Robert Davidson is an Australian composer and lecturer in music at the

University of Queensland The University of Queensland is a Public university, public research university located primarily in Brisbane, the capital city of the Australian state of Queensland. Founded in 1909 by the Queensland parliament, UQ is one of the six sandstone ...

Education

He holds a Bachelor of Music from the

(UQ), a Graduate Diploma in Music from

Griffith University Griffith University is a public university, public research university in South East Queensland on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of Australia. The university was founded in 1971, but was not officially opened until 1975. Griffith ...

, and a PhD from the University of Queensland. He studied composition with

Terry Riley Terrence Mitchell Riley (born June 24, 1935) is an American composer and performing musician best known as a pioneer of the minimalist music, minimalist school of composition. Influenced by jazz and Indian classical music, his work became notab ...

in 1995 following studies with Philip Bračanin at UQ.

Musical career

He was a bassist in the

Opera Australia Opera Australia is the principal opera company in Australia. Based in Sydney, New South Wales, its performance season at the Sydney Opera House accompanied by the Opera Australia Orchestra runs for approximately eight months of the year, with t ...

, Sydney Symphony and Queensland Symphony orchestras. Since 1997, Davidson has directed the post-classical quintet

Topology Topology (from the Greek language, Greek words , and ) is the branch of mathematics concerned with the properties of a Mathematical object, geometric object that are preserved under Continuous function, continuous Deformation theory, deformat ...

, with whom he plays

double bass The double bass (), also known as the upright bass, the acoustic bass, the bull fiddle, or simply the bass, is the largest and lowest-pitched string instrument, chordophone in the modern orchestra, symphony orchestra (excluding rare additions ...

and occasionally sings. He is co-artistic direction of the organisation. Davidson's works focus on relationships between speech and music, often including video elements. His works have been commissioned and performed by numerous international artists, such as the Brodsky Quartet, Australian String Quartet, Karin Schaupp, Southern Cross Soloists, Paul Dresher Ensemble (San Francisco), and Newspeak (New York). He has also collaborated with Kate Miller-Heidke, Megan Washington, Katie Noonan, TaikOz and Trichotomy. Some of his most well-known works using speech and music include "Not Now, Not Ever!" for choir with then

prime minister of Australia The prime minister of Australia is the head of government of the Commonwealth of Australia. The prime minister is the chair of the Cabinet of Australia and thus the head of the Australian Government, federal executive government. Under the pr ...

Julia Gillard Julia Eileen Gillard (born 29 September 1961) is an Australian former politician who served as the 27th prime minister of Australia from 2010 to 2013. She held office as the leader of the Labor Party (ALP), having previously served as the ...

's 2012

Misogyny Speech Julia Gillard's misogyny speech was a parliamentary speech delivered by Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard in parliament during Question Time on 9 October 2012 in reaction to the opposition leader Tony Abbott accusing her of sexism. Backgr ...

, and "Big Decisions", which tells of the Whitlam dismissal.

Academic career

, Davidson is a senior lecturer in composition at UQ. He is also described as a UQ expert in speech intonation, music and language, popular music, contemporary art music, cross-genre music, and music performance. His research interests include the use of

artificial intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is the capability of computer, computational systems to perform tasks typically associated with human intelligence, such as learning, reasoning, problem-solving, perception, and decision-making. It is a field of re ...

in music.

Recognition

Davidson was a finalist in the Art Music Awards in 2013 (Instrumental Work of the Year) and 2019 (Vocal/Choral Work of the Year).

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Davidson, Robert 20th-century Australian classical composers 21st-century Australian classical composers Australian male classical composers Living people 20th-century Australian male musicians 21st-century Australian male musicians 21st-century Australian double-bassists Musicians from Queensland Musicians from Brisbane University of Queensland alumni Year of birth missing (living people)