30-609: The Australian Music Centre ( AMC ), founded as Australia Music Centre in 1974 and known as Sounds Australian in the 1990s, is a national organisation promoting and supporting art music in Australia. It operates mainly as a service organisation, and co-hosts the Art Music Awards along with APRA AMCOS . It also publishes Resonate Magazine . After funds became available through the Australia Council for
60-480: A continuous aesthetic movement between formalism and eclecticism ". James Murdoch (music advocate) James Murdoch (1930–2010), also known by the stage name Jaime Sebastian , was an Australian arts administrator, musicologist, composer, journalist, and broadcaster. He founded and served as the inaugural director of the Australian Music Centre and played an important role in promoting
90-457: A role he held until mid-1993. The record label, Vox Australis, and a magazine, Sounds Australian , were established during this time, as were a series of annual music awards . At the end of 1989 the AMC changed its name to Sounds Australian, which was retained for around 10 years. In 1993 the AMC established an online presence. In 2007 the AMC's print journal, Sounds Australian , was superseded by
120-511: A service organisation rather than a professional association . As of 2020 AMC represented over 750 composers and sound artists. The AMC is the Australian national section of International Society for Contemporary Music and the IAMIC. The Centre's collection includes a repository of Australian scores, recordings and teaching kits that numbered 13,000 items by 660 creators in 2017. The AMC
150-523: A walking stick that had belonged to Frédéric Chopin . It had been given to Chopin by the monks at Valldemossa , the monastery he and George Sand stayed at on Majorca in 1838–39. Chopin returned it to the monks when he left. In 1934, the writer Robert Graves took up residence near there, and the monks gave him the walking stick. Graves gave it to Peggy Glanville-Hicks when she stayed with him while they discussed his libretto for her opera Nausicaa , based on Graves's book Homer's Daughter . She gave it to
180-461: Is considered primarily a written musical tradition, preserved in some form of music notation , as opposed to being transmitted orally, by rote, or in recordings (like popular and traditional music ). There have been continual attempts throughout the history of popular music to make a claim for itself as art rather than as popular culture, and a number of music styles that were previously understood as "popular music" have since been categorized in
210-428: Is distinguishable from the others according to certain criteria. According to Bruno Nettl , "Western classical music" may also be synonymous with "art music", "canonic music", "cultivated music", "serious music", as well as the more flippantly used "real music" and "normal music". Musician Catherine Schmidt-Jones defines art music as "a music which requires significantly more work by the listener to fully appreciate than
240-405: Is music considered to be of high phonoaesthetic value . It typically implies advanced structural and theoretical considerations or a written musical tradition. In this context, the terms "serious" or "cultivated" are frequently used to present a contrast with ordinary, everyday music (i.e. popular and folk music , also called " vernacular music "). Many cultures have art music traditions ; in
270-446: Is typical of popular music". In her view, "[t]his can include the more challenging types of jazz and rock music, as well as Classical". The term "art music" refers primarily to classical traditions (including contemporary as well as historical classical music forms) that focus on formal styles, invite technical and detailed deconstruction and criticism, and demand focused attention from the listener. In strict western practice, art music
300-688: The Sydney Conservatorium of Music . Murdoch gravitated to bohemian circles and befriended Tilly Devine , Bea Miles , and Sunday Reed . He became close friends with other members of the Heide Circle as well. In 1958, Murdoch was engaged by a Spanish dance theater and toured Australia as their international pianist under the name Jaime Sebastian. He toured with them in Europe, the United Kingdom, and elsewhere. He also assumed
330-457: The Western world , the term typically refers to Western classical music . In Western literature, "Art music" is mostly used to refer to music descending from the tradition of Western classical music . Musicologist Philip Tagg refers to the elitism associated with art music as one of an "axiomatic triangle consisting of 'folk', 'art' and 'popular' musics". He explains that each of these three
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#1732798013719360-544: The AMC had a period of dormancy, reopening to the public on 3 September 1982, after Joan Bona had been appointed administrator. In 1986 the official name was changed from Australia Music Centre to Australian Music Centre, and it moved into new premises on Smail St, Ultimo, in June of that year. A recording project was announced, with recording studios based in Melbourne . Richard Letts was appointed executive director in 1987,
390-462: The Arts (from 2023 Creative Australia) has provided most of the AMC's funding. Cuts at different times (especially in 2012–3) has caused challenges, but funding has been assured from 2021 to 2024. AMC music awards were first held in 1988 under the banner Sounds Australian, and in 2002, in collaboration with APRA , presented the annual Classical Music Awards. These both continued until 2009, and in 2011
420-632: The Arts , the Australia Music Centre came into existence as an association on 13 August 1974. Music advocate James Murdoch was appointed inaugural director. In 1975 it moved to premises at 80 George Street, Sydney (part of the historic Metcalfe Bond Stores building), and was accepted as a member organisation of both the International Association of Music Information Centres (IAMIC) and International Association of Music Libraries (IAML). On 27 February 1976, AMC
450-490: The Budapest Chamber Orchestra. He was associated with the filmmaker Ken Russell and assisted in organising the music for The Devils and The Boy Friend (both 1971). In 1973, Murdoch was the first musical adviser to the Australia Council . In 1975, he was appointed to be the first National Director of the Australian Music Centre (AMC), and in 1980, he was elected to be the world president of
480-754: The First Festival of Contemporary Music in Melbourne. Murdoch developed a tendon contraction through overuse of his hands and switched his career from being a pianist to being a concert promoter based in London. Among others, his company managed Cathy Berberian , Harrison Birtwistle , Leo Brouwer , Paul Crossley , Peter Maxwell Davies , the Pierrot Players (later known as the Fires of London ), Hans Werner Henze , Igor Kipnis , Roger Woodward , and
510-622: The Music Information Centre's Professional Branch. In 1981, Murdoch was sacked by the Music Board of the Australia Council, the funding body for the AMC, for what they perceived as inept financial administration. He was then rehired as a music consultant to the Australia Council but was dismissed again when they deemed his report on the state of music publishing in Australia as inadequate. He responded by suing
540-508: The art or classical category. According to the academic Tim Wall, the most significant example of the struggle between Tin Pan Alley , African-American, vernacular, and art discourses was in jazz . As early as the 1930s, artists attempted to cultivate ideas of "symphonic jazz", taking it away from its perceived vernacular and black American roots. Following these developments, histories of popular music tend to marginalize jazz, partly because
570-742: The board for unfair dismissal, which later ended in an out-of-court settlement. Murdoch recorded 60 filmed interviews with leading writers, composers, and artists, now held at the National Film and Sound Archive . He influenced composers like Richard Meale and Peggy Glanville-Hicks to return from self-imposed artistic exile overseas. After Glanville-Hicks died in 1990, he championed the Peggy Glanville-Hicks Composers Trust and Peggy Glanville-Hicks House, and he researched and wrote her biography, Peggy Glanville-Hicks – A Transposed Life (2002). Murdoch inherited
600-451: The conductor's podium for the company on the strength of his (untrue) claim that he had conducted student orchestras at the Sydney Conservatorium . He composed two ballets for the dance troupe, one of which was La Espera , which received 450 performances in Europe and Australia. After touring Australia in 1962 under his assumed name, he opted to remain in his home country. Murdoch became the assistant musical director and company pianist of
630-484: The degree of social and artistic dialogue among rock musicians dramatically accelerated for bands who fused elements of composed music with the oral musical traditions of rock. During the late 1960s and 1970s, progressive rock bands represented a form of crossover music that combined rock with high art musical forms either through quotation, allusion, or imitation. Progressive music may be equated with explicit references to aspects of art music, sometimes resulting in
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#1732798013719660-934: The end of 2015, a new initiative was launched to support artist development, a series of programs under the name "AMPlify". This included special programs for Indigenous Australian composers, later replaced by a new program, Ngarra-Burria: First Peoples Composers, in partnership with Moogahlin Performing Arts , ANU School of Music , Ensemble Offspring and the Royal Australian Navy Band, with funding support from APRA AMCOS, and in-kind support from EORA College of TAFE. AMC provides advocacy, representation, and publishing services as well as career support and professional development programmes. Initially focussed on contemporary classical music, its purview has expanded to experimental music , sound art , contemporary jazz , and improvisatory music . It operates as
690-620: The inaugural Art Music Awards took place. The AMC co-hosts the Art Music Awards along with APRA AMCOS , which acknowledges excellence among Australian composers, performers and educators in the genres of contemporary classical music, jazz, improvisation, sound art and experimental music. The Australian Music Centre represents Australian composers, improvisers and sound artists. Some notable represented artists include: Print publications by Australia Music Centre include: Art music Art music (alternatively called classical music , cultivated music , serious music , and canonic music )
720-544: The new Australian Ballet company. From 1964 until 1968, he was deeply involved in the World Record Club , which included the task of writing over 200 record cover notes each year. During the 1950s and 1960s, Murdoch was an active member of the International Society for Contemporary Music , serving as secretary of its Melbourne , Sydney , and other Australian branches. In 1965, Murdoch directed
750-662: The online magazine Resonate , and on 31 March 2009 a new website was launched. In 2000, the AMC moved to The Arts Exchange in The Rocks, Sydney , next door to its original location in George Street. It remained there until 2013, when it moved to the APRA building in Mountain Street. Around this time much of the physical items were moved into storage off-site, as most of the material had been made available online. At
780-470: The reformulation of jazz in the art discourse has been so successful that many (as of 2013) would not consider it a form of popular music. At the beginning of the 20th century, art music was divided into "serious music" and " light music ". During the second half of the century, there was a large-scale trend in American culture toward blurring the boundaries between art and pop music . Beginning in 1966,
810-612: The reification of rock as art music. While progressive rock is often cited for its merging of high culture and low culture , few artists incorporated literal classical themes in their work to any great degree, as author Kevin Holm-Hudson explains: "sometimes progressive rock fails to integrate classical sources ... [it] moves continuously between explicit and implicit references to genres and strategies derived not only from European art music, but other cultural domains (such as East Indian, Celtic, folk, and African) and hence involves
840-479: The works of Peggy Glanville-Hicks . James Murdoch was born in 1930, the only child born to a wharfie in the Sydney suburb of Paddington . His parents were frequently on the move, and by the age of 14, Murdoch had lived in 19 houses and attended 15 schools. An autodidact, he learned all he could about music of all genres, from the middle ages to the present day. He also learned cello, flute, piano, and violin at
870-452: Was established in 1974 by its inaugural director, James Murdoch . For 32 years its CEO was John Davis, who left in 2021. In May 2021, he was succeeded by Catherine Haridy, who had worked in A&;R for Mushroom Records and Warner Music Australia and founded her own artist management company in 2006. Marshall McGuire was appointed chair of the board in 2021. The Australia Council for
900-488: Was officially opened to the public, with the opening ceremony officiated by NSW Senator John Carrick . In September of that year, Peggy Glanville-Hicks was appointed consultant for Asian music. The centre created a library and information service, at which Martin Buzzacott later worked for some years. It started publishing a newsletter, AMC News , and managed the Australia Council / APRA parts-copying scheme. In 1981
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