Carl Vine
Carl Vine AO is one of Australia's best known and often performed composers, with an impressive orchestral catalogue featuring eight symphonies and thirteen concertos. His piano music is performed frequently around the world and recordings of his music on more than 70 albums are available on all major streaming services.
He has composed an extensive range of chamber music alongside various work for film, television, dance and theatre. Although primarily a composer of modern art music, he has undertaken such diverse tasks as arranging the Australian National Anthem and writing music for the Closing Ceremony of the Olympic Games (Atlanta, 1996).
Born in Perth, he studied piano with Stephen Dornan and composition with John Exton at the University of Western Australia. Moving to Sydney in 1975, he worked as a freelance pianist and composer with a wide range of ensembles, theatre and dance companies over the following decades.
Amongst his most acclaimed scores are Piano Sonata (1990) and Poppy (1978) for the Sydney Dance Company and Choral Symphony (No.6, 1996) for the West Australian Symphony Orchestra. His first six symphonies are available on the ABC Classics album Carl Vine: The Complete Symphonies performed by the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. Much of his chamber music is available on three albums on the Tall Poppies label (TP013, TP120 and TP190).
From 2000 until 2019 Carl was Artistic Director of Musica Viva Australia, the world's largest chamber music entrepreneur. Within that role he was also Artistic Director of the Huntington Estate Music Festival from 2006, and of the Musica Viva Festival (Sydney) from 2008. Carl has been Senior Lecturer in Composition at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music since 2014. His recent compositions include Five Intermezzi for solo piano, Piano Sonata No 4, "The Enchanted Loom" (Symphony no 8) for the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, and "Five Hallucinations" a trombone concerto for the Chicago and Sydney Symphony Orchestras. In 2014 Carl was appointed an Officer of The Order Of Australia (AO) in the Queen's Birthday Honours List. For more information visit carlvine.com
Artist's website: www.carlvine.com
Press quotes
... Vine is a major talent just waiting to be discovered here in the Old World. 'Radically tonal' (his phrase), the music is accessible but vital, richly coloured with a true, distinctive gift for melody, and somehow fresher than most current European writing.
A formidably equipped musician with a passion for jazz and avant garde experimentation. Vine is clearly one of the most talented young composers working anywhere. His orchestral scores such as the compressed and brilliantly inventive MicroSymphony define and inhabit a unique musical world; his Piano Sonata of 1990 is one of the most significant works in the form since the great Piano Sonata of Elliott Carter.
A major talent ... someone capable of breaking genuinely new ground and getting things to grow in it.
Compositions by Carl Vine appear on
Threnody
This new edition of Michael Kieran Harvey's Threnody CD was originally released in 1995 by Astra. It received glowing reviews then, and greatly deserves fresh exposure. It contains premiere recordings of works by Michael Kieran Harvey, Carl Vine, Stuart Campbell, John McCaughey, Andrew Byrne, Keith Humble, and James Anderson.
Veiled Virtuosity
The debut solo CD of 2006 Australian National Piano Award winning pianist Amir Farid. Features the works of Liszt, Brahms, Prokofiev, Beethoven, Greenbaum, Vine and Maroufi.
Chinese Whispers and other contemporary dance music
Piano works by some of Australia's and China's most outstanding contemporary composers, played by Gabriella Smart. Interpretations of works by Erik Griswold, Tan Dun, Alvin Curran, Jia Daqun, Michael Nyman and more.
Rabid Bay
Michael Kieran Harvey is one of the foremost interpreters of contemporary piano music of his generation. This recording presents some of Australia's cutting edge piano music - bold and experimental, but also increasingly lyrical, was nominated for a 2005 ARIA award.
Composer
Tensile Flame
Michael Kieran Harvey, piano. The first disc traces the influence of the Liszt B minor Sonata on three early 20th Century composers: Rachmaninov, Ravel and Skryabin. The second features contemporary music by Australian composer Carl Vine.
Being
Daniel Pini, acclaimed Australian cellist and conductor, presents this exploration of contemporary Australian classical music for solo cello. The album features works from five of Australia’s most distinguished living composers—Victoria Pham, Brett Dean, Deborah Cheetham Fraillon, Liza Lim, and Carl Vine—showcasing Australia’s modern musical landscape.
Australian Monody
The Marais Project is joined by international countertenor, Russell Harcourt, in a brilliant collection of largely Australian songs and instrumental works exploring light and darkness, love and loss.
Team of Pianists presents the Schimmel K 256
Music by Brahms, Chopin, Debussy, Sain-Saens, Schumann, Gottschalk and Vine to demonstrate the new Schimmel K 256 concert grand.