Graeme John Koehne (born 3 August 1956), is an Australian composer and music educator. He is best known for his orchestral and ballet scores, which are characterised by direct communicative style and embrace of tertian harmony. His orchestral trilogy ''Unchained Melody'', ''Powerhouse'', and ''Elevator Music'' makes allusions to Hollywood film score traditions, cartoon music, popular Latin music and other dance forms.

Life and career

Koehne was born in

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

. He completed his undergraduate and post-graduate studies at the

Elder Conservatorium of Music The Elder Conservatorium of Music, also known as "The Con", is Australia's senior academy of music and is located in the centre of Adelaide, the capital of South Australia. It is named in honour of its benefactor, Sir Thomas Elder. Dating in ...

in that city, studying composition with

Richard Meale Richard Graham Meale, AM, MBE (24 August 193223 November 2009) was an Australian composer of instrumental works and operas. Biography Meale was born in Sydney. At the time the Meale family lived in Marrickville, an inner suburb of Sydney. Meale ...

– a pupil of Winifred Burston, who had been a pupil of

Ferruccio Busoni Ferruccio Busoni (1 April 1866 – 27 July 1924) was an Italian composer, pianist, conductor, editor, writer, and teacher. His international career and reputation led him to work closely with many of the leading musicians, artists and literary ...

. In 1982 he won the Young Composers Prize at that year's

Adelaide Festival The Adelaide Festival of Arts, also known as the Adelaide Festival, an arts festival, takes place in the South Australian capital of Adelaide in March each year. Started in 1960, it is a major celebration of the arts and a significant cultural ...

, gaining him national attention for his orchestral work ''Rainforest''.Martin Buzacott, "Powerhouse", ''

ABC Radio 24 Hours ''Limelight'', formerly ''ABC Radio 24 Hours'', or simply ''24 Hours'', is an Australian digital and print magazine focusing on music, arts and culture. It is based in Sydney, New South Wales. Originally published by the Australian Broadcasting ...

'', April 1999, p. 38 In 1984, Koehne was awarded a

Harkness Fellowship The Harkness Fellowship (previously known as the Commonwealth Fund Fellowship) is a program run by the Commonwealth Fund of New York City. This fellowship was established to reciprocate the Rhodes Scholarships and enable Fellows from several cou ...

to work at the

School of Music A music school is an educational institution specialized in the study, training, and research of music. Such an institution can also be known as a school of music, music academy, music faculty, college of music, music department (of a larger ins ...

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

. Here he studied with

Louis Andriessen Louis Joseph Andriessen (; 6 June 1939 – 1 July 2021) was a Dutch composer, pianist and academic teacher. Considered the most influential Dutch composer of his generation, he was a central proponent of The Hague school of composition. Although ...

and

Jacob Druckman Jacob Raphael Druckman (June 26, 1928 – May 24, 1996) was an American composer born in Philadelphia. Life A graduate of the Juilliard School in 1956, Druckman studied with Vincent Persichetti, Peter Mennin, and Bernard Wagenaar. In 1949 and 1 ...

. For two years of the fellowship he also took private lessons with

Virgil Thomson Virgil Thomson (November 25, 1896 – September 30, 1989) was an American composer and critic. He was instrumental in the development of the "American Sound" in classical music. He has been described as a modernist, a neoromantic, a neoclassic ...

. He returned to Australia in 1986 and was appointed Lecturer in Composition at the Elder Conservatorium of Music. In the early 1990s he collaborated with librettist

Louis Nowra Mark Doyle, better known by his stage name Louis Nowra, (born 12 December 1950) is an Australian writer, playwright, screenwriter and librettist. He is best known as one of Australia's leading playwrights. His works have been performed by all o ...

on the chamber opera ''Love Burns'', which was premiered at the 1992 Adelaide Festival. Around this time, he commenced his long and fruitful collaboration with choreographer

Graeme Murphy Graeme Lloyd Murphy AO (born 2 November 1950) is an Australian choreographer. With his fellow dancer (and wife since 2004) Janet Vernon, he guided Sydney Dance Company to become one of Australia's most successful and best-known dance compani ...

, which included a children's ballet based on

Oscar Wilde Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish poet and playwright. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular playwrights in London in the early 1890s. He is ...

's '' The Selfish Giant'' and the full-length work ''Nearly Beloved''. As of 2005, Koehne is Head of Composition at the Elder Conservatorium of Music. Until recently he also chaired the Music Board of the

Australia Council The Australia Council for the Arts, commonly known as the Australia Council, is the country's official arts council, serving as an arts funding and advisory body for the Government of Australia. The council was announced in 1967 as the Austra ...

and was a board member of the council. Graeme is married to former model, now advertising Creative Director of Oranje Creative, Melinda Parent. Graeme and Melinda have one son Willem Lukas Christiaan (Born 2007).

Works

Ballets *''Nearly Beloved'' (1986;

Sydney Dance Company Sydney Dance Company is a contemporary dance company in Australia. The company has performed on stages around the world, including the Sydney Opera House in Australia, the Joyce Theater in New York, the Shanghai Grand Theatre in China, and the ...

) *''Nocturnes, 1914'' (

The Australian Ballet The Australian Ballet is the largest classical ballet company in Australia. It was founded by J. C. Williamson Theatres Ltd and the Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust in 1962, with the English-born dancer, teacher, repetiteur and direct ...

) *''The Selfish Giant'' (1983; Sydney Dance Company) *'' Tivoli'' (2001; Sydney Dance Company/The Australian Ballet co-production) Chamber music *String Quartet *''To His Servant Bach God Grants a Final Glimpse – The Morning Star'' (1989; also transcribed as organ trio). The work references

Spitta's Johann Sebastian Bach ''Johann Sebastian Bach'' is a 19th-century biography of Johann Sebastian Bach by Philipp Spitta. The work was published in German in two volumes, in 1873 and 1880 respectively. The English translation by Clara Bell and J. A. Fuller Maitla ...

: "...so that Bach was henceforth totally blind... On July 18 he suddenly found his eyesight restored, and could bear daylight; but this was life's parting greeting...he died on Tuesday, July 28, 1750..." Concertos *''InFlight Entertainment'' (2000, oboe concerto) Orchestral *''Rainforest'' (c. 1982) *''Unchained Melody'' (1991) *''Powerhouse'' (1993) *''Elevator Music'' (1997) *''Way Out West'' (2000) *''Sleep of Reason'' (2008) *''Song of the Open Road'' (2017)

Albums

Honours and awards

In 2001, Koehne was awarded the

Centenary Medal The Centenary Medal is an award which was created by the Australian Government in 2001. It was established to commemorate the centenary of the Federation of Australia and to recognise "people who made a contribution to Australian society or go ...

. In the 2014 Queen's Birthday Honours List, Koehne was appointed as an Officer of the

Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian Gove ...

(AO), "for distinguished service to the performing arts as a composer of chamber, concert and ballet music, and through substantial contributions as an educator and arts administrator."

APRA Awards

The APRA Awards are held in Australia and New Zealand by the

Australasian Performing Right Association APRA AMCOS consists of Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) and Australasian Mechanical Copyright Owners Society (AMCOS), both copyright management organisations or copyright collectives which jointly represent over 100,000 songwr ...

to recognise songwriting skills, sales and airplay performance by its members annually. ! , - , rowspan="2",

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

, , ''Tivoli Dances'' , , rowspan="2", Orchestral Work of the Year , , , , rowspan="2", , - , ''Palm Court Suite'' , , , -

Bernard Heinze Memorial Award

The

Sir Bernard Heinze Memorial Award The Sir Bernard Heinze Memorial Award, was inaugurated following the death of Sir Bernard Heinze in 1982. The award is in the form of a medallion and is given to a person who has made an outstanding contribution to music in Australia. The Award ...

is given to a person who has made an outstanding contribution to music in Australia. ! , - , 2003 , , Graeme Koehne, , Sir Bernard Heinze Memorial Award , , , , Canberra International Music Festival
< , -

References

Notes Sources *Bebbington, W. (ed.) (1997), ''The Oxford Companion to Australian Music'', Melbourne, Oxford University Press, pp. 324–325. * Kennedy, Michael (2006), ''The Oxford Dictionary of Music'', 985 pages, *Williams, L. (1988) "Emerging Australian Composers", ''The Musical Times'', Vol. 129, No. 1749. (Nov. 1988), pp. 591–594.

External links

Graeme Koehne: Represented Artist
profile at the

Australian Music Centre The Australian Music Centre (AMC), formerly known briefly as Sounds Australian, is a national organisation promoting and supporting art music in Australia, founded in 1974. It co-hosts the Art Music Awards along with APRA AMCOS, and publishes '' ...

Elder Conservatorium, Graeme Koehne: Professor of Composition, contact details
{{DEFAULTSORT:Koehne, Graeme 1956 births Living people 20th-century classical composers 21st-century classical composers APRA Award winners Australian male classical composers Australian music educators Ballet composers Harkness Fellows Musicians from Adelaide Pupils of Jacob Druckman Pupils of Louis Andriessen Officers of the Order of Australia Recipients of the Centenary Medal University of Adelaide alumni Yale University alumni 20th-century Australian male musicians 20th-century Australian musicians 21st-century Australian male musicians 21st-century Australian musicians