Tony Gould

His performances cover a wide range. He has accompanied such eminent jazz musicians as Clark Terry, Mark Murphy and Ernestine Anderson, and has been a supporting artist to Dave Brubeck, Oscar Peterson, Sarah Vaughan, Jean-Luc Ponty, Ray Brown, the Art Ensemble of Chicago and many other distinguished groups. Yet he is equally at home playing Bach and Mozart, and has been a guest soloist with both the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and the Elizabethan Melbourne Orchestra.

He has recorded on over twenty commercially released CDs; among the most highly acclaimed are Lirik (1994), Unanimity (MD 3155) with pianist Bob Sedergreen, Gateway and A Tin Roof for the Rain (1996 and 1997) with saxophonist Robert Burke and cellist Sarah Morse. He regularly records for the ABC.

Tony has become increasingly active as a composer. He has fulfilled commissions for the Victorian Arts Centre, the Hamilton Arts Festival and the Solitaire Tuba Ensemble, and has written works for horn and piano and for tuba and piano. He has been a guest artist with the State Orchestra of Victoria for a premiere of his work Homage to Bach for symphony orchestra and piano trio. He was commissioned to write music for two award-winning CSIRO documentary films. In 1997 his chamber work Under Milk Wood, based on Dylan Thomas’s work, was premiered by the Queensland Philharmonic Orchestra and narrated by distinguished Australian actor John Stanton.

His music has wide appeal. He draws on a broad range of influences including Bach, Mahler, Stravinsky, Bartók, Keith Jarrett and Bill Evans. His composition is marked by rhythmic vitality and a particular sensitivity to harmony.

He resigned as Dean of Music at the Victorian College of the Arts School of Music, and in early 2005 left his post as Head of the School of Music there to renew a hands-on approach to performance, composition and writing. In 1997 he was visiting Head of Postgraduate Studies at the Conservatorium of Music, Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts. He has also lectured at the University of Melbourne, acted as a consultant for the National Academy of Music, and directed its inaugural programme for improvisation studies. He later became a Professor of Music at Monash University.

He has been a chief adjudicator for the Sun Aria competition for some twenty years, and adjudicator of eisteddfods and scholarships throughout Australia, including the National Finals and the World Final of the Yamaha Music Competition. He was a member of the founding committee of advisors establishing the Yamaha Music Foundation and remains a senior member of examining panels for keyboard exams.

Tony is a respected music writer and critic, having contributed to The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz, The Oxford Companion to Australian Music and Music Forum. He was chief (classical) music critic for The Sun newspaper (Melbourne) for a number of years and has also written for The Australian.

He holds a PhD from La Trobe University, a Master of Arts from Monash University and a Bachelor of Music from the University of Melbourne. Awards include the APRA/Australian Music Centre Classical Music Award for Outstanding Contribution to Australian Music in Education (2005), an Australia Council Music Board Fellowship (2006–2007) and a Distinguished Artist residency at Arthur Boyd’s studios in Bundanon (2007). He was made a Member of the Order of Australia in 2007.

Artist's website: www.australianmusiccentre.com.au