Helen Margaret Gifford OAM (born 5 September 1935) is an

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal A ...

composer. On Australia Day (26 January) 1996 she was appointed to the

Medal 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 ...

, "in recognition of service to music as a composer". At the APRA Music Awards of 2016 she won the category "Distinguished Services to Australian Music".

Biography

Helen Gifford was born in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

, Australia, of Scots and Cornish heritage. Gifford attended Tintern Junior School and Melbourne Girls Grammar, and then the

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb no ...

Conservatorium on a Commonwealth Scholarship. She studied with Roy Shepherd and

Dorian Le Gallienne Dorian Leon Marlois Le Gallienne (19 April 1915 – 27 July 1963) was an Australian composer, teacher and music critic. Biography Dorian Le Gallienne was born in Melbourne in 1915. His father, an actor, was born in France, and his mother, a pia ...

, graduating with a Bachelor of Music in 1958. She won the Dorian Le Gallienne Award in 1965, a Senior Composer's Fellowship in 1973, and served as composer-in-residence with the Australian Opera beginning in 1974. In the 1960s and early '70s, her music showed the influence of travel to

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

and

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

. At the Australia Day Honours in 1996 she was appointed to the

, with a citation, "In recognition of service to music as a composer." At the APRA Music Awards of 2016 she won the Art Music Award category, Distinguished Services to Australian Music. Helen Gifford is a represented artist of 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 ...

Compositions

Gifford was commissioned by the ELISION Ensemble to compose ''Music for the Adonia'' in 1993. It was written for soprano Deborah Kayser, with the ELISION Ensemble to accompany her on piccolo/flute, clarinet, percussion, harp, mandolin, 10-string guitar, viola and cello. It was inspired by the annual women's festival,

Adonia The Adonia (Greek: ) was a festival celebrated annually by women in ancient Greece to mourn the death of Adonis, the consort of Aphrodite. It is best attested in classical Athens, though other sources provide evidence for the ritual mourning of ...

, held in Athens in ancient Greek times. She composed ''As Foretold to Khayyam,'' for pianist Michael Kieran Harvey in 1999 on commission from ABC Classic FM. The same year she wrote a 50-minute work for choir and instruments, ''Choral Scenes: The Western Front, World War I.'' Commissioned by Astra, it was a setting of English, French and German verse of that time. She also wrote the work ''Catharsis'' (2002) for the Astra choir. It includes verse by

Anna Akhmatova Anna Andreyevna Gorenko rus, А́нна Андре́евна Горе́нко, p=ˈanːə ɐnˈdrʲe(j)ɪvnə ɡɐˈrʲɛnkə, a=Anna Andreyevna Gorenko.ru.oga, links=yes; uk, А́нна Андрі́ївна Горе́нко, Ánna Andríyivn ...

Kathleen Raine Kathleen Jessie Raine CBE (14 June 1908 – 6 July 2003) was a British poet, critic, and scholar, writing in particular on William Blake, W. B. Yeats and Thomas Taylor. Known for her interest in various forms of spirituality, most prominently ...

and

Elizabeth Riddell Elizabeth Riddell (21 March 1910 – 3 July 1998) was an Australian poet and journalist. Life Born in Napier, New Zealand, Elizabeth Richmond Riddell came to Australia in 1928 where she worked at ''Smith's Weekly'' and won a Walkley Award. She ...

. In ''Spell Against Sorrow'' (2003), for soprano and guitar, written for Deborah Kayser and Geoffrey Morris, Gifford used text from three poems of Kathleen Raine. ''Menin Gate'' (2005) was written for Michael Kieran Harvey and won APRA/AMC Classical Music State Award for Victoria 2006. In 2014, Gifford composed ''Desperation'' for violist Phoebe Green. This work was premiered at a concert presented by Astra - ''Helen Gifford at 80.'' In 2015, Gifford composed ''Undertones of War'' inspired by

Edmund Blunden Edmund Charles Blunden (1 November 1896 – 20 January 1974) was an English poet, author, and critic. Like his friend Siegfried Sassoon, he wrote of his experiences in World War I in both verse and prose. For most of his career, Blunden was a ...

's book ''

Undertones of War ''Undertones of War'' is a 1928 memoir of the First World War, written by English poet Edmund Blunden. As with two other famous war memoirs-— Siegfried Sassoon's '' Sherston trilogy'', and Robert Graves' ''Good-Bye to All That''--''Undertones' ...

.'' The work was premiered by pianist Michael Kieran Harvey and commissioned by Melbourne Composers' League.

Works

Gifford composes for stage, orchestra, chamber ensemble and solo instruments, often incorporating elements of Balinese and Javanese music. Selected works include: *''Carol: As dew in Aprille'' (1955) for voice and piano *''Fantasy'' (1958) for flute and piano *''Piano sonata'' (1960) for solo piano *''Skiagram'' (1963) for flute, viola and vibraphone *''Phantasma'' (1963) for string orchestra *''Red autumn in Valvins'' (1964) for soprano or mezzo-soprano and piano (text: Christopher Brennan) *''Chimaera'' (1967) for orchestra *''Fable'' (1967) for harp *''Imperium'' (1969) for orchestra *''Sonnet'' (1969) for guitar, flute and harpsichord *''Of old Angkor'' (1970) for French horn and marimba *''Regarding Faustus'' (1983) *''Iphigenia in Exile'' (1985) *''Music for the Adonia'' (1993) for chamber ensemble *''Plaint for lost worlds'' (1994) for flute, clarinet and piano *''Point of Ignition'' (1995) for mezzo-soprano and orchestra (text: Jessica Aldridge) *''Choral Scenes: the Western Front, World War I'' (1999) *''As foretold to Khayyám'' (1999) for piano solo *''Catharsis'' (2001) SATB choir with soloists and speaker *''Menin Gate'' (2005) for piano solo *''The Tears of Things'' (2010) for speaker and choir *''Shiva the auspicious one'' (2012) for piano solo *''Parvati'' and ''Celebrations of the Apsaras'' (2013) for clarinet solo *''Desperation'' (2015) for viola solo *''Undertones of War'' (2015) for piano solo *''Ancestress'' (2018) for viola and piano

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gifford, Helen 1935 births Living people 20th-century classical composers 21st-century classical composers APRA Award winners Australian classical composers Australian women classical composers Australian music educators Musicians from Melbourne People educated at Melbourne Girls Grammar University of Melbourne alumni University of Melbourne women Women music educators 20th-century women composers 21st-century women composers Recipients of the Medal of the Order of Australia