Helen Gifford facts for kids

Helen Margaret Gifford OAM (born 5 September 1935) is an Australian composer. She creates music for different groups of instruments and voices. In 1996, she received the Medal of the Order of Australia for her important contributions to music. This award recognized her "service to music as a composer." She also won a special award in 2016 from the APRA Music Awards of 2016 for her long and excellent service to Australian music.

About Helen Gifford

Helen Gifford was born in Melbourne, Australia. Her family had roots in Scotland and Cornwall. She went to Tintern Junior School and Melbourne Girls Grammar. Later, she studied music at the University of Melbourne Conservatorium. She received a special scholarship to help her with her studies.

Helen learned from famous teachers like Roy Shepherd and Dorian Le Gallienne. In 1958, she earned her Bachelor of Music degree. She won the Dorian Le Gallienne Award in 1965. In 1973, she received a Senior Composer's Fellowship. From 1974, she worked as a composer-in-residence with the Australian Opera. This meant she created music especially for the opera company.

In the 1960s and early 1970s, Helen traveled to India and Indonesia. Her music from this time shows the influence of these trips. She used sounds and ideas from Balinese and Javanese music in her compositions.

In 1996, Helen Gifford was honored with the Medal of the Order of Australia. This award recognized her important work as a composer. In 2016, she won the "Distinguished Services to Australian Music" award at the APRA Music Awards of 2016. This award celebrates people who have made a big difference in Australian music.

Helen Gifford is an artist represented by the Australian Music Centre. This organization helps promote Australian music and composers.

Helen's Compositions

Helen Gifford has written many different pieces of music. Often, other groups or musicians ask her to create new works. This is called being "commissioned."

Music for Ensembles

In 1993, the ELISION Ensemble asked Helen to compose Music for the Adonia. This piece was written for a singer, Deborah Kayser. The ELISION Ensemble played instruments like flute, clarinet, percussion, harp, and guitar. The music was inspired by the Adonia, an ancient Greek festival for women held in Athens.

In 1999, she wrote Choral Scenes: The Western Front, World War I. This was a 50-minute work for a choir and instruments. It used poems from English, French, and German writers from World War I. She also composed Catharsis (2002) for the Astra choir. This piece included poems by famous writers like Anna Akhmatova.

Music for Solo Instruments

Helen has also written many pieces for solo musicians. In 1999, she composed As Foretold to Khayyam for the pianist Michael Kieran Harvey. This piece was commissioned by ABC Classic FM.

In 2003, she wrote Spell Against Sorrow for a singer and guitar. For this piece, she used text from three poems by Kathleen Raine. Her work Menin Gate (2005) was also written for Michael Kieran Harvey. This piece won an award in 2006.

In 2014, Helen composed Desperation for a viola player named Phoebe Green. This work was first performed at a concert celebrating Helen Gifford's 80th birthday.

In 2015, Helen Gifford composed Undertones of War. This piece was inspired by Edmund Blunden's book about his experiences in World War I. Michael Kieran Harvey premiered this work, which means he was the first to perform it.

Selected Works

Helen Gifford creates music for the stage, orchestras, and smaller groups of instruments called chamber ensembles. She also writes for solo instruments. Her music often includes ideas from Balinese and Javanese music.

Here are some of her compositions:

• Carol: As dew in Aprille (1955) for voice and piano
• Fantasy (1958) for flute and piano
• Piano sonata (1960) for solo piano
• Skiagram (1963) for flute, viola and vibraphone
• Phantasma (1963) for string orchestra
• Red autumn in Valvins (1964) for soprano or mezzo-soprano and piano
• Chimaera (1967) for orchestra
• Fable (1967) for harp
• Imperium (1969) for orchestra
• Sonnet (1969) for guitar, flute and harpsichord
• Of old Angkor (1970) for French horn and marimba
• Regarding Faustus (1983)
• Iphigenia in Exile (1985)
• Music for the Adonia (1993) for chamber ensemble
• Plaint for lost worlds (1994) for flute, clarinet and piano
• Point of Ignition (1995) for mezzo-soprano and orchestra
• Choral Scenes: the Western Front, World War I (1999)
• As foretold to Khayyám (1999) for piano solo
• Catharsis (2001) for choir with soloists and speaker
• Menin Gate (2005) for piano solo
• In Focus (2005): seven pieces for solo piano
• The Tears of Things (2010) for speaker and choir
• Shiva the auspicious one (2012) for piano solo
• Parvati and Celebrations of the Apsaras (2013) for clarinet solo
• Desperation (2015) for viola solo
• Undertones of War (2015) for piano solo
• Ancestress (2018) for viola and piano