Judith Ann Clingan (born 19 January 1945) is an Australian

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

, conductor,

performer The performing arts are The arts, arts such as music, dance, and drama which are performed for an audience. They are different from the visual arts, which are the use of paint, canvas or various materials to create physical or static art object ...

and

music educator Music education is a field of practice in which educators are trained for careers as elementary or secondary music teachers, school or music conservatory ensemble directors. Music education is also a research area in which scholars do original ...

. Since 1997, she has been the Director of Wayfarers Australia (formerly Waldorf Wayfarers) Australia Wide Choir.

Early life

Clingan was born on 19 January 1945, in

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

to Victor Lawrence Clingan and Marian Dorothy Tasker. She was educated at

Hornsby Girls' High School Hornsby Girls' High School is a government-funded single-sex academically selective secondary day school for girls, located in Hornsby, a suburb on the Upper North Shore of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Founded in 1930, the school's f ...

, the University of Sydney, the University of New South Wales and the Australian National University (ANU). Clingan moved to Canberra with her family in 1963, and graduated from the ANU in 1966. In 1967 she founded the Canberra Children's Choir and began composing music for SSA voices. She studied voice, bassoon and composition at the Canberra School of Music (now

ANU School of Music The ANU School of Music is a school in the Research School of Humanities and the Arts, which forms part of the College of Arts and Social Sciences of the Australian National University. It consists of four buildings, including the main School of ...

) She studied

music education Music education is a field of practice in which educators are trained for careers as elementary or secondary music teachers, school or music conservatory ensemble directors. Music education is also a research area in which scholars do origina ...

at the Zoltan Kodaly Pedagogical Institute of Music in Kecskemet (

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

) from 1981–1982.

Career

In 1969 she founded the Summer Music Schools for Children, known as the Young Music Society prior to 1975. In 1983 she founded Gaudeamus Music and Performing Arts (now Music For Canberra) in 1983. She was the director of Gaudeamus for eleven years and during this time she remained a composer, writing choral and music theatre works for the group to perform. In 1990 members of Gaudeamus performed her music theatre work Kakadu at the International Society of Music Educators conference in

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

. In 1991 she began her involvement in

Steiner education Waldorf education, also known as Steiner education, is based on the educational philosophy of Rudolf Steiner, the founder of anthroposophy. Its educational style is holistic, intended to develop pupils' intellectual, artistic, and practical ski ...

and since then has written many short choral and music theatre pieces for Steiner students. Clingan founded Voicebox Youth Opera when working in South Australia from 1994–1996, and directed the Canberra branch of Voicebox from 1997 - 2002. She composed many music theatre pieces during this time. In 1994 she founded Imagine Music Theatre. In 1997 she founded the choir Wayfarers Australia and the Canberra vocal group The Variables. She has been the recipient of many awards, fellowships and grants, including in 1986 a Membership 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 ...

for services to music,

Churchill Fellowship Winston Churchill Memorial Trusts (WCMT) are three independent but related living memorials to Sir Winston Churchill, based in the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand. They exist for the purpose of administering Churchill Fellowships, a ...

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 ...

Composer Fellowship, ANU Creative Arts Fellowship, artsACT Creative Artists Fellowship, Canberra Times Artist of the Year, Sounds Australian award for her composition Kakadu, funding from the Australia Council, Arts ACT and Arts SA, commissions for original compositions and numerous residencies in Australia. Clingan is currently the director of Wayfarers Australia and Imagine Music Theatre.

Selected works

*Puer natus = The boy that is born : liturgical drama for Christmas, 1968 *A Canticle of light, 1976 *The Lorax (words:

Dr. Seuss Theodor Seuss Geisel (;"Seuss"
'' J. M. Barrie Sir James Matthew Barrie, 1st Baronet, (; 9 May 1860 19 June 1937) was a Scottish novelist and playwright, best remembered as the creator of Peter Pan. He was born and educated in Scotland and then moved to London, where he wrote several succe ...

's story), 1985 *Modal magic : seven songs for

a cappella ''A cappella'' (, also , ; ) music is a performance by a singer or a singing group without instrumental accompaniment, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. The term ''a cappella'' was originally intended to differentiate between Ren ...

children's choir, 1986 *Francis, or Singing is believing: a mini-

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librett ...

in three

acts The Acts of the Apostles ( grc-koi, Πράξεις Ἀποστόλων, ''Práxeis Apostólōn''; la, Actūs Apostolōrum) is the fifth book of the New Testament; it tells of the founding of the Christian Church and the spread of its message ...

, 1986 *Ngambra : a Canberra

canticle A canticle (from the Latin ''canticulum'', a diminutive of ''canticum'', "song") is a hymn, psalm or other Christianity, Christian song of praise with lyrics usually taken from biblical or holy texts. Canticles are used in Christian liturgy. Ca ...

(libretto: Anthony Hill), 1988 *Terra beata - terra infirma, 1989 *Seven Deadly Sins, 1990 *Kakadu (words: Marian Clingan), 1990 *Birds' Noel, 1990 *Marco : an opera for young people based on the travels of

Marco Polo Marco Polo (, , ; 8 January 1324) was a Venetian merchant, explorer and writer who travelled through Asia along the Silk Road between 1271 and 1295. His travels are recorded in ''The Travels of Marco Polo'' (also known as ''Book of the Marv ...

, 1990 *Songs of solitude, 1991 *Mass of hope, 1992 *Mythical beasts, 1992 *Stony tunes, 1994 *A Pawn in the Game, 1995 *Birth pangs : for women's choir (words: David Adam), 1996 *Moomin Magic (based on

Finn Family Moomintroll ''Finn Family Moomintroll'' (original Swedish title ''Trollkarlens hatt'', ‘The Magician's Hat’; US edition ''The Happy Moomins'') is the third in the series of Tove Jansson's Moomins books, published in Swedish in 1948 and translated to Engl ...

Tove Jansson Tove Marika Jansson (; 9 August 1914 – 27 June 2001) was a Swedish-speaking population of Finland, Swedish-speaking Finnish author, novelist, painter, illustrator and comic strip author. Brought up by artistic parents, Jansson studied art from ...

), 1999 *The Grandfather Clock (based on a book by Tony Hill), 2001 *Spiritus Sanctus Australis, 2001–2002 *A Lake for Canberra, 2017, commissioned for

carillon A carillon ( , ) is a pitched percussion instrument that is played with a keyboard and consists of at least 23 cast-bronze bells. The bells are hung in fixed suspension and tuned in chromatic order so that they can be sounded harmoniou ...

by the

Australian National University The Australian National University (ANU) is a public research university located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton encompasses seven teaching and research colleges, in addition to several national academies and ...

and the

National Capital Authority The National Capital Authority (NCA) is a statutory authority of the Australian Government that was established to manage the Commonwealth's interest in the planning and development of Canberra as the capital city of Australia. Timeline of th ...

*The Threshold, 2023, New music theatre looking at Ageing and the End of LifeReview: City News
Thoughtful look at women’s ageing and end of life

References

External links

Wayfarers AustraliaSo Good a Thing - Judy Clingan remembers fifty years of music in CanberraCanberra Choral SocietyCanberra Gay and Lesbian QwireMusic For Canberra
{{DEFAULTSORT:Clingan, Judith 1945 births Living people 20th-century classical composers 20th-century conductors (music) 20th-century women composers 21st-century classical composers 21st-century conductors (music) 21st-century women composers Australian classical composers Australian conductors (music) Australian women classical composers Composers for carillon Members of the Order of Australia University of New South Wales alumni Australian women conductors (music)