Graeme Koehne
Graeme Koehne (born 1956) is an Australian composer and music educator, known for orchestral and ballet scores of direct, communicative style. His solo, ensemble and orchestral music is widely performed.
Ballet has been central to his catalogue. The Selfish Giant (TP115), after Oscar Wilde’s fairy tale, was written for the Sydney Dance Company; the same disc pairs it with the orchestral suite Once Around the Sun. Later dance scores fed chamber excerpts such as the garden scene and pieces from Nearly Beloved.
Across the catalogue his concert music favours clarity and song. The Bach homage To His Servant Bach, God Grants a Final Glimpse: The Morning Star (MD 3148) appears for organ and in harp arrangement; guitarists take up A Closed World of Fine Feelings (TP169); short piano character pieces and a violin lullaby sit beside the popular orchestral vein of works such as Powerhouse.
He studied composition in Adelaide, held a Harkness Fellowship in the United States, and later led composition teaching at the Elder Conservatorium. In 2014 he was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia.
Compositions by Graeme Koehne appear on
Centenary Plus
Sydney City Organist Robert Ampt plays the restored William Hill and Son Grand Organ at Sydney Town Hall in a programme spanning more than a century of music linked with the instrument, from Handel and Bach to Koehne, Dubois, Best and Ampt.