New Australian Works

Applicants to The Sydney 2023 are encouraged to explore the range of new Australian works entered into the 2021 Composing the Future competition for inclusion in their Preliminary Round Recital programs. All works listed on list page meet the criteria of being composed after 1 January 2000 and applicants should check that the duration is of 7 minutes or longer. We encourage applicants to make email contact with the composer directly as in some cases you may even be giving the premiere in 2023!

The Sydney has a history of commissioning renowned Australian composers to write works to be played by all competitors in the Competition. In 2016, Artistic Director Piers Lane AO decided, while making the performance of an Australian work the only compulsory requirement in the solo rounds of The Sydney, to make the choice of that work entirely the competitors’ own, hoping that a wider range of Australian works would be explored and performed.

Colin Spiers was awarded the first prize of $20,000 with his winning composition titled ‘Eine Kleine Nachtmusik’, which is a work inspired by a surrrealist painting. In four movements and just under twenty minutes in length it is dazzling pianistically. Mr Spiers’ work will receive a world premiere by Italian/Slovenian pianist Alexander Gadjiev, the winner of the 2021 Sydney International Online Piano Competition, during his national tour in October and November in 2022.

Five other entries were awarded cash prizes of $2,000 each and will be given public performances by the jury pianists during 2022, to mark the 45th anniversary of The Sydney. 

• ‘Journey to Sydney – Snapshots of an Uncommon Childhood’
  Composer Martin Lass (pianist Ian Munro)
• ‘Tiny Forests’
  Composer Sam Wu (pianist Tamara Anna Cislowska)
• ‘Three Intermezzi’
  Composer Justin Williams (pianist Daniel de Borah)
• ‘Ice Monuments’
  Composer Tristan Coelho (pianist Kristian Chong)
• ‘Sonata: Ode’
  Composer Peggy Polias (pianist Bernadette Harvey)