Ross Edwards   (Born 1943)

One of Australia's best known and most respected composers, Ross Edwards (b. 1943) has created a unique sound world which seeks to reconnect music with elemental forces and restore such qualities as spontaneity and the impulse to dance. Intensely aware of his vocation, he has largely followed his own path, allowing the music to speak for itself.

Ross Edwards's compositions are performed worldwide and include five symphonies, concertos, orchestral, chamber and vocal music, children's music, film scores, opera and music for dance. In 2010 Ross Edwards completed two commissions for the West Australian Symphony - Elegies and Epiphanies and Spirit Ground. Other recent works include Missa Alchera - Mass of the Dreaming, commissioned by the Brisbane Chamber Choir and Schola Cantorum, and Sacred Kingfisher Psalms, jointly commissioned by Ars Nova Copenhagen, the Edinburgh International Festival Society, The Song Company of Sydney and Ars Musica Australis. The latter work, premiered to much acclaim at the Canberra Festival in 2011, was also presented by Ars Nova Copenhagen at this year's Mostly Mozart Festival in New York and later at the Edinburgh Festival.