NOMINATION: Performance of the Year - Notated Composition
For the performance of a single Australian work, showcasing the performer(s)’ success in revealing the nature and intention of a composition with clear notated instructions for the performer. Works with significant improvisatory aspects should instead be submitted for Performance of the Year: Jazz / Improvised Music.
A work is defined as a single complete musical composition, or expression. This includes music with movements or sub-works (i.e. song cycles), installations, and real-time compositions (improvised music).
If you believe your performance to be nominated in the wrong category or the details of your nomination to be incorrect, please contact the AMC via email at awards@australianmusiccentre.com.au before proceeding with the nomination.
Art Music Award guidelines →
Nominee
Laura Chislett
Nominee email
laurachislettjones@hotmail.com
Title of the work
Sonatina for flute and piano
Composer(s) of the work
Aristea Melos
Performance Date
22/10/2024
Venue
Recital Hall West Sydney Conservatorium
Nominator Statement
Sonatina for flute and piano draws on the great tradition of French wind writing from the 19 th
and early 20 th Centuries. Commissioned by Brian Parsonage to celebrate his wife Merediths
70 th birthday, the work draws inspiration from Merediths love of music, her many years as a
flutist, and her commitment to rowing.
Mvt I our whole body is like a harbour at dawn. is in sonata form. The first subject
comprises a series of ascending and descending perfect fourths, that ever modulate to evade a
stable sense of the tonic key area. The first subjects playful polytonalism is contrasted by the
second subjects lyrical decadence, a melange of the musical languages of Erik Satie and
Sergei Prokofiev. In many ways, the second subject acts as a tribute to the pianist Stephanie
McCallum (Merediths childhood friend), whose recordings of French piano repertoire have
come to define this music for generations of Australian listeners. An abrupt textural cut
signals the start of the recapitulation, with the flute and the piano freely tossing the opening
material to one another before flitting away.
Mvt II which to the tune of flutes kept stroke takes its inspiration from Shakespeares
description of Antony and Cleopatras initial meeting upon the river Nile. It is unabashedly
lush and sensual, filled with lilting rhythms and an abundance of ornaments. Those familiar
with François Poulencs Flute Sonata will recognise the hallmarks of his musical language:
directness of expression, and the pursuit of an idealised form of beauty.
Mvt III there is nothing lighter than a life. employs a quasi-rondo form. Musical ideas
from the previous movements are re-imagined and layered atop one another at a dizzying
pace to create a moving contrapuntal web. The flute and piano are at their most virtuosic here
constantly shifting from one metre to another, vigorously exchanging ideas, and in many
ways, competing for our attention. The Sonatina closes ecstatically, recalling the rush of
energy we feel after a truly wonderful performance.
Aristéa Mellos
Aristéa Mellos is a Greek-Australian composer and pianist whose compositional
voice has been described as unnerving and awe-inspiring (Limelight Magazine
2020). A winner of ABC Classics 2014 Gallipoli Song Competition, Aristéa is a
recipient of grants from the Presser Foundation, the Earle Brown Foundation, the
Australia Council for the Arts, Create NSW, the City of Sydney, and the American
Australian Association. A represented artist of the Australian Music Centre, her
music is regularly performed throughout the world in venues such as the Sydney
Opera House, the Melbourne Recital Centre, the Sydney Conservatoriums
Verbrugghen Hall, the Poetry Foundation (Chicago), the Megaron (Athens), and
Kilbourn Hall (NY).
Her set of Piano preludes won the University of Melbournes Albert H Maggs
Composition Award 2023
https://www.aristeamellos.com/
Nominee
Laura Chislett
Nominee email
laurachislettjones@hotmail.com
Title of the work
Sonatina for flute and piano
Composer(s) of the work
Aristea Melos
Performance Date
22/10/2024
Venue
Recital Hall West Sydney Conservatorium
and early 20 th Centuries. Commissioned by Brian Parsonage to celebrate his wife Merediths
70 th birthday, the work draws inspiration from Merediths love of music, her many years as a
flutist, and her commitment to rowing.
Mvt I our whole body is like a harbour at dawn. is in sonata form. The first subject
comprises a series of ascending and descending perfect fourths, that ever modulate to evade a
stable sense of the tonic key area. The first subjects playful polytonalism is contrasted by the
second subjects lyrical decadence, a melange of the musical languages of Erik Satie and
Sergei Prokofiev. In many ways, the second subject acts as a tribute to the pianist Stephanie
McCallum (Merediths childhood friend), whose recordings of French piano repertoire have
come to define this music for generations of Australian listeners. An abrupt textural cut
signals the start of the recapitulation, with the flute and the piano freely tossing the opening
material to one another before flitting away.
Mvt II which to the tune of flutes kept stroke takes its inspiration from Shakespeares
description of Antony and Cleopatras initial meeting upon the river Nile. It is unabashedly
lush and sensual, filled with lilting rhythms and an abundance of ornaments. Those familiar
with François Poulencs Flute Sonata will recognise the hallmarks of his musical language:
directness of expression, and the pursuit of an idealised form of beauty.
Mvt III there is nothing lighter than a life. employs a quasi-rondo form. Musical ideas
from the previous movements are re-imagined and layered atop one another at a dizzying
pace to create a moving contrapuntal web. The flute and piano are at their most virtuosic here
constantly shifting from one metre to another, vigorously exchanging ideas, and in many
ways, competing for our attention. The Sonatina closes ecstatically, recalling the rush of
energy we feel after a truly wonderful performance.
Aristéa Mellos
Aristéa Mellos is a Greek-Australian composer and pianist whose compositional
voice has been described as unnerving and awe-inspiring (Limelight Magazine
2020). A winner of ABC Classics 2014 Gallipoli Song Competition, Aristéa is a
recipient of grants from the Presser Foundation, the Earle Brown Foundation, the
Australia Council for the Arts, Create NSW, the City of Sydney, and the American
Australian Association. A represented artist of the Australian Music Centre, her
music is regularly performed throughout the world in venues such as the Sydney
Opera House, the Melbourne Recital Centre, the Sydney Conservatoriums
Verbrugghen Hall, the Poetry Foundation (Chicago), the Megaron (Athens), and
Kilbourn Hall (NY).
Her set of Piano preludes won the University of Melbournes Albert H Maggs
Composition Award 2023
https://www.aristeamellos.com/