Andrew Ford (composer)

Andrew Ford
Born	1957 Liverpool, England, UK
Occupation(s)	Composer, writer, radio host
Years active	1978–present
Known for	Presenter of ABC Radio National's The Music Show

Andrew Ford (born 1957) is an Australian composer, writer, and radio host originally from England, widely recognized for his role on ABC Radio National's The Music Show.

Early life and education

Born in Liverpool, UK, in 1957, Ford completed his schooling at St Olave's Grammar School located in Orpington, Kent. He pursued higher education at Lancaster University, where he studied under the guidance of Edward Cowie and John Buller. A significant influence on his compositional style came from an encounter with Sir Michael Tippett.

Career

Between 1978 and 1982, Ford held the position of Fellow in Music at Bradford University. Upon moving to Australia, he joined the University of Wollongong’s School of Creative Arts as a lecturer from 1983 until 1995. During this period, he earned a doctorate concentrating on the setting of words to music, analyzing works from Elvis Costello to Elliott Carter.

His career includes serving as composer-in-residence with the Australian Chamber Orchestra from 1992 to 1994. He was awarded the Peggy Glanville-Hicks Composer Fellowship for the years 1998 to 2000 and received a two-year fellowship from the Music Board of the Australia Council for the Arts during 2005–2006. In 2009, he was named composer-in-residence at the Australian National Academy of Music.

Additional pursuits

Ford has written or co-written eleven books centered on music and developed various radio series for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, such as Illegal Harmonies and Earth Dances. Since 1995, he has been the presenter of The Music Show on ABC Radio National.

Honors and distinctions

• 1982: Joint recipient of the Yorkshire Arts Composers Award for Portraits
• 1998: Awarded the Peggy Glanville-Hicks Composer Fellowship; commenced work on The Waltz Book
• 1998: Winner of the Pascall Prize for critical writing
• 1998: Sydney Spring Festival accolade for Tattoo
• 2002: Jean Bogan Prize awarded for The Waltz Book
• 2004: Paul Lowin Song Cycle Prize for Learning to Howl
• 2007: Shortlisted for Prix Italia with radiophonic piece Elegy in a Country Graveyard
• 2010: Green Room Award recognizing opera Rembrandt's Wife
• 2012: Recipient of Albert H. Maggs Composition Award for Rauha
• 2013: Paul Lowin Prize shortlist for Blitz and Willow Songs
• 2014: Served as Poynter Fellow and visiting composer at Yale University
• 2015: Visiting lecturer role at Shanghai Conservatory
• 2016: Paul Lowin Prize shortlist for Last Words; honored with Order of Australia Medal
• 2018: H. C. Coombs Creative Arts Fellowship at Australian National University
• 2020: Awarded Facilitator's Prize at Sidney Myer Performing Arts Awards (presented in 2021)

APRA / Art Music Awards

Since their inception in 1982 by the Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA), the APRA Awards have annually celebrated achievements in Australian music. The Art Music Awards (previously known as Classical Music Awards until 2009) are jointly organized by APRA and the Australian Music Centre (AMC), honoring outstanding accomplishments in composition and performance across categories like Best Composition, Vocal or Choral Work, and Orchestral Work.

Prominent acknowledgments include:

|- | 2004 || Ford’s Learning to Howl || Best Composition by an Australian Composer || |- | 2005 || Tales of the Supernatural by Ford performed by Australian String Quartet and Jane Edwards || Vocal or Choral Work of the Year || |- | 2008 || Ford || Outstanding Contribution by an Individual || |- | 2009 || Ford’s Learning to Howl performed by Arcko Symphonic Project || Best Performance of an Australian Composition || |- | 2011 || A Dream of Drowning by Ford with West Australian Symphony Orchestra || Work of the Year – Orchestral || |- | 2013 || Ford’s Blitz performed by Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra || Work of the Year – Orchestral || |- | rowspan="2"| 2014 || Ford’s Last Words featuring Jane Sheldon and Seraphim Trio || Work of the Year – Vocal/Choral || |- | Ford’s String Quartet No. 5 performed by Australian String Quartet || Work of the Year – Instrumental ||

Stage works

• Poe, an opera composed in 1983 and debuted in 1985 at the Sydney Opera House
• Whispers, composed in 1990 for tenor accompanied by chamber orchestra
• Casanova Confined, a 1995 piece for baritone with a backing track
• Night and Dreams: The Death of Sigmund Freud, written in 1999 for tenor and backing track
• Rembrandt's Wife, opera with libretto by Sue Smith, created between 2007 and 2009
• Peter Pan, a children's opera premiered in 2017, commissioned by Gondwana Choirs

Orchestral

• Concerto for Orchestra, completed in 1980
• The Big Parade, composed in 1986
• Manhattan Epiphanies, a work for string orchestra from 1999
• The Furry Dance, also from 1999
• Scenes from Bruegel, chamber orchestra composition from 2006
• Headlong, written in 2006 to celebrate the Sydney Symphony Orchestra's 75th anniversary
• Symphony, completed in 2008
• Bright Shiners, string orchestra piece from 2009
• Blitz, orchestral work with optional chorus and pre-recorded voices, composed in 2011
• Big Bang, orchestral composition from 2019
• The Meaning of Trees, an orchestral commission by the Australian Youth Orchestra premiered in 2022, composed in 2020

Concertos

• Piano Concerto titled Imaginings (1991)
• The Great Memory, concerto for cello and orchestra (1994)
• The Unquiet Grave, for viola and chamber orchestra, created between 1997 and 1998
• Raga, concerto for electric guitar and orchestra composed during 2015–2016

Vocal and choral

• A Martian Sends a Postcard Home, for tenor, horn, and piano (1986), text by Craig Raine
• Wassails and Lullabies, SATB choir with percussion (1989), recorded by ABC Classics
• Harbour, composed for tenor and string orchestra (1992)
• The Past, featuring counter-tenor, flute, string orchestra, and didgeridoo (1997), setting texts by Oodgeroo Noonuccal and excerpts from James Cook’s logs
• Learning to Howl, scored for soprano, clarinet/saxophone, harp, and percussion (2001)
• Tales of the Supernatural, written for folk singer and string quartet (2002)
• An die Musik, SATB choir composition (2005)
• Elegy in a Country Graveyard, flexible instrumentation incorporating pre-recorded elements (2007)
• Domestic Advice, for soprano and piano (2007)
• A Singing Quilt, SATB choir with percussion ensemble and pre-recorded voices (2008)
• Willow Songs: six poems of Anne Stevenson, scored for soprano, mezzo-soprano, and mixed ensemble (2009)
• Waiting for the Barbarians, large chorus based on poem by Constantine P. Cavafy (2011)
• Last Words, song cycle premiered in 2013 for soprano and piano trio
• The Drowners, written for baritone and chamber orchestra (2015)
• Missa brevis, SATB choir with organ accompaniment (2015)
• Comeclose and Sleepnow, featuring singer with jazz ensemble using texts by Adrian Henri et al. (2016)
• Nature, mezzo-soprano with ensemble performing poetry by Hadfield, Thomas, Adamson, Tranströmer, Takolander, Thomas, Yeats (2019)
• The Blessing, mezzo-soprano and oboe with libretto by J.M. Coetzee from Elizabeth Costello (2021)
• Red Dirt Hymns, voices and instruments setting texts by various contemporary poets (2020–24)
• I Sing the Birth, children's choir accompanied by electric guitar (2024)

Ensemble

• Chamber Concerto No. 3: In Constant Flight, featuring solo violin with ensemble (1988)
• Ringing the Changes, composed for piccolo, bass clarinet, and piano (1990)
• Pastoral, written for string octet (1991)
• Tattoo, scored for twelve timpani played by six performers alongside four pianos (1998)
• Icarus Drowning, composed in 1998
• Chamber Concerto No. 4, completed in 2002
• Sad Jigs, a piece for string quintet (2005)
• A Reel, a Fling and a Ghostly Galliard (String Quartet No. 2),’’ composed in 2006
• Oma kodu, written for clarinet and string quartet (2006)
• Nine Fantasies about Brahms, piano trio composition from 2009
• On Winter's Traces, scored for piccolo, bass clarinet, piano, and string quartet to mark the Australia Ensemble's 30th anniversary (2009)
• The Rising, commissioned by the Black Dyke Band in 2010
• The Scattering of Light, piano quartet created for the University of Queensland centenary celebration (2010)
• String Quartet No. 3, composed in 2012 for the Brodsky Quartet
• String Quartet No. 4, also from 2012, written for the NOISE String Quartet
• String Quartet No. 5, completed in 2013 for the Australian String Quartet
• Uproar, scored for eleven trombones and four bass drums (2013)
• Common Ground, composed for two string quartets (2014)
• Contradance, a work for eleven players created in 2015
• String Quartet No. 6, written between 2014–17 for the Flinders Quartet
• Scenes from Streeton, commissioned by Arcadia Winds in 2019
• String Quartet No. 7: Eden Ablaze, composed in 2020 for the Brodsky Quartet alongside William Barton
• Machnamh: ruminations on a tune by Seán Ó Riada,’’ created in 2022 for the Brodsky Quartet with William Barton

Instrumental

• Like Icarus Ascending composed for solo violin (1984)
• Swansong crafted for solo viola (1987)
• Spinning written for solo alto flute (1988)
• The Very End of Harvest arranged for viola and piano (2000)
• The Waltz Book, a collection of 60 one-minute waltzes for solo piano (2002; commissioned by Ian Munro)
• War and Peace featuring violin and percussion (2004)
• Chorales from an Ox Life for viola and double bass (2007)
• Folly, a piece for solo piano (2007)
• You Must Sleep, but I Must Dance composed for viola and percussion (2010)
• On Reflection designed for two pianos (2012)
• Once upon a time there were two brothers..., for flute and voice (2013)
• Hook, a solo vibraphone work (2018)
• In My Solitude, written for solo viola (2020)
• Confused Alarms, composed for horn and piano (2021)
• Irish Tunes, a piano composition (2024)
• Deep Riffs, created for electric guitar with looping pedal (2024)

Radiophonic

• Deirdre of the Sorrows (1989)
• Elegy in a Country Graveyard (2007)
• Untuning the Sky (2013)

Books

• Composer to Composer: Conversations about Contemporary Music, published in multiple editions between 1993 and 1997 by Allen & Unwin in Sydney; Quartet in London; and Hale & Iremonger.
• Illegal Harmonies: Music in the 20th Century, with expanded editions released through 2015 by Hale & Iremonger, ABC Books, and Black Inc.
• Undue Noise: Words about Music, published by ABC Books in 2002.
• Speaking in Tongues: The Songs of Van Morrison, released by ABC Books in 2005.
• In Defence of Classical Music, also published by ABC Books in 2005.
• The Sound of Pictures: Listening to the Movies from Hitchcock to High Fidelity, issued by Black Inc. in 2010.
• Try Whistling This: Writings about Music, published by Black Inc. in 2012.
• Earth Dances: Music in Search of the Primitive, released by Black Inc. in 2015.
• The Memory of Music, published through Black Inc. in 2017.
• The Song Remains the Same: 800 Years of Love Songs, Laments and Lullabies, printed by La Trobe University Press in 2019.
• The Shortest History of Music, forthcoming editions from 2024 to 2025 by Black Inc., Old Street Publishing in London, and Picador India.

External links

• The Music Show, ABC Radio National
• Black Inc. author page