Liza Lim
Encyclopedia
Liza Lim is an Australian composer
.
Lim writes concert music (chamber and orchestral works) as well as music theatre and has collaborated with artists on a number of installation and video projects. Her work reflects her interests in Asian ritual culture, the aesthetics of Aboriginal art and shows the influence of non-Western music performance practice.
to turn from piano and violin to composition. She has said that she "owes everything to them". Lim earned her Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Queensland
, her Master of Music from the University of Melbourne
(1996), and her Bachelor of Arts from the Victorian College of the Arts
(1986). She has studied composition in Melbourne
with Richard David Hames, Riccardo Formosa
, and in Amsterdam
with Ton de Leeuw
. She has been a guest lecturer at the Darmstadt Summer School, the University of California, San Diego
, Cornell University
, Getty Research Institute
, major Australian universities and at the IRCAM
Agora Festival. She was a lecturer of composition at Melbourne University in 1991. Lim was the guest curator for the twilight concert series of the 2006 Adelaide Festival of Arts
.
She has been commissioned by some of the most eminent performers in the world including the Los Angeles Philharmonic
(for whom she wrote 'Ecstatic Architecture' for the inaugural season of the Frank Gehry
-designed Walt Disney Concert Hall
), Ensemble InterContemporain
, Ensemble Modern
, BBC Symphony Orchestra
, Arditti String Quartet
. Her work has featured at festivals such as Festival d'automne à Paris, MaerzMusik at the Berliner Festspiele
, Venice Biennale
, Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival
and all the major Australian festivals.
Since 1986, Lim has worked extensively with members of the ELISION Ensemble
; she is married to Daryl Buckley, its artistic director. In 2005, Lim was appointed the composer-in-residence with the Sydney Symphony for two years. Among other works, the orchestra commissioned—jointly with the radio station Bayerischer Rundfunk
—her work The Compass; in its premiere performance on 23 August 2006 at the Sydney Opera House
it was conducted by Alexander Briger, William Barton
played the didgeridoo
.
Sponsored by the German Academic Exchange Service
, she spent one year in 2007/2008 as artist-in-residence in Berlin where she developed her third opera, The Navigator
, inspired by Tristan and Isolde
to a libretto
by Patricia Sykes. She was appointed professor in composition at the University of Huddersfield
in March 2008.
are presented annually by Australasian Performing Right Association
(APRA) and Australian Music Centre
(AMC).
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|rowspan="2"| 2007
|| Flying Banner (After Wang To) (Liza Lim) - Sydney Symphony
, Gianluigi Gelmetti
(conductor) || Orchestral Work of the Year ||
|-
|Liza Lim – Sydney Symphony Composer Residency || Outstanding Contribution by an Individual ||
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
.
Lim writes concert music (chamber and orchestral works) as well as music theatre and has collaborated with artists on a number of installation and video projects. Her work reflects her interests in Asian ritual culture, the aesthetics of Aboriginal art and shows the influence of non-Western music performance practice.
Biography
At the age of 11, Lim was encouraged by her teachers at Presbyterian Ladies' College, MelbournePresbyterian Ladies' College, Melbourne
Presbyterian Ladies' College, Melbourne , is an independent,private, Presbyterian, day and boarding school predominantly for girls, located in Burwood, an eastern suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia....
to turn from piano and violin to composition. She has said that she "owes everything to them". Lim earned her Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Queensland
University of Queensland
The University of Queensland, also known as UQ, is a public university located in state of Queensland, Australia. Founded in 1909, it is the oldest and largest university in Queensland and the fifth oldest in the nation...
, her Master of Music from the University of Melbourne
University of Melbourne
The University of Melbourne is a public university located in Melbourne, Victoria. Founded in 1853, it is the second oldest university in Australia and the oldest in Victoria...
(1996), and her Bachelor of Arts from the Victorian College of the Arts
Victorian College of the Arts
The Faculty of the VCA and Music is a faculty of the University of Melbourne, in Victoria . VCAM is located near the Melbourne central business district, on two campuses, one - the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music - on the Parkville campus of the University of Melbourne, and the other - the...
(1986). She has studied composition in Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
with Richard David Hames, Riccardo Formosa
Ric Formosa
-External links:...
, and in Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
with Ton de Leeuw
Ton De Leeuw
Antonius Wilhelmus Adrianus de Leeuw was a Dutch composer. He was known for his experiments with microtonality....
. She has been a guest lecturer at the Darmstadt Summer School, the University of California, San Diego
University of California, San Diego
The University of California, San Diego, commonly known as UCSD or UC San Diego, is a public research university located in the La Jolla neighborhood of San Diego, California, United States...
, Cornell University
Cornell University
Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...
, Getty Research Institute
Getty Center
The Getty Center, in Brentwood, Los Angeles, California, is a campus for cultural institutions founded by oilman J. Paul Getty. The $1.3 billion center, which opened on December 16, 1997, is also well known for its architecture, gardens, and views overlooking Los Angeles...
, major Australian universities and at the IRCAM
IRCAM
IRCAM is a European institute for science about music and sound and avant garde electro-acoustical art music. It is situated next to, and is organizationally linked with, the Centre Pompidou in Paris...
Agora Festival. She was a lecturer of composition at Melbourne University in 1991. Lim was the guest curator for the twilight concert series of the 2006 Adelaide Festival of Arts
Adelaide Festival of Arts
The Adelaide Festival of Arts is an arts festival held biennially in the South Australian capital of Adelaide. Although locally considered to be one of the world's greatest celebrations of the arts, that is internationally renowned and the pre-eminent cultural event in Australia, it is actually...
.
She has been commissioned by some of the most eminent performers in the world including the Los Angeles Philharmonic
Los Angeles Philharmonic
The Los Angeles Philharmonic is an American orchestra based in Los Angeles, California, United States. It has a regular season of concerts from October through June at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, and a summer season at the Hollywood Bowl from July through September...
(for whom she wrote 'Ecstatic Architecture' for the inaugural season of the Frank Gehry
Frank Gehry
Frank Owen Gehry, is a Canadian American Pritzker Prize-winning architect based in Los Angeles, California.His buildings, including his private residence, have become tourist attractions...
-designed Walt Disney Concert Hall
Walt Disney Concert Hall
The Walt Disney Concert Hall at 111 South Grand Avenue in Downtown Los Angeles, California is the fourth hall of the Los Angeles Music Center. Bounded by Hope Street, Grand Avenue, 1st and 2nd Streets, it seats 2,265 people and serves as the home of the Los Angeles Philharmonic orchestra and the...
), Ensemble InterContemporain
Ensemble InterContemporain
The Ensemble InterContemporain is a French chamber orchestra, based in Paris at the Cité de la musique and IRCAM, which specialises in contemporary classical music....
, Ensemble Modern
Ensemble Modern
Ensemble Modern is a chamber ensemble dedicated to the music of modern composers. Formed in 1980, the group is based in Frankfurt, Germany and made up variously of about twenty members from numerous countries....
, BBC Symphony Orchestra
BBC Symphony Orchestra
The BBC Symphony Orchestra is the principal broadcast orchestra of the British Broadcasting Corporation and one of the leading orchestras in Britain.-History:...
, Arditti String Quartet
Arditti Quartet
The Arditti Quartet is a string quartet founded in 1974. The quartet is associated particularly with contemporary music.-Early history:The quartet was founded in 1974 by violinist Irvine Arditti together with John Senter, Levine Andrade and Lenox Mackenzie...
. Her work has featured at festivals such as Festival d'automne à Paris, MaerzMusik at the Berliner Festspiele
Berliner Festspiele
The Berliner Festspiele arts center brings together a variety of arts and culture events under one roof each year in Berlin, Germany. It was founded in West Berlin in 1951. Throughout the year, festivals, program series, and individual events enrich the cultural scene of the city...
, Venice Biennale
Venice Biennale
The Venice Biennale is a major contemporary art exhibition that takes place once every two years in Venice, Italy. The Venice Film Festival is part of it. So too is the Venice Biennale of Architecture, which is held in even years...
, Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival
Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival
The Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival is held in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England. It has a repertoire of cutting-edge jazz, orchestral, choral and electroacoustic performances, along with film, dance and music theatre...
and all the major Australian festivals.
Since 1986, Lim has worked extensively with members of the ELISION Ensemble
ELISION Ensemble
The ELISION Ensemble is a chamber ensemble specialising in contemporary classical music,concentrating on the creation and presentation of new works....
; she is married to Daryl Buckley, its artistic director. In 2005, Lim was appointed the composer-in-residence with the Sydney Symphony for two years. Among other works, the orchestra commissioned—jointly with the radio station Bayerischer Rundfunk
Bayerischer Rundfunk
Bayerischer Rundfunk [Bavarian Broadcasting] is the public broadcasting authority for the German Freistaat of Bavaria, with its main offices located in Munich. BR is a member of ARD.- Legal foundation :...
—her work The Compass; in its premiere performance on 23 August 2006 at the Sydney Opera House
Sydney Opera House
The Sydney Opera House is a multi-venue performing arts centre in the Australian city of Sydney. It was conceived and largely built by Danish architect Jørn Utzon, finally opening in 1973 after a long gestation starting with his competition-winning design in 1957...
it was conducted by Alexander Briger, William Barton
William Barton (musician)
William Barton is an Australian Aboriginal didgeridoo player. He was born in Mount Isa, Queensland on 4 June 1981. and learned to play from his uncle, an elder of the Wannyi, Lardil and Kalkadunga tribes of Western Queensland...
played the didgeridoo
Didgeridoo
The didgeridoo is a wind instrument developed by Indigenous Australians of northern Australia around 1,500 years ago and still in widespread usage today both in Australia and around the world. It is sometimes described as a natural wooden trumpet or "drone pipe"...
.
Sponsored by the German Academic Exchange Service
German Academic Exchange Service
The German Academic Exchange Service or DAAD is the largest German support organisation in the field of international academic co-operation....
, she spent one year in 2007/2008 as artist-in-residence in Berlin where she developed her third opera, The Navigator
The Navigator (opera)
The Navigator is an opera by Liza Lim to a libretto by Patricia Sykes. The work had its world premiere at the Judith Wright Centre of Contemporary Arts as part of the Brisbane Festival 2008 on 30 July 2008...
, inspired by Tristan and Isolde
Tristan and Iseult
The legend of Tristan and Iseult is an influential romance and tragedy, retold in numerous sources with as many variations. The tragic story is of the adulterous love between the Cornish knight Tristan and the Irish princess Iseult...
to a libretto
Libretto
A libretto is the text used in an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata, or musical. The term "libretto" is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major liturgical works, such as mass, requiem, and sacred cantata, or even the story line of a...
by Patricia Sykes. She was appointed professor in composition at the University of Huddersfield
University of Huddersfield
The University of Huddersfield is a university located in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England.- History :The University traces its roots back to a Science and Mechanic Institute founded in 1825...
in March 2008.
Selected works
- 1988/1989 Garden of Earthly Desire for flute, oboe, clarinet, electric guitar, mandolin, harp, violin, viola, violoncello, contrabass, percussion
- 1989 Voodoo Child for sopranoSopranoA soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...
solo, flute/piccolo, clarinet, violin, violoncello, trombone, piano, percussion - 1990 Diabolical Birds for piccolo, bass clarinet, piano, violin, violoncello, vibraphone
- 1991–1993 The Oresteia, A Memory Theatre, opera
- 1992 Amulet for viola solo
- 1993 Li Shang Lin for coloratura sopranoColoratura sopranoA coloratura soprano is a type of operatic soprano who specializes in music that is distinguished by agile runs and leaps. The term coloratura refers to the elaborate ornamentation of a melody, which is a typical component of the music written for this voice...
, 15 instruments - 1994/1995 Sri-Vidya, Utterances of Adoration for choir and orchestra
- 1994/1995 Bar-do'i-thos-grol, 7-night installation performance based on The Tibetan Book of the Dead, artist Domenico de Clario
- 1995 Street of Crocodiles for flute, oboe, alto saxophone, alto trombone, cimbalom/cymbal, violin, viola, violoncello, baroque violoncello
- 1996 The Alchemical Wedding for orchestra (22 instruments)
- 1996 Inguz (Fertility) for clarinet in A, violoncello
- 1997 The Heart's Ear for flute/piccolo, clarinet, violin I, violin II, viola, violoncello
- 1997 Philtre, Hardanger fiddleHardingfeleA Hardanger fiddle is a traditional stringed instrument used originally to play the music of Norway. In modern designs, the instruments are very similar to the violin, though with eight or nine strings and thinner wood...
solo or retuned violin - 1999 Sonorous Bodies for koto and voice solo, in collaboration with video artist Judith Wright
- 1999 Veil for flute/bass flute, bass clarinet, trumpet in C, percussion, piano, violin, violoncello
- 1999 Yuè Lìng Jié (Moon Spirit Feasting), A Chinese ritual street opera, libretto by Beth Yahp
- 2001 Machine for Contacting the Dead for twenty-seven instruments
- 2002–2004 Ecstatic Architecture, commissioned for the inaugural season at the Walt Disney Concert HallWalt Disney Concert HallThe Walt Disney Concert Hall at 111 South Grand Avenue in Downtown Los Angeles, California is the fourth hall of the Los Angeles Music Center. Bounded by Hope Street, Grand Avenue, 1st and 2nd Streets, it seats 2,265 people and serves as the home of the Los Angeles Philharmonic orchestra and the...
- 2004 Immer Fliessender (Ever Flowing), a companion-piece for Gustav MahlerGustav MahlerGustav Mahler was a late-Romantic Austrian composer and one of the leading conductors of his generation. He was born in the village of Kalischt, Bohemia, in what was then Austria-Hungary, now Kaliště in the Czech Republic...
's Ninth SymphonySymphony No. 9 (Mahler)The Symphony No. 9 by Gustav Mahler was written between 1909 and 1910, and was the last symphony that he completed.Though the work is often described as being in the key of D major, the tonal scheme of the symphony as whole is progressive... - 2004 In the Shadow's Light for string quartet, commissioned by Festival d'automne à Paris for the Kairos-Quartett
- 2004/2005 The Quickening for soprano and qinGuqinThe guqin is the modern name for a plucked seven-string Chinese musical instrument of the zither family...
, commissioned by the Festival d'Automne à Paris - 2005 Flying Banner "Fanfare" for orchestra, after Wang To
- 2005 Mother Tongue, for soprano & 15 instruments, poems by Patricia Sykes, commissioned by Festival d'Automne, Ensemble Intercontemporain & ELISION
- 2005 Songs Found in Dream for oboe, bass clarinet, alto sax, trumpet, 2 percussion, viola, cello
- 2005 Glass House Mountains, installation work with artist Judy Watson
- 2006 The Compass for orchestra with flute and didgeridoo soloists
- 2006 Shimmer Songs for string quartet, harp, 3 percussion
- 2006 City of Falling Angels for 12 percussion
- 2007 Weaver–of–Fictions for alto Ganassi recorder
- 2007 The Long Forgetting for tenor Ganassi recorder
- 2007 Wild Winged–one for solo trumpet
- 2007 Sensorium for soprano, C-tenor recorders, baroque harp, viola d'amoreViola d'amoreThe viola d'amore is a 7- or 6-stringed musical instrument with sympathetic strings used chiefly in the baroque period. It is played under the chin in the same manner as the violin.- Structure and sound :...
- 2007 The NavigatorThe Navigator (opera)The Navigator is an opera by Liza Lim to a libretto by Patricia Sykes. The work had its world premiere at the Judith Wright Centre of Contemporary Arts as part of the Brisbane Festival 2008 on 30 July 2008...
, opera for 5 singers, 16 instruments and electronics, libretto by Patricia Sykes - 2008 Ochred String for oboe, viola, cello, double bass
- 2008 Sonorous Body for solo B clarinet
- 2008 Well of Dreams for solo alto trombone
APRA Classical Music Awards
The APRA Classical Music AwardsAPRA Awards
The APRA Music Awards are several award ceremonies run in Australia and New Zealand by Australasian Performing Right Association to recognise songwriting skills, sales and airplay performance by its members annually....
are presented annually by Australasian Performing Right Association
Australasian Performing Right Association
The Australasian Performing Right Association is a copyright collective representing New Zealand and Australian composers, lyricists and music publishers. The association's head offices located in Sydney Australia, and it has branch offices in Auckland, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth...
(APRA) and Australian Music Centre
Australian Music Centre
The Australian Music Centre fosters the development of an Australian music community by providing specialist support to its membership of performers, composers, sound artists, educators, students, and music specialists across Australia and throughout the world.The AMC is the Australian national...
(AMC).
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|rowspan="2"| 2007
APRA Awards of 2007
The Australasian Performing Right Association Awards of 2007 are a series of awards which include the APRA Music Awards, Classical Music Awards, and Screen Music Awards. The APRA Music Awards ceremony occurred on 16 June at the Sydney Hilton, they were presented by APRA and the Australasian...
|| Flying Banner (After Wang To) (Liza Lim) - Sydney Symphony
Sydney Symphony Orchestra
The Sydney Symphony Orchestra , commonly known as the Sydney Symphony, is an Australian symphony orchestra based in Sydney...
, Gianluigi Gelmetti
Gianluigi Gelmetti
Gianluigi Gelmetti is an Italian conductor and composer.He studied conducting with Franco Ferrara, Sergiu Celibidache and Hans Swarowsky. He first conducted an orchestra in Siena at age 16....
(conductor) || Orchestral Work of the Year ||
|-
|Liza Lim – Sydney Symphony Composer Residency || Outstanding Contribution by an Individual ||
- 1996 Australia Council fellowship
- 1996 (inaugural) Young Australian Creative Fellowship
- 2002 APRA Classical Music AwardAPRA AwardsThe APRA Music Awards are several award ceremonies run in Australia and New Zealand by Australasian Performing Right Association to recognise songwriting skills, sales and airplay performance by its members annually....
(Best Composition) - 2004 Paul Lowin Award for Ecstatic Architecture