|
CLAIRE EDWARDES
PERCUSSION
| |
BIOGRAPHICAL DETAILS
photo Belinda Webster
CLAIRE EDWARDES
CAREER HIGHLIGHTS
Harrison Birtwistle’s The Axe Manual
recorded
on the Metronome Label (***** BBC Music Magazine)
with
Nicolas Hodges
w/ performance
at the 2004 Birtwistle Festival (London)
Unsuk Chin’s Double Concerto
conducted
by Peter Eötvös w/ the Radio Chamber Orchestra, Concertgebouw
(Amsterdam)
James MacMillan’s
Veni Veni Emmanuel
conducted by James MacMillan w/ the Sydney Symphony Orchestra
Solo festival performances:
Huddersfield
Contemporary
Music Festival
(UK), International Gaudeamus Music
Weeks (Netherlands), Journées de la Percussions/ PASIC (France),
Cutting Edge
Series and tour (UK),
Banff Centre (Canada)
Guest soloist and programmer:
Percussion
Group The Hague (The Netherlands), Synergy Percussion, Ensemble
Offspring
(Australia)
CLAIRE EDWARDES
PRIZES & DEGREES
2007
AMC/APRA
Classical Music Awards
Award
for Outstanding Contribution by an Individual (for Duo Vertigo the Duyfken
Project)
2005
MCA/Freedman
Fellowship for
Classical Music (Australia)
2005
Third Prize: DUO VERTIGO:
Gaudeamus International Interpreters Competition (The
Netherlands)
2003
Master of Music (Honours): Amsterdam Conservatorium of Music (The
Netherlands
)
2001
First Prize: Llangollen International Instrumentalist (Wales)
2000
First Prize: Tromp Percussion Competition (The Netherlands)
1999
Symphony Australia Young Performer of the Year (Australia)
1997
Student of the Year
(BMusHon1): Sydney
Conservatorium of Music (Australia)
OFFICIAL
BIOGRAPHIES 2008
(100/200/275 word and full length
biographies to be used by festivals and promoters for concert programs +
teaching biography for schools)
photo Monty Coles
100
WORD
BIOGRAPHY
Claire Edwardes
is an internationally renowned percussionist dedicated to the performance and
promotion of contemporary music. For the past seven years she has been based in
the Netherlands and she now divides her time between Australia and Europe. She
is known for her strong, personal musical interpretation and engaging
presentation. Press have described her performances as riveting and
enthusiastic, combining energy with great sensitivity. Claire is the assistant
artistic director of Ensemble Offspring. Career highlights include
solo performances at the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival,
recording Harrison Birtwistle's The Axe Manual with the composer,
prize-winner as part of Duo Vertigo at the 2005 International Gaudeamus
Interpreters Competition and being named Symphony Australia's Young
Performer of the Year (1999). Claire won the 2007 Classical Music Award
for Outstanding Contribution by an Individual and is the 2005 MCA/Freedman Fellowship
recipient.
200
WORD
BIOGRAPHY
Australian percussionist Claire Edwardes is a passionate advocate
of contemporary music with a successful performance career in Australia and
Europe.
She graduated from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music as student
of the year and undertook postgraduate studies at the Rotterdam and Amsterdam
Conservatories graduating in 2003 as a Master of Music with distinction. Claire
has had great success in many competitions throughout the world and was winner
of the 1999 Symphony Australia Young Performer of the Year and the 2001
Llangollen International Instrumentalist Competition (Wales). In 2005 Claire was
awarded the prestigious MCA/Freedman Fellowship for Classical Music
and in 2007 she won the Classical Music Award for Outstanding
Contribution by an Individual
.
Claire has been invited to perform as soloist and chamber musician at festivals
such as the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, Cheltenham Festival, The
Adelaide Bank Festival of the Arts and The Birtwistle Festival (London).
Concerto highlights include performances with the Dutch Radio Chamber Orchestra
(Concertgebouw, Amsterdam), the Amsterdam Sinfonietta, and the Sydney, Melbourne
and Tasmanian Symphony Orchestras. She is
assistant
artistic director of
Ensemble Offspring (Australia) and has initiated several new ensembles in
Europe including her percussion duo with Niels Meliefste, Duo Vertigo. In
April 2005 Duo Vertigo were awarded third prize in the Gaudeamus
International Interpreters Competition.
275 WORD BIOGRAPHY
Australian percussionist Claire Edwardes has been described as “engaging to
watch”, and "riveting", exuding “infectious brio” as well as “strength and
energy”, by press throughout the world.
She graduated from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music as student of the year
and undertook postgraduate studies at the Rotterdam and Amsterdam Conservatories
graduating in 2003 as a Master of Music with distinction. Claire has had great
success in many competitions throughout the world and was winner of the 1999
Symphony Australia Young Performer of the Year, the 2000 Tromp Percussion
Competition (The Netherlands), and the 2001 Llangollen International
Instrumentalist Competition (Wales). In June 2005 Claire was awarded the
prestigious MCA/Freedman Fellowship for Classical Music to further develop her
international career and in September
2007 she was the recipient of the Classical Music Award for Outstanding
Contribution by an Individual
Claire has been invited to perform as soloist and chamber musician at festivals
such as the Huddersfield Festival of Contemporary Music, The Australian Festival
of Chamber Music (Townsville), The Adelaide Bank Festival of the Arts and The
Birtwistle Festival (London). Concerto highlights include performances with the
Dutch Radio Chamber Orchestra (Concertgebouw, Amsterdam), the Amsterdam
Sinfonietta, and the Sydney, Melbourne and Tasmanian Symphony Orchestras. She is
assistant
artistic director of Ensemble Offspring (Australia) and has
initiated several new ensembles in Europe including Deux Femme with
Australian saxophonist, Amy Dickson and her percussion duo with Niels Meliefste,
Duo Vertigo. In April 2005 Duo Vertigo were awarded third prize in
the Gaudeamus International Interpreters Competition.
She
is a passionate advocate of contemporary music and has close working
relationships with many composers including Harrison Birtwistle, James Wood, Sam
Hayden and Ross Edwards.
Based in
the Netherlands for the last seven years, she now divides her time between
Australia and Europe.
TEACHING BIOGRAPHY
Claire’s teaching experience includes
giving master-classes
at tertiary institutions throughout Australia, Sweden, Belgium, The Netherlands
and Germany. Recently she was invited to give a
marimba master-class
to the percussion department of
the Royal Academy of Music, London. She is a regular guest teacher at the
Victorian College of the Arts and was guest Head of Percussion for several weeks
in 2005. Before relocating to the Netherlands in 1999 Claire was the percussion
teacher at Newtown School of the Performing Arts and Sydney Boys High
School. She also
taught a private studio of
percussion and piano students.
Her musical background includes learning the piano from the age of five
culminating in LTCL (Trinity) and AMUS.A as well as studying flute in high
school to sixth grade standard. She was a student of Fort Street High School
where her TER was 98.95% and she then went on to graduate from the Sydney
Conservatorium of Music with a Bachelor of Music (first class honours) as
Student of the Year. She studied percussion performance at Amsterdam and
Rotterdam Conservatories for four years, graduating with a Masters of Music.
500 WORD BIOGRAPHY
Born
in Sydney in 1975, percussionist Claire Edwardes is well known for her
combination in performance of a strong, personal interpretation and exciting
presentation. She has been described as “engaging to watch”, and "riveting",
exuding “infectious brio” as well as “strength and energy”, by press throughout
the world.
She studied percussion at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music where her teachers
were Daryl Pratt and Richard Miller and graduated in 1998 as Student of the Year
with first class honours. She went on to undertake postgraduate studies with
Richard Janson, Jan Pustjens and Peter Prommel at the Rotterdam and Amsterdam
Conservatories where she graduated in 2003 as a Master of Music with
distinction. She was resident in the Netherlands for seven years. Claire has had
great success in many competitions throughout the world and was named Symphony
Australia Young Performer of the Year in 1999, awarded first prize in the 2000
Tromp Percussion Competition (The Netherlands), 2000 Vriendenkrans Competition
(Concertgebouw, Amsterdam) and the 2001 Llangollen International Instrumentalist
Competition (Wales).
In June 2005 Claire was awarded the prestigious MCA/Freedman Fellowship for
Classical Music to further develop her international career
and in September 2007 she was the recipient of the Classical Music Award
for Outstanding Contribution by an Individual
Claire is a founding member and assistant artistic director of Ensemble
Offspring (Australia), an active member of new music ensemble, Insomnio
(The Netherlands) and has initiated several new ensembles in Europe including
her percussion duo with Niels Meliefste, Duo Vertigo. In 2005 they were
awarded third prize in the Gaudeamus International Interpreters Competition.
She has been invited to perform as soloist and chamber musician at events such
as the Huddersfield Festival of Contemporary Music, International Gaudeamus
Music Week, The Adelaide Festival of Arts, TURA’s Totally Huge New Music
Festival, The London Birtwistle Festival, Musica Viva Countrywide touring and
the BMIC’s Cutting Edge Series. As soloist she has performed under Peter Eötvös
in the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam with the Radio Chamber Orchestra, under
Markus Stenz with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and under Ettiene
Siebens with the Amsterdam Sinfonietta. Other orchestras she has
performed as soloist with include the Sydney, and Tasmanian Symphony Orchestras,
the Brabants Orchestra, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, the
London Sinfonietta and the Australian Youth Camerata Orchestra. She
performs throughout the world regularly with such groups as Percussion Group The
Hague (The Netherlands), Champ d’Action (Belgium), Asko/Shönberg Ensemble (The
Netherlands), Ensemble Modern (Germany) and Synergy Percussion (Australia).
Dedicated to the performance and promotion of new music, Claire is a keen
advocate of contemporary music. She has close working relationships with many
composers around the world including Harrison Birtwistle, James Wood, Sam
Hayden, Louis Andriessen, Juan-Felipe Waller and all of the composers on this
CD. Claire recently recorded Birtwistle’s The Axe Manual with pianist
Nicolas Hodges on the Metronome Label, which received rave reviews including
five stars in the BBC Music Magazine. In 2005 she recorded a CD of works written
exclusively for Duo Vertigo at The Banff Centre, Canada, called Vertigo One
(Karnatic Lab Records). Coil is
the name of
her first official solo CD release
on the Tall Poppies label.
|
Claire Edwardes
Percussion 