Camerata Academica of the Antipodes is an Australian chamber orchestra and vocal ensemble formed in 2014. It was founded by three Coward siblings, Imogen, Taliésin and Leon, who are all multi-instrumentalists and composers, together with various friends. Their main genre is the

Baroque music Baroque music ( or ) refers to the period or dominant style of Western classical music composed from about 1600 to 1750. The Baroque style followed the Renaissance period, and was followed in turn by the Classical period after a short transiti ...

of Vivaldi, Handel and Corell but includes other eras and styles, and their own compositions.

Background

The Coward siblings, Imogen, Taliésin and Leon were home-schooled by their parents up to university level. Their mother, Ann Coward, is of Greek-Australian descent and they attended St George Greek Orthodox Church, Rose Bay. Each sibling has completed a PhD in musicology. Imogen (born ), at 16 years-old, was studying for an external degree at the University of New England. Leon (born 1991) studied at the

Julian Ashton Art School The Julian Ashton Art School was established by Julian Ashton in 1890 as the "Academy Julian", (perhaps a reference to the Académie Julian in Paris) has been an influential art school in Australia. For a long time it was known as the Sydney Art ...

and at the University of New England, and graduated with a first class honours Bachelor of Arts degree in 2013. He completed his PhD study in 2017, writing his dissertation on creating a new method for analysing film design. He used that method in the development of the film, '' 2BR02B: To Be or Naught To Be'' (2016). Since 2017 Leon has been a judge for the Sydney Indie Film Festival. At the age of 14 Leon promoted good reading for children and asked a local book store if he could organise events on their premises. Between 2005 and 2008, he organised visits by Australian children's authors to that book store. He met

Libby Hathorn Elizabeth Helen Hathorn (born 1943) is an Australian writer for children, and a poet who works with schools, institutions and communities. She has received many awards for her books, some of which have been translated into several languages. In ...

through these events, and later illustrated her book ''Vietnam Reflections'' (2010). It was a presentation gift to the

Australian War Memorial The Australian War Memorial is Australia's national memorial to the members of its armed forces and supporting organisations who have died or participated in wars involving the Commonwealth of Australia and some conflicts involving pe ...

and won the 2010 Poetry Prize at the Inaugural Woollahra Library Word Festival.

Formation

Academica of the Antipodes were founded by the Coward siblings with fellow musicologists and multi-instrumentalists in 2014 in Sydney. Imogen is the director of the orchestra and has focussed on violin, viola, cello and vocals, Taliésin mainly delivers violin, vocals and guitar, while Leon provides violin, viola, piano and baritone bass vocals. Their first performance was on 31 August 2014 at St. Alban's Church Hall,

Epping Epping may refer to: Places Australia * Epping, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney ** Epping railway station, Sydney * Electoral district of Epping, the corresponding seat in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly * Epping Forest, Kearns, a he ...

. The concert raised funds for Australian Children's Music Foundation (see

Don Spencer Donald Richard Spencer (born 22 March 1941),is an Australian children's television presenter, singer-songwriter, and guitarist. He had a long-running role on ''Play School'' on both the Australian version (1968–99) and the United Kingdom ...

) and Brissenden Foundation. Internationally the ensemble established their "distinctly recognisable culture and ethos" of the "performer as co-creator."

Compositions

Coward first premiered selections from his music for ''

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (commonly ''Alice in Wonderland'') is an 1865 English novel by Lewis Carroll. It details the story of a young girl named Alice (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland), Alice who falls through a rabbit hole into a ...

'' at the

Tate Liverpool Tate Liverpool is an art gallery and museum in Liverpool, Merseyside, England, and part of Tate, along with Tate St Ives, Cornwall, Tate Britain, London, and Tate Modern, London. The museum was an initiative of the Merseyside Development Corpo ...

's major exhibition ''Alice in Wonderland'' (November 2011 - January 2012) which celebrated the 150th anniversary of Carroll's book, and later premiered "Beautiful Soup" in Sydney, which scholar Timothy Harries described as "logical, as though it was 'always meant to exist'." Coward has written music for piano, strings, and voice, and performs his own piano works. His compositions have been positively received by Australian and international audiences, and regularly critiqued in the British Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies publication ''Criticks''. Esther Lie described his work as "full of new invention," leading audiences "into a world full of colour." His compositional style has been frequently described as "Chopin-esque," "Neo-Romantic", and exhibiting "a love of nineteenth-century music." Coward frequently engages audiences' imaginations before performing, such as describing ballet sequences for '"Two Kings" suite and "Imaginary Pas De Deux".

Original works

* "Beautiful Soup" (lyrics from ''

'' by

Lewis Carroll Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (; 27 January 1832 – 14 January 1898), better known by his pen name Lewis Carroll, was an English author, poet and mathematician. His most notable works are ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (1865) and its sequel ...

) - Piano & String Orchestra (2014), later re-arranged with Vocal Ensemble (2017) * "Sans Souci" - Piano (2017) * "Melody" - Piano & String Orchestra (2016) * "Lament" - Piano (2015) * "Imaginary Pas de Deux" - Piano (2015) * "Trio" - 2 Violins & Piano (2013) * "Consolation" - Piano (2013) * "Nocturne" - Piano (2013) * "The Embrace" - Piano (2012)

Arrangements

Giuseppe Cenci Giuseppe is the Italian form of the given name Joseph, from Latin Iōsēphus from Ancient Greek Ἰωσήφ (Iōsḗph), from Hebrew יוסף. It is the most common name in Italy and is unique (97%) to it. The feminine form of the name is Giusep ...

. "

La Mantovana "La Mantovana" or "Il Ballo di Mantova" (Mantua Dance) is a popular sixteenth-century song attributed to the Italian tenor Giuseppe Cenci, also known as Giuseppino del Biado, (d. 1616) to the text . Its earliest known appearance in print is in Bi ...

" arranged for String Orchestra (2017) *

Arthur Sullivan Sir Arthur Seymour Sullivan (13 May 1842 – 22 November 1900) was an English composer. He is best known for 14 comic opera, operatic Gilbert and Sullivan, collaborations with the dramatist W. S. Gilbert, including ''H.M.S. Pinaf ...

. "Glee" from ''

The Mikado ''The Mikado; or, The Town of Titipu'' is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert, their ninth of fourteen Gilbert and Sullivan, operatic collaborations. It opened on 14 March 1885, in London, whe ...

'' arranged for String Orchestra (2014) *

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition r ...

. "Lacrimosa" from ''Requiem in D minor'', K.626 arranged for Solo Piano (2013)

Film scores

* '' 2BR02B: To Be or Naught To Be'' (2016)

Books

* ''Vietnam Reflections'' written by Libby Hathorn, illustrated by Leon Coward (Sydney: Pax Press, 2010)

Awards

Sydney Indie Film Festival (Sydney, Australia) * (2016) Won—Best Sci-Fi Short / '' 2BR02B: To Be or Naught To Be'' WILDsound Fest (Toronto, Canada) * (2017) Won—Best Film / '' 2BR02B: To Be or Naught To Be'' KaPow Intergalactic Film Festival (California, USA) * (2016) Won—Best Sci-Fi Short / '' 2BR02B: To Be or Naught To Be'' The Montreal International Wreath Awards Film Festival (Montreal, Canada) * (2016) Nominated—Best Picture / '' 2BR02B: To Be or Naught To Be'' The Golden Blasters Science Fiction Short Film Awards (The National Irish Science Fiction Film Festival) (Dublin, Ireland) * (2016) Nominated—Best Film / '' 2BR02B: To Be or Naught To Be'' Fantastic Planet Film Festival (Sydney Australia) * (2016) Nominated—Best Film / '' 2BR02B: To Be or Naught To Be''

Miami Short Film Festival The Miami Short Film Festival is an annual film festival held in Miami, Florida Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Mi ...

(Miami, USA) * (2016) Semi-Finalist / '' 2BR02B: To Be or Naught To Be'' Best Short Fest (San Diego, USA) * (2016) Semi-Finalist / '' 2BR02B: To Be or Naught To Be''

References

External links

* {{Official website, camerataantipodes.com.au/ Baroque music groups Australian classical music groups