the TAV mantel to young composer/Conductor Goron Hamilton who I have know will take the organisation into its next phase with artistry, skill and imagination. Thank you all for your support and best wishes.Stephen Leek with The Australian Voices in Asia in June /  July
     
Thank you to all my old and new friends in Singapore, Malaysia and Taiwan for making my visit to your countries so memorable, easy and interesting. The generousity, hospitality and welcome afforded to us by our hosts was overwhelming and we are deeply indebted to you.Thank you too to the singers of The Australian Voices, who I think, performed brilliantly throughout the course of the tour. Some of the concerts that we gave I believe were the ‘best ever’ fo TAV. Stay tuned to see pics and the information as it comes to hand, or visit the facebook page of The Australian Voices as more photos become available.

CURRENT WORK
Australian Seasons - commissioned by Anne Williams and the wonderful Eltham East Primary School Choir,  this new collection of pieces for treble voices and piano explores the nature, challenges and beauty of the many faces of seasonal change in Australia. The texts for this collection, which will have about 7 - 9 substantial songs, has been written by Anne and the students of EEPS after workshops with me earlier in the year. The work will be released for the public in 2011 after the premiere performance. 
Murray Boat Song for a cappella for acappella SSATBB - was commissioned by the Encounters Festival in Queensland to be performed by the Song Company later in the year as part of the Endurance Tapestry performances.
The Future - for SATB choir and wind quintet - was written several years ago but is currently being ressurected by the commissioners, the fabulous St Peters Chorale under conductor Graeme Morton, for performances in 2010 with the Southern Cross Soloists. Listen out for these performances!
Tulpi - for two virtuosic double basses - arose out of a brilliant idea of music teacher, Chris Belshaw. With two virtuosic double bassist students sitting YR 12 at the St Andrews Cathedral School in Sydney, Chris had this crazy, spontaneous, and yet, brilliant idea to commission a new work for these budding bassists to play which would challenge and extend their musical and technical skills, and, at the same time give them something impressive to play as a farewell gesture to high school. Brilliant!
Blue Australian Skies - TTBB - was written at the beginning of 2010 for the Sydney Mens Choir in celebration of the retirement of Conductor Alan Thrift. Congratulations Alan on your fabulous work with the men over the many years that you conducted them The performance will be in September later this year.
Visions of Vastness - a new work for SATB acappella choir receieved its premiere performance on November 23 by the Hunter Singers in Newcastle who also commissioned the work in celebration of their 20 Year Anniversary. Congratulations to Kim and the singers for such a remarkable milestone of achievement.