John McCaughey
Perhaps better known as a conductor than composer, John McCaughey utilises a wide spectrum of genres to give opportunities to many Australian composers and performers.
Through his directorship of Melbourne's Astra Chamber Music Society, he has continued his long-standing commitment to creating and presenting imaginative and adventurous programs of Australian music.
John McCaughey has been musical director of the Astra Concerts since 1978. For many years he was a member of staff in the former Department of Music at La Trobe University, and has taught at the Folkwang Musikhochschule in Essen, the University of Melbourne and the Victorian College of the Arts. Numerous contemporary Australian works have been commissioned and performed under his direction, crossing boundaries between choral performance and other media.
A former student of Wolfgang Hufschmidt in composition and Gerd Zacher in organ, he has had works recorded by pianists Larry Sitsky (Move), Michael Kieran Harvey (Astra and Move), and on a Cybele release of electro-acoustic music in Germany (2002).
Compositions by John McCaughey 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.
Broadway Boogie
Broadway Boogie is a collection of new music for piano featuring works by Nigel Westlake, Andrew Ford, Andrew Byrne, Mark Pollard and Michael Kieran Harvey. It won the best classical CD of 2008 in Melbourne's Herald-Sun.
Contemporary Australian Piano
A valuable collection of Australian compositions for piano, by some of Australia's most respected and inventive composers and performed by pianist- composer, Larry Sitsky.