Lachlan Skipworth Explained

Lachlan Skipworth (born 1982) is an Australian composer based in Perth, Western Australia.

His works span across orchestral, chamber, vocal and experimental music and is heavily influenced by the Japanese shakuhachi and the honkyoku aesthetic.

Skipworth co-founded the new music ensemble Intercurrent in 2015, along with percussionist Louise Devenish, pianist Emily Green-Armytage and clarinettist Ashley William Smith. He also founded the chamber music collective Cygnus Arioso with his wife, violinist Akiko Miyazawa.[1] Both ensembles are based in Perth, Western Australia.

Education

Skipworth played in a wind quintet in high school, which introduced him to chamber music.[2]

Skipworth studied at the University of Western Australia, earning a Bachelor of Music Education at the UWA Conservatorium of Music, where he studied with composers Roger Smalley and Iain Grandage and wrote his first serious compositions.[3]

He traveled to Japan to learn shakuhachi for three years.[3] Skipworth's main shakuhachi teachers were the revered masters Kakizakai Kaoru and Yokoyama Katsuya,[4] and has been mentored by shakuhachi grand master Riley Lee.

In 2008, he moved to Sydney, New South Wales to study at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music (M.Mus., Ph.D.) and studied with Anne Boyd. Between 2010 and 2011, he spent two semesters in Germany undertaking a kontaktstudium at the Freiburg Hochschule fur Musik with composer and clarinettist Jorg Widmann.[5] Skipworth graduated with a Ph.D. in composition in December 2016.[6]

Career

After winning the Paul Lowin Prize for orchestral composition in 2016, Skipworth earned a string of major commissions and appointments. The winning work, Concerto for Clarinet and Orchestra, earned the APRA Art Music Award for Performance of the Year,[7] and was chosen by ABC Classic FM to be presented at the 2016 International Rostrum of Composers in Poland. In 2016, he was appointed composer-in-residence with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra.[8] His work Spiritus was a finalist in the Paul Lowin Orchestral Prizes in 2019.[9]

The International Society for Contemporary Music selected his works dark nebulae and Clarinet Quintet as the official Australian work at their World Music Days in Slovenia (2015) and Vancouver (2017) respectively.[10]

His work has also been performed by the Queensland Symphony Orchestra,[11] Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, New England Philharmonic, Tokyo Philharmonic Chorus.

In 2019, he collaborated with Australian indigenous singer Don Nunggarrgalu and the Darwin Symphony Orchestra.

In 2020, Skipworth was one of the composers commissioned as part of Sydney Symphony Orchestra's 50 Fanfares project.[12]

Psalterphone

Skipworth invented the psalterphone for his work The Night Sky Fall. The instrument combines the layout of a psaltery with the sound of a bowed vibraphone.[13]

Discography

Skipworth's Chamber Works vol. 2 debuted at #1 on the ARIA Top 20 Classical/Crossover Albums chart. [14]

!Album!Release date
Chamber Works2019
Ode2020
Breath of Thunder, Avem Asperitas and Hymns in Reverie2020
Chamber Works, Vol. 22022

Awards and nominations

ARIA Music Awards

The ARIA Music Awards is an annual awards ceremony that recognises excellence, innovation, and achievement across all genres of Australian music. They commenced in 1987. ! |-| 2022| Chamber Works, Vol. 2| Best Classical Album| | [15] |}

Other awards

!Award!Year!Work!Status!
Art Music Awards: Work of the Year, Instrumental2013dark nebulae[16]
Art Music Awards: Work of the Year, Orchestral2015Concerto for Clarinet and Orchestra[17]
Paul Lowin Prize, Orchestral2016Concerto for Clarinet and OrchestraWon
Albert H. Maggs Award2017SpiritusWon[18]
Art Music Awards: Work of the Year, Orchestral2018Spiritus
Paul Lowin Prize, Orchestral2019SpiritusFinalist[19]
Art Music Awards: Work of the Year – Chamber Music2023Pine Chant[20]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Backstage with Lachlan Skipworth. 2022-02-18. Limelight.
  2. Web site: Appleby. Rosalind. 2019-08-09. It's time to listen. 2022-02-18. Seesawmag.
  3. Web site: Appleby. Rosalind. 9 January 2016. Celebrity Soft Spot Lachlan Skipworth. 2022-02-18. Noted.
  4. Web site: Lachlan Skipworth: Represented Artist Profile : Australian Music Centre. 18 February 2022. wAustralian Music Centre (AMC).
  5. Web site: HONNIN NO SHIRABE : SEARCHING FOR A COMPOSITIONAL RESPONSE TO THE TRADITION OF SHAKUHACHI HONKYOKU. Lachlan. Skipworth. 18 February 2022. issuu.com. 26 August 2016 .
  6. Web site: Blankendaal. Leah. 7 December 2016. Lachlan Skipworth and Brett Dean win major music award. CutCommon. 18 February 2022.
  7. Web site: UWA clarinet soloist wins Art Music Performance of the Year Award: Archive Page. The University of Western Australia. 18 February 2022.
  8. Web site: Skipworth. Lachlan. About. 18 February 2022. Lachlan Skipworth.
  9. Web site: McPherson . Angus . 1 October 2019 . Finalists for the 2019 Paul Lowin Prizes announced . Liimelight Magazine.
  10. Web site: Composer Lachlan Skipworth Selected for the Second Time at the International Society for Contemporary Music. 2022-02-18. Music Australia. en-US.
  11. Web site: Magazine. Feature. 2021-10-01. Queensland Symphony Orchestra unveils 2022 Season. 2022-02-18. feature. en.
  12. Web site: Lachlan Skipworth. 2022-02-18. Sydney Symphony Orchestra. en.
  13. Web site: 2019-08-09. It's time to listen. 2022-02-18. Seesawmag. en.
  14. Web site: ARIA Top 20 Classical/Crossover Albums Chart . 2022-07-13 . www.aria.com.au . en.
  15. Web site: Rüfüs Du Sol Leads 2022 ARIA Awards Nominees (Full List). The Music Network. 12 October 2022. 12 October 2022. Lars Brandle.
  16. Web site: APRA AMCOS Music Industry Awards – Celebrating Creativity. 2022-02-18. APRA AMCOS. en-US.
  17. Web site: APRA AMCOS Music Industry Awards – Celebrating Creativity. 2022-02-18. APRA AMCOS. en-US.
  18. Web site: McPherson. Angus. Lachlan Skipworth wins the Albert H Maggs Composition Award. 2022-02-18. Limelight. en-AU.
  19. Web site: McPherson . Angus . 1 October 2019 . Finalists for the 2019 Paul Lowin Prizes announced . Limelight Magazine.
  20. Web site: 2023 Art Music Award Winners . . 15 August 2023 . 20 August 2023 .