ANAM Undertakes Major Commissioning Project ‘The ANAM Set’

The Australian National Academy of Music (ANAM) has undertaken an major commissioning project called The ANAM Set and has announced the sixty-seven Australian composers who will be participating in what is arguably one of the biggest commissioning projects ever undertaken in Australia.

Each composer has been commissioned to write a six-minute work with one of ANAM’s sixty-seven young virtuoso musicians, scheduled for performance in 2021.

The composers include a number of Australia’s most revered figures, embracing a diversity of backgrounds, genres and career paths. Brett Dean, Ross Edwards, Elena Kats-Chernin, Paul Grabowsky and Richard Mills, experimental composers Samantha Wolfe (currently studying at Yale), Cat Hope and Anthony Pateras and brilliant new composers including Kitty Xiao and 22- year-old Alexander Voltz are some of the composers featuring in the group.

Alexander Voltz describes The ANAM Set as “a census of contemporary Australian art music. Whereas in the past it has been customary to commission individual composers, here we see individuality represented by a broad, national collective. That’s exciting, and humbling to be a part of. This is one of Australia’s most important contemporary art music projects to date. For the international community, it is a portfolio of what this country’s creators can do.”

The composers have been identified via a range of initiatives: fifteen composers were included by invitation; ANAM’s musicians and faculty nominated others; and a public Expression of Interest process was undertaken resulting in a further 212 submissions. ANAM Artistic Director Paavali Jumppanen and faculty then had the challenging task of selecting only sixty-seven composers and pairing them with ANAM musicians.

Over the next five months the composers will embark on a close collaborative creative partnership with each of ANAM’s 2021 musicians, together developing the works that will recieve their world premieres in performances at the beautiful Abbotsford Convent from August to November this year.

A dedicated series of presentations showcasing The ANAM Set is in the planning stages for the end of 2021 and discussions are underway to film the performances, connecting the work of these composers and performers with regional, remote and international communities.

The full list of The ANAM Set composer/musician pairings is available at anam.com.au/TheANAMSet.

Composer biographies are available at anam.com.au/TheANAMSet/composers.