Damien Ricketson

Damien Ricketson (born 9 May 1973, Wollongong) is an Australian composer of contemporary classical music. He is best known for his innovative compositional practice and in his capacity as the co-founder and co-Artistic Director of Ensemble Offspring.

Biography

Ricketson studied composition at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music from 1991-5, after which he continued his studies at the Royal Conservatory of the Hague from 1996-8 Under Louis Andriessen.^[1] He holds a PhD from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, where he also teaches.^[2] Ricketson is the co-founder and co-Artistic Director of the Sydney-based Ensemble Offspring – an organisation dedicated to the performance of new music.^[3] His compositions have been performed in concert by MusikFabrik, the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, Crash Ensemble, and Orfeusz Chamber Orchestra.^[4]

Ricketson’s music is self-described by the composer as "characterised by exotic sound-worlds and novel forms".^[5] An early interest in Spectral music can be seen in his frequent exploration of unusual timbres and microtonal pitch structures. 'Some Shade of Blue', for example, features a newly invented string instrument in a Just Intonation system.^[6] Recent stylistic tendencies have moved away from an earlier abstract style, exemplified in works such as 'Ptolemy’s Onion', towards what the composer terms a more "corporeal" approach embracing tangible references to existing music and a highly physical performance aesthetic.^[7] His works are heavily gesture-focussed, with pieces such as 'Imagining Le Verrier' and 'Chinese Whisper' being based upon "sets of physical actions on instruments".^[8] This extends to the idea of open instrumentation in later pieces such as 'Trace Elements', which is intended to be playable by any two string and two woodwind instruments. Indeed, much of Ricketson’s recent work reveals an ongoing interest in open forms with works such as 'Same Steps' and 'Length and Breath' employing unconventional notational strategies to elicit a creative and collaborative engagement from performers. Ricketson’s major show-length works such as 'The Secret Noise' and 'Fractured Again' also show an interest in multimedia and hybrid arts practice,^[9] combining conventional acoustic instruments with unconventional (sometimes self-built) instruments and electronic music as well as other media.

Although Ricketson’s materials are eclectic, often including disparate processes within the one work, Gordon Kerry describes his music as aesthetically late-modernist in that it is "experimental in form and speculative in content".^[10] Frequently, this involves the inclusion of musical references and quotations put through "distorting filters".^[11] This technique is particularly notable in the work 'A Line Has Two', and more recently in the multi-movement work 'Fractured Again'. This work explores the musical language and thematic implications of glass instruments, quoting Donizetti, Mozart and Crumb throughout.

Ricketson’s most recent body of work has been Ensemble Offspring’s The Secret Noise, featuring installations, dance performances and theatre within a concert setting. The major thematic concern was music shielded from public view. The project was extremely positively received, with Maxim Boon of Limelight naming it "a trail-blazing triumph".^[12]

Awards, Commissions and Residencies

Ricketson's string quartet "So We Begin Afresh" (for the Grainger Quartet) received the NSW State Award for the 'Best Composition by an Australian Composer' at the 2008 AMC/APRA Classical Music Awards. He also received the international Lady Panufnik Prize (Poland) for "Chinese Whisper", and was selected by ABC Classic FM to represent Australian music at the Paris International Rostrum with his work "Lamina".^[13] Ricketson's Ptolemy's Onion received the Marienberg Spring Award for an 'Outstanding Australian composition' and was subsequently chosen for the 'Gaudeamus International Music Week'.

Ricketson has received commissions from: Warsaw Autumn International Festival of Contemporary Music; the Transit Festival (Belgium); The Song Company; the Australian Chamber Orchestra; Symphony Australia; Continuum Sax; ABC Classic FM; the Portuguese-based Drumming Grupo de Percussão and the MLC School Burwood.^[14]

Ricketson has been artist-in-residence at the Banff Centre, Canada; the Bundanon Estate (Shoalhaven); the University of Wollongong and the Peggy Glanville-Hicks House (Sydney).^[15] At the APRA Music Awards of 2015 he won Instrumental Work of the Year for The Secret Noise performed by Ensemble Offspring.^[16]

Notable Works

Notable works include:

• In God's Esperanto (2008), a work based on the artificial language Solresol;
• Length and Breath (2009), a saxophone quartet exploring time in relation to independent breath-lengths;
• Fractured Again (2010), a major multimedia work featured in the Sydney Festival and toured to China including musical instruments made of glass;
• Some Shade of Blue (2011), a microtonal work for a newly invented string instrument and retuned vibraphone; and
• The Secret Noise (2014), a music-dance collaboration exploring secret music practices.^[17]

References

External links

• Damien Ricketson official site
• Damien Ricketson page
• Ensemble Offspring site
• Damien Ricketson - Australian Music Centre Represented Artist page