Careers_

Composing women

Nurturing creativity in our composition students

This ground-breaking program enabled postgraduate students to work closely with high-profile industry partners to develop their compositional work and professional skills.

About the program

Established to mark the centenary of the Conservatorium, Sydney Conservatorium of Music offered a program of professional development aimed at fostering and empowering women composers. The program ran from 2016-2021, with a new intake every second year.

The program's focus was on developing the compositional work and professional skills of the participants. Their compositions were workshopped and performed, with intensive group and individual sessions over two years. The compositions went on to form part or all of each participant's portfolio for her degree.

In addition to this, participants who were not already in receipt of a postgraduate scholarship received a scholarship of $10,000 a year from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.

The program gave students the opportunity to work with our high-profile industry partners including Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Sydney Chamber Opera with NIDA, Sydney Dance Company, Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, Sydney Philharmonia Choirs, the Goldner String Quartet, percussionist Claire Edwardes and flute soloist Claire Chase.

Throughout the program, students received mentorship from Professor Liza Lim (2018-21) and Matthew Hindson (2016-17), in addition to members of the Sydney Conservatorium of Music’s composition unit. We also worked with organisations such Musica Viva Australia, APRA AMCOS, the Australian Music Centre and ABC Classic FM to provide participants with training in production and administrative skills.

This program was made possible through the generous assistance of our partners and through the Patrons of the Composing Women Program.

More about Composing Women

photo of a group of nine women composers smiling at the camera

News_

Sydney Con leads gender equity shift in Australian music

Influential Composing Women program creates ripple effect in music industry

Sydney Conservatorium of Music's Composing Women program led by Professor Liza Lim has demonstrated leadership and influence in the push for gender equity in programming and commissioning works by female composers in classical and art music.

News_

Composing Women

Despite shutdowns and constraints due to Covid-19, our Composing Women program has continued to thrive. Check out what our postgraduate students have been up to over the last 6 months.

News_

All in a year’s work: Composing for opera, orchestra and virtuoso flutist Claire Chase

As the year draws to a close, we caught up with Composing Women 2018-2019 participants Bree van Reyk, Josephine Macken, Georgia Scott and Peggy Polias, to find out what they have been up to in their first year of the program.

News_

Composing Women line up for 2020-2021 announced

As part of the Conservatorium's 2020-2021 Composing Women program, four postgraduate research students will work with the Sydney Dance Company, Sydney Philharmonia Choirs and Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra.

News_

Sydney Conservatorium of Music’s current Composing Women: Ella Macens, Clare Johnston, Elizabeth Younans and Natalie Nicholas. Photo: @rahkela

Give women composers a break!

Sydney Conservatorium of Music's Professor Liza Lim is appealing to festival and concert programmers in Australia for an equal gender split in music commissions and performances.