Stephen Whittington (born 13 August 1953) is an Australian composer, pianist, teacher and writer of music.

Biography

Whittington 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 ...

, South Australia, in 1953. He studied music 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 ...

, where his piano teacher was Clemens Leske Sr. In the 1970s Whittington began performing contemporary music in Adelaide, performing music by

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, Christian Wolff,

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, Howard Skempton,

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, Peter Garland,

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and other contemporary composers. He promoted the music of Australian composers, some of whom were resident in Adelaide, including Quentin Grant, David Kotlowy and Raymond Chapman-Smith, both solo and with the Breakthrough Piano Quartet. In 2011 Whittington played the music of

Erik Satie Eric Alfred Leslie Satie (, ; ; 17 May 18661 July 1925), who signed his name Erik Satie after 1884, was a French composer and pianist. He was the son of a French father and a British mother. He studied at the Paris Conservatoire, but was an und ...

at a concert held in the Elder Hall at the University of Adelaide. In addition to writing an essay on ''Vexations'', he has participated in a number of performances, including Vienna (2009), and Annecy (2010). In 1988 Whittington produced the ''Breakthrough Festival'', a 3-day event of experimental music at the Adelaide College of Arts and Education, which presented works by

Malcolm Goldstein Malcolm Goldstein (born March 27, 1936 in Brooklyn, New York (state), New York) is an Americans, American-Canadians, Canadian composer, violinist and improviser who has been active in the presentation of new music and dance since the early 1960s. ...

, Christian Wolff,

and Australian composers. It included a performance of Cage's 4'33" on twenty pianos. He also formed the ensemble ''Breakthrough'', which gave the first performances in Australia of major works by

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(''Horizon''),

Steve Reich Stephen Michael Reich ( ; born October 3, 1936) is an American composer known for his contribution to the development of minimal music in the mid to late 1960s. Reich's work is marked by its use of repetitive figures, slow harmonic rhythm, a ...

, Peter Garland. The ensemble also commissioned new works from Australian composers. It also played arrangements of popular music from

The Doors The Doors were an American Rock music, rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1965, with vocalist Jim Morrison, keyboardist Ray Manzarek, guitarist Robby Krieger, and drummer John Densmore. They were among the most controversial and influential ro ...

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and

Joy Division Joy Division were an English rock band formed in Salford in 1976. The group consisted of vocalist Ian Curtis, guitarist/keyboardist Bernard Sumner, bassist Peter Hook and drummer Stephen Morris. Sumner and Hook formed the band after attend ...

. In 1989 he visited and performed in the United Kingdom. Encounters with composers there further determined the direction of his own work as pianist and composer. ''Windmill'', a work for string quartet from 1991 in which the players mimicked the sound of rusty windpumps. Music journalist Graham Strahle wrote of the piece "If Australia has produced a classic piece of musical minimalism, this is it, expressing our love affair with the bush." Through the 1990s Whittington continued to be active as a performer and composer, and had a strong influence on the direction of contemporary musical development in Adelaide. He organised the visits to Adelaide of Howard Skempton (1991), Peter Garland (1992), and

Philip Corner Philip Lionel Corner (born April 10, 1933; name sometimes given as Phil Corner) is an American composer, trombonist, alphornist, vocalist, pianist, music theorist, music educator, and visual artist. Biography After The High School of Music & Ar ...

(1995). He also performed an epic series of concerts featuring the piano works of

, including ''Triadic Memories'', ''Palais de Mari'', and ''For Bunita Marcus''. His performance of ''Triadic Memories'' was listed by The Wire as one of ''60 Concerts that shook the world'', along with performances by

Sonic Youth Sonic Youth was an American rock band based in New York City, formed in 1981. Founding members Thurston Moore (guitar, vocals), Kim Gordon (bass, vocals, guitar) and Lee Ranaldo (guitar, vocals) remained together for the entire history of the b ...

Sun Ra Le Sony'r Ra (born Herman Poole Blount, May 22, 1914 – May 30, 1993), better known as Sun Ra, was an American jazz composer, bandleader, piano and synthesizer player, and poet known for his experimental music, "cosmic" philosophy, prolific out ...

La Monte Young La Monte Thornton Young (born October 14, 1935) is an American composer, musician, and performance artist recognized as one of the first American minimalist composers and a central figure in Fluxus and post-war avant-garde music. He is best kno ...

and others. In 2000 he performed his one-man show ''The Last Meeting of the Satie Society'' at the

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 ...

. In 2003 he produced a new one-man show ''Mad Dogs and Surrealists'', and in 2006 ''Interior Voice: Music and Rodin'', both initially conceived for the Art Gallery of South Australia. In 2009 he premiered a new multimedia performance, ''Rhythmus 09'', including films by

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Viking Eggeling Viking Eggeling (21 October 1880, Lund – 19 May 1925, Berlin) was a Swedish avant-garde artist and filmmaker connected to dadaism, Constructivism, and abstract art and was one of the pioneers in absolute film and visual music. His ...

, Hans Richter and

Marcel Duchamp Henri-Robert-Marcel Duchamp (, , ; 28 July 1887 – 2 October 1968) was a French painter, sculptor, chess player, and writer whose work is associated with Cubism, Dada, and conceptual art. Duchamp is commonly regarded, along with Pablo Picasso ...

, performed with music by

Erwin Schulhoff Erwin Schulhoff ( cs, Ervín Šulhov; 8 June 189418 August 1942) was an Austro-Czech composer and pianist. He was one of the figures in the generation of European musicians whose successful careers were prematurely terminated by the rise of the N ...

Stefan Wolpe Stefan Wolpe (25 August 1902, Berlin – 4 April 1972, New York City) was a German-Jewish-American composer. He was associated with interdisciplinary modernism, with affiliations ranging from the Bauhaus, Berlin agitprop theater and the kibbutz mo ...

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 Whittington himself. In 2011 he produced ''The Music of Light'', an exploration of the relationship between film and music in the work of

Stan Brakhage James Stanley Brakhage ( ; January 14, 1933 – March 9, 2003) was an American filmmaker. He is considered to be one of the most important figures in 20th-century experimental film. Over the course of five decades, Brakhage created a large ...

, with music by

J.S. Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late baroque music, Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the ''Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suite ...

Josef Matthias Hauer Josef Matthias Hauer (March 19, 1883 – September 22, 1959) was an Austrian composer and music theorist. He is best known for developing, independent of and a year or two before Arnold Schoenberg, a method for composing with all 12 notes of th ...

Alexander Scriabin Alexander Nikolayevich Scriabin (; russian: Александр Николаевич Скрябин ; – ) was a Russian composer and virtuoso pianist. Before 1903, Scriabin was greatly influenced by the music of Frédéric Chopin and composed ...

and Whittington. Other interdisciplinary events that he has organised include ''Psychedelic Rays of Sound''(2011) and ''Infinite Horizons in Sound''(2012). On 5 September 2012, he organised

John Cage Day John Cage Day was the name given to several events held during 2012, to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the birth of the composer John Cage. These events included John Cage Day at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, held on August 9, 2012, J ...

in Adelaide to commemorate the 100th birthday of a composer who has had a decisive influence on him. This included an 8-hour long performance on the organ of ASLSP, and a Musicircus that included, amongst other things, Concert for Piano and Orchestra, Aria 2, Cheap Imitation and The Seasons. His compositions include many genres and styles, and reveal diverse musical influences from experimental music to traditional music from many cultures and popular music. Interests in Indian music and Indonesian

gamelan Gamelan () ( jv, ꦒꦩꦼꦭꦤ꧀, su, ᮌᮙᮨᮜᮔ᮪, ban, ᬕᬫᭂᬮᬦ᭄) is the traditional ensemble music of the Javanese, Sundanese, and Balinese peoples of Indonesia, made up predominantly of percussive instruments. T ...

also developed in the 1980s. His interest in using technology dates back to the 1970s, and he has also worked with film and multimedia. He has also performed frequently as an improvising musician, playing piano and other instruments. His close association with French music has continued with appearances in France at the ''Printemps musical d'Annecy'' (2010) and the festival ''Turbulences sonores'' (2012) in Montpellier. Whittington currently teaches at the

University of Adelaide The University of Adelaide (informally Adelaide University) is a public research university located in Adelaide, South Australia. Established in 1874, it is the third-oldest university in Australia. The university's main campus is located on N ...

, where he directs the Electronic Music Unit (EMU), and teaches composition and theory. He also writes music criticism for various publications.

Compositions

''Rhythm Studies'' (1987–1994). Solo Piano.
''Legend'' (1988). Two prepared Pianos.
''Windmill'' (1992). String Quartet.
''Miscellaneous arrangements of Beatles'' songs for piano (1987–92).
''Concerto for Piano and String Orchestra'' (1993).
''Just a bunch of notes'' (1994). Percussion duo.
''Heartbreak Tango'' (1994). Mixed ensemble (8 instruments).
''Heartbreak Tango'' (1994). Piano solo.
''Tangled Hair'' (1999). 4 Songs on Japanese poems. Soprano, flute, piano.
''Red Dust'' (2002). Flute Orchestra.
''Un chien andalou'' (2003). Score for the film by

Luis Buñuel Luis Buñuel Portolés (; 22 February 1900 – 29 July 1983) was a Spanish-Mexican filmmaker who worked in France, Mexico, and Spain. He has been widely considered by many film critics, historians, and directors to be one of the greatest and m ...

.
''Le Tombeau de Satie'' (2004). Piano solo.
''Custom-Made Valses'' (2005). Piano solo.
''Interior Voice'' (2006). Piano solo.
''Made in Korea'' (2005–06). Guitar duo.
''Nazaretheana'' (2006). Flute and Guitar.
''Strike!'' (2008). Music for the film by

Sergei Eisenstein Sergei Mikhailovich Eisenstein (russian: Сергей Михайлович Эйзенштейн, p=sʲɪrˈɡʲej mʲɪˈxajləvʲɪtɕ ɪjzʲɪnˈʂtʲejn, 2=Sergey Mikhaylovich Eyzenshteyn; 11 February 1948) was a Soviet film director, screenw ...

(2008). Chamber ensemble.
''Emak-Bakia'' (2009). Piano. Score for the film by

.
''...from a thatched hut'' (2010). String Quartet.
''Furniture Music'' (2010). Arrangements of the music of

(2010). String Quartet.
''Acid Test'' (2011). Bassoon and piano.
''Music for Airport Furniture'' (2011). String Quartet.
''La Sandunga'' (2011). Violin and two guitars.
''Three Nocturnes (after Holderlin)'' (2012). Piano solo.
''Karawane'' (2012). Voice and Piano. Poem by

Hugo Ball Hugo Ball (; 22 February 1886 – 14 September 1927) was a German author, poet, and essentially the founder of the Dada movement in European art in Zürich in 1916. Among other accomplishments, he was a pioneer in the development of sound poetry. ...

.
''Sun at Midnight (after Muso Soseki)'' (2012). Violin and piano.
''Fallacies of Hope'' (2013). String quartet and piano.
''Nazaretheana'' (2013). Version for clarinet and guitar.
''Homage to

Frida Kahlo Magdalena Carmen Frida Kahlo y Calderón (; 6 July 1907 – 13 July 1954) was a Mexican painter known for her many portraits, self-portraits, and works inspired by the nature and artifacts of Mexico. Inspired by the country's popular culture, ...

'' (2013). String Quartet.
''A Suite of Furniture'' (2014). Arrangements for piano quintet of

Furniture Music Furniture music, or in French ''musique d’ameublement'' (sometimes more literally translated as ''furnishing'' music), is background music originally played by live performers. The term was coined by Erik Satie in 1917. Satie's compositions The ...

.
''Fetes galantes, or, Fake Gallants, being divers pieces inspired by the paintings of Mr. Watteau'' (2015). Baroque violin, harpsichord and two bass viols.

Discography

''Aujourd'hui l'Australie''. Galun Records, 2003.
''An Australian Christmas''. ABC Classics, 1997.
''Journey to the Surface of the Earth''. Domenico de Clario (piano) and Stephen Whittington (piano, prepared piano, toy piano, cymbal). 4-CD set. Australian Experimental Art Foundation, 2010. ''Music for Airport Furniture''. Zephyr Quartet. Cold Blue Music, 2013 ''Windmill''. (Includes the string quartets ''Windmill'' and ''...from a thatched hut.'') Zephyr Quartet. Cold Blue Music, 2017

Publications

Serious Immobilities: On the Centenary of Erik Satie's Vexations

for a Poetics of Intermedia''
Proceedings of the Australian Computer Music Association Conference, 2006.
education in Search of a Future''
RealTime No.80, August–September 2007.
City: ‘Being with’ in Improvised Performance''
Stephen Whittington & Luke Harrald. Proceedings of the 2009 International Computer Music Conference, Montreal, Canada. Ann Arbor, MI: MPublishing, University of Michigan Library 2009.
Digging in John Cage's Garden: Cage and Ryoanji

Morton Feldman's Triadic Memories: an introduction by Stephen Whittington

References

External links

*''Hidden City Live In November.'

*''Hidden City Live.'

*''Stephen Whittington: Musical Renewal.'

RealTime, 18 September 2012. {{DEFAULTSORT:Whittington, Stephen Australian composers 1953 births Living people Australian classical pianists Male classical pianists Australian male composers University of Adelaide alumni 21st-century classical pianists 21st-century Australian male musicians 21st-century Australian musicians