Blog | Moya Henderson

Music bosses remain deaf to distortion that gender discrimination creates on stage

Submitted by Moya Henderson on 10/10/2013 - 21:59.

SYDNEY MORNING HERALD, COMMENT PAGES

October 11, 2013,

Moya Henderson ©

If Australia's major music organisations have displayed a marked tendency to commission and perform compositions by men on this country's main stages, can it be explained as unconscious bias? What I hear, from female composer colleagues and others, indicates they believe the discrimination is deliberate.

Sorry Time for solo Cello, performed by David Pereira

Submitted by Moya Henderson on 06/20/2013 - 02:58.

Here is David Pereira's beautiful recording of Sorry Time 1999/2013.

This piece was included in a concert given by David at the 2013 International Society for the History of Neurology conference at the University of Sydney, on June 24, 2013. This was the first time that this medical conference had been set in train with a concert. Dr John Carmody was the impresariio. I think that's the right word. Jack commissioned the piece back in 1999 for Clare Rowe's Graduation Ceremony from the Sydney Conservatorium. The work is dedicated to Jack's wife, Diana.

June 18 2013. Concert to inaugurate the International Neurological Conference at Syd. Univ.

Submitted by Moya Henderson on 06/18/2013 - 03:31.

Today at 9am there was a cello concert organised by Dr John Carmody. The concert marked the start of the International Neurological Conference, held for the first time south of the Equator. It is being held at Sydney University. David Pereira was the cellist and I am honoured that my piece, Sorry Time was in the line-up of works performed by this beautiful cellist. David suggests that we work towards a recording of the piece and then upload it to this webpage. I will be thrilled with this; his performance today was so poetic, so masterful. And Good On Jack C. for commissioning the piece in the first place. Watch this space.

Why music makes our brain sing

Submitted by Moya Henderson on 06/09/2013 - 06:27.

So why does this thingless “thing” — at its core, a mere sequence of sounds — hold such potentially enormous intrinsic value?

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/09/opinion/sunday/why-music-makes-our-bra...

New! Revised setting of Gwen Harwood Song Cycle. Uploaded today.

Submitted by Moya Henderson on 06/09/2013 - 06:15.

Four pages of the second song in PDF.

http://moyahenderson.com/sites/moyahenderson.com/files/songs%20about%20music%20%232%20pp%201%20-%204_1.pdf

Miriam Cosic's article on Lindy

Submitted by Moya Henderson on 03/17/2013 - 04:29.

Here is Miriam's article on the opera published a few weeks before its premiere.

Lovely to be able to dig it out from the attic and share it on the web.

Thanks Miriam for the permission to share.

Enjoy reading

Six Urban Songs: the Patrick White Song Cycle for Soprano and Orchestra

Submitted by Moya Henderson on 02/12/2013 - 11:53.

If you only have a few seconds, look at Patrick White’s song #5.
It is bizarre and tragic all at once.
“I wonder if any of you ever recognized this Pole . . . “

This reaches out across countries and ages to a desperate man, so abused by war and displacement.
(I’ll get the audio up very soon now.)

Patrick White gave me permission to do as I wished with these poems, so here they are.

Six Urban Songs: the Patrick White Song Cycle for Soprano and Orchestra

BY MOYA HENDERSON, 1983

Welcome to my blog

Submitted by Moya Henderson on 02/12/2013 - 11:47.

Welcome to my blog. I promise to stir the possum from time to time. And reminisce. Plenty of stories to share before I start to forget them all. Lots to tell about why and how I came to write the pieces I did.

This Friday we celebrate my cousin Elizabeth’s wedding to Warren Mundine. Elizabeth’s 10-year-old daughter, Naomi Killin, will sing a newly composed Ave Maria and the Acacia String Quartet will be accompanying her. The Acacia Strings will also play two of my quartets, written for recent family weddings: a Wedding Processional and a Recessional March.