About
” … an uncompromising voice, both enervating and exciting to hear in an age when contemporary composition is finding it difficult to sustain interest, let alone an audience.”
CLIVE O’CONNELL. O’CONNELL THE MUSIC.
Australian composer Brendan Colbert (b. 1956) performed with various progressive-rock bands in the 1970s as keyboard player and songwriter, then in the ’80s undertook private composition studies; initially with Brenton Broadstock & later with Riccardo Formosa.
After a series of early commissions (most notably several from ELISION) he was selected twice for the National Orchestral Composers’ School (in 1991 with Carl Vine and Richard Mills & in 1995 with Gerard Brophy and Sir William Southgate) which led to the premieres of Machinations and Jericho’s Strange by the Queensland Symphony Orchestra.
The following years saw the resolution and assimilation of such disparate influences, the revision or withdrawal of several early works, and the emergence of an uncompromising individual voice. His output currently comprises about a hundred works, and includes commissions from local and international soloists, ensembles, and orchestras, with concert and festival performances throughout Australia, Europe and the USA.
Major commissions from Symphony Australia – for the West Australian Symphony Orchestra – and from US flautist Linda Wetherill – for a flute concerto to be toured through China – were supported by grants from the Australia Council, with Eirenicon premiered by the WASO under Kenneth Young in Perth in 2000, and following the unfortunate abandonment of the Chinese tour due to the SARS (Cov-1) outbreak of 2003-4, the flute concerto Shades of Futures Past was premiered by Linda Wetherill (flute, alto flute & piccolo) in a version for soloist and CD in New York in 2004.
Other significant premieres during this period included Agité II (vibraphone solo – Peter Neville, Brisbane 1999), Slap (bass clarinet & percussion – Duo Contemporain, Perth 2000), Agité III (piano solo – Michael Kieran Harvey, Melbourne 2001), DisTanz (perc. quartet – Speak Percussion, Melbourne 2003), Scorn (bass clarinet solo – Carl Rosman, London & Stuttgart, 2004), Schräg (trombone solo – Barrie Webb, Melbourne & Bucharest, 2004), Solitary (bass flute solo – Linda Wetherill, New York 2007), Sphinx (for 10 players – ELISION, Melbourne 2008) and …floating in the void… (string orchestra – Arcko Symphonic Ensemble, cond. Timothy Phillips, Melbourne 2009).
Shades of Futures Past was ultimately given its first complete performance in Melbourne in August 2011, with Arcko Symphonic Ensemble featuring Sarah Beggs as soloist.
A commission from Arcko’s artistic director resulted in the premiere of …like a Maelstrom (Double Concerto) featuring soloists Peter Dumsday (piano) & Bruno Siketa (trumpet), as part of a Composer Portrait Concert in Melbourne in February 2015. This concert also included the premieres of Proxima (Silo String Quartet), The Palest Light (Timothy Phillips – glockenspiel), & Torque (Phoebe Green – viola).
A commission from Michael Kieran Harvey saw the completion of Dancing to the Tremors of Time, a 25+ minute single-movement work for solo piano. Somewhat challenging for both performer and audience alike, it was successfully premiered in November 2018 at the Museum of Old and New Art in Hobart.
Other recent premieres include Alter(n)ations (Michael Kieran Harvey – piano, Peter Neville – vibes: Melbourne, February 2023), Repose (for Absent Friends) (Michael Kieran Harvey – piano: Melbourne, April 2018), movements I, V, and IX from Figuration in Search of Identity (James Townsend, Madi Chwasta & Mathew Levy – percussion: Melbourne, May 2017), Contre-Temps (Peter Dumsday – piano: Melbourne, December 2016), and re-fract (Michael Kieran Harvey – piano: Sydney, September 2016).
Others to have commissioned, performed, and/or recorded works include Smash Ensemble, Ensemble Offspring, Libra Ensemble, Six Degrees Ensemble, Topology, Ensemble Traiect, Trio Altrove 1.3, the New York Miniaturist Ensemble, Pedro Carneiro, Mario Teixeira, Sisco Aparici, Stefano Cardi, Norio Sato, John McMurtery, Carla Rees & David Black, Johanna Selleck, Geoffrey Morris, Michael Hooper, Marshall McGuire, Brigid Burke & David McNicol, and Elizabeth Barcan.
Works available on CD include Dancing to the Tremors of Time (piano solo), …like a Maelstrom (Double Concerto for piano, trumpet & small orchestra), Proxima (string quartet), Torque (viola solo), Quicksand (piano solo), …floating in the void… (string orchestra), & Schräg (trombone solo) among others.
Scores are available from the Australian Music Centre, or from the composer.