Rosalie (Ros) Edith Bandt (born 18 August 1951 in

Geelong Geelong ( ) (Wathawurrung: ''Djilang''/''Djalang'') is a port city in the southeastern Australian state of Victoria, located at the eastern end of Corio Bay (the smaller western portion of Port Phillip Bay) and the left bank of Barwon River, ...

) 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 ...

sound artist Sound art is an artistic activity in which sound is utilized as a primary medium or material. Like many genres of contemporary art, sound art may be interdisciplinary in nature, or be used in hybrid forms. According to Brandon LaBelle, sound art ...

, academic and performer.

Biography

Bandt was born in Geelong, Victoria. Her father

Lewis Bandt Lewis Thornet Bandt (26 February 1910 – 18 March 1987) was an Australian car designer, most famous for designing and building the first ute (coupé utility) cars in the 1930s. Early life Bandt was born the eldest of five children in the Sout ...

was a car designer and notable for designing the first

ute Ute or UTE may refer to: * Ute (band), an Australian jazz group * Ute (given name) * ''Ute'' (sponge), a sponge genus * Ute (vehicle), an Australian and New Zealand term for certain utility vehicles * Ute, Iowa, a city in Monona County along ...

. Described as one of the most individual presences in Australian music, Bandt is an internationally acclaimed

, researcher and performer. Trained as a school teacher, Bandt went on to study

chance music Aleatoric music (also aleatory music or chance music; from the Latin word ''alea'', meaning " dice") is music in which some element of the composition is left to chance, and/or some primary element of a composed work's realization is left to the ...

and completed her master's degree in 1974 at

Monash University Monash University () is a public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Named for prominent World War I general Sir John Monash, it was founded in 1958 and is the second oldest university in the state. The university has a ...

with a thesis on the work of

John Cage John Milton Cage Jr. (September 5, 1912 – August 12, 1992) was an American composer and music theorist. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one of the leading fi ...

and later completed her PhD in 1983 also at Monash. In 1977 Bandt and Martin Harris created a

sound installation Sound art is an artistic activity in which sound is utilized as a primary medium or material. Like many genres of contemporary art, sound art may be interdisciplinary in nature, or be used in hybrid forms. According to Brandon LaBelle, sound art ...

, ''Winds and Circuits'' which fed audio into television signals to create electronic visual patterns. Since that time she pioneered interactive sound installations,

sound sculpture Sound art is an artistic activity in which sound is utilized as a primary medium or material. Like many genres of contemporary art, sound art may be interdisciplinary in nature, or be used in hybrid forms. According to Brandon LaBelle, sound art ...

s, and created sound playgrounds, spatial music systems, and some 40 sound installations worldwide. A pioneer of interactive sound sculpture in Australia, she has exhibited in many Australian city and regional centres, including her work ''Sound Playground'' in Brunswick,

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 ...

in 1981. Making use of electronics, tapes and interactive playback systems, Bandt's compositions also feature environmental sounds and unusual instrument combinations. Bandt performs on a wide variety of instruments including recorders, psaltry, percussion and the

tarhu The tarhu (also spelled tarhou) is a type of string instrument invented by Australian musician and craftsman Peter Biffin during the 1980s. The tarhu has a long slender neck made of Blackwood, a small round body also made of Blackwood, and four str ...

. She is a founding member of ensembles LIME, Back to Back Zithers, La Romanesca, Carte Blanche and the Free Music Ensemble.

Awards

Don Banks Music Award

The

Don Banks Music Award The Don Banks Music Award was established in 1984 to publicly honour a senior artist of high distinction who has made an outstanding and sustained contribution to music in Australia. It was founded by the Australia Council in honour of Don Banks, ...

was established in 1984 to publicly honour a senior artist of high distinction who has made an outstanding and sustained contribution to music in Australia. It was founded by 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 ...

in honour of

Don Banks Donald Oscar Banks (25 October 19235 September 1980) was an Australian composer of concert, jazz, and commercial music. Early life and education Jazz was Banks' earliest and strongest musical influence. He learned the saxophone as a boy in Aust ...

, Australian composer, performer and the first chair of its music board. , - , 1991 , Ros Bandt , Don Banks Music Award , , - Bandt was awarded the Cochrane Smith award for sound heritage in 2012 by the

National Film and Sound Archive The National Film and Sound Archive of Australia (NFSA), known as ScreenSound Australia from 1999 to 2004, is Australia's audiovisual archive, responsible for developing, preserving, maintaining, promoting and providing access to a national co ...

. In 2020 Bandt was awarded the Richard Gill Award for Distinguished Services to Australian Music at the APRA Art Music Awards in recognition of her 40-year commitment to inter-disciplinary work.

Discography

* 1980 ''Love lyrics and romances of Renaissance Spain''. La Romanesca. Move Records, MD 3034 * 1981 ''Improvisations in Acoustic Chambers Tank Pieces and Silo Pieces'' Move records MS 3035, MC 3035 * 1982 ''Soft and Fragile: Music in Glass and Clay'' Move Records MS 3045, MC 3045 * 1985 ''Clay Music''. LIME. Move Records, MD 3065 * 1989 ''Stargazer'' Move Records MD 3075, MC 3075 * 1992 ''An Iberian Triangle: Music of Christian, Jewish and Moorish Spain before 1492''. La Romanesca. Move Records MD 3114 * 1992 ''Quivering String''. Back to Back Zithers. Move Records, MD 3141 * 1993 ''Footsteps'' Move Records, MD 3135 * 1995 ''Glass & Clay'' Move Records, MD 3045 * 1999 ''Via Frescobaldi''. La Romaesca. Move Records, MD 3206 * 2001 ''Stack'' Move Records, MD 3145 * 2003 ''Sonic Archaeologies'' Move Records, MD 3155 * 2005 ''Monodies''. La Romanesca. Move Records, MD 3044 * 2008 ''Isobue, Japanese Sea Whistle'' Sonic Art Gallery SG0801 * 2013 ''Jaara Jaara Seasons'' Hearing Places * 2015 ''Bird Song - Trio Avium'' Hearing Places * 2016 ''Tarhu connections'' Hearing Places

Selected publications

* 2001 ''Sound Sculpture, Intersections in Sound and Sculpture in Australian Artworks'' * 2007 ''Hearing Places: Interdisciplinary Writings on Sound, Place, Time and Culture'' with Michelle Duffy and Dolly MacKinnon

References

External links

Ros Bandt website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bandt, Ros 1951 births Living people Australian composers 20th-century women musicians 21st-century women musicians 20th-century Australian musicians 21st-century Australian musicians Australian women composers