Liza Lim facts for kids

Liza Lim is a famous Australian composer. She writes many different kinds of music, including pieces for orchestras and smaller groups of instruments. She also creates music for plays and works with artists on cool projects that combine music with art and videos. Liza Lim is interested in Chinese culture and the art of Aboriginal Australians, and her music often shows influences from music from different parts of the world.

Early Life and Learning

Liza Lim was born in Perth, Australia, on August 30, 1966. Her parents were doctors from China. When she was young, they worked in Brunei, and Liza went to a boarding school. When she was 11, her teachers at Presbyterian Ladies' College, Melbourne encouraged her to try composing music instead of just playing piano and violin.

Liza studied music at several universities. She earned her main degree from the Victorian College of the Arts in 1986. She then got her Master of Music degree from the University of Melbourne in 1996. Later, she completed her PhD from the University of Queensland. She learned composition from teachers like Richard David Hames and Riccardo Formosa in Melbourne, and Ton de Leeuw in Amsterdam.

Liza Lim's Music Career

Liza Lim has had an exciting career in music. She has been a guest teacher at many famous places around the world. These include the Darmstadt Summer School in Germany and universities like the University of California, San Diego and Cornell University in the USA. She also taught composition at Melbourne University in 1991. In 2006, she helped plan the twilight concert series for the Adelaide Festival of Arts.

Many famous music groups and orchestras have asked Liza Lim to write music for them. These include the Los Angeles Philharmonic, for whom she wrote Ecstatic Architecture. This piece was for the opening season of the Walt Disney Concert Hall. Other groups that have commissioned her work include the BBC Symphony Orchestra and the Arditti Quartet. Her music has also been played at big festivals like the Festival d'automne à Paris and the Venice Biennale.

Since 1986, Liza Lim has worked closely with the ELISION Ensemble. Her husband, Daryl Buckley, is the artistic director of this group. From 2005 to 2007, Liza was the composer-in-residence for the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. This meant she worked closely with them to create new music. One important piece she wrote for them was The Compass. It was first performed on August 23, 2006, at the Sydney Opera House. A special part of this performance was William Barton playing the didgeridoo.

In 2007 and 2008, Liza lived in Berlin, Germany, as an artist-in-residence. There, she created her third opera, The Navigator. This opera was inspired by the old story of Tristan and Isolde. In March 2008, she became a professor of composition at the University of Huddersfield in the UK. In February 2017, she joined the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. She holds a special position there called the Sculthorpe Chair of Australian Music.

Selected Music Works

Liza Lim has created many different types of musical works. Here are some of them:

Stage Works

• 1991–93 The Oresteia. A Memory Theatre, an opera.
• 1994–95 Bar-do'i-thos-grol, a 7-night art performance based on The Tibetan Book of the Dead.
• 1991–99 Yuè Lìng Jié (Moon Spirit Feasting), a Chinese street opera.
• 2005 Glass House Mountains, an art installation with artist Judy Watson.
• 2008 The Navigator, an opera for singers, instruments, and electronics.

Orchestra Works

• 1994–95 Sri-Vidya, Utterances of Adoration for choir and orchestra.
• 1996 The Alchemical Wedding for orchestra.
• 2001–02 Ecstatic Architecture, written for the Walt Disney Concert Hall.
• 2004 Immer Fliessender (Ever Flowing), a piece to go with Gustav Mahler's Ninth Symphony.
• 2005 Flying Banner, a "Fanfare" for orchestra.
• 2005–06 The Compass for orchestra with flute and didgeridoo soloists.
• 2010 Pearl, Ochre, Hair String for orchestra.
• 2010 The Guest for orchestra with a recorder soloist.

Ensemble Works

These are pieces for smaller groups of instruments.

• 1988–89 Garden of Earthly Desire for various instruments.
• 1989 Voodoo Child for a soprano singer and instruments.
• 1990 Diabolical Birds for piccolo, bass clarinet, piano, and other instruments.
• 1993 Li Shang Yin for a coloratura soprano and 15 instruments.
• 1995 Street of Crocodiles for flute, oboe, saxophone, and other instruments.
• 1999 Veil for flute, bass clarinet, trumpet, percussion, piano, violin, and cello.
• 2001 Machine for Contacting the Dead for twenty-seven instruments.
• 2005 Songs Found in Dream for oboe, bass clarinet, saxophone, trumpet, and other instruments.
• 2005 Mother Tongue for soprano and 15 instruments, with poems by Patricia Sykes.
• 2006 Shimmer Songs for string quartet, harp, and percussion.
• 2006 City of Falling Angels for 12 percussionists.
• 2007 Sensorium for soprano, recorders, baroque harp, and viola d'amore.
• 2010–11 Tongue of the Invisible, for an improvising pianist, baritone, and 16 musicians.
• 2014 Winding Bodies: 3 Knots for alto flute, bass clarinet, piano, percussion, and string instruments.

Chamber Music

These are pieces for very small groups of instruments, often just a few.

• 1996 Inguz (Fertility) for clarinet and cello.
• 1997 The Heart's Ear for flute, clarinet, and string instruments.
• 1999 Sonorous Bodies for koto (a Japanese string instrument) and voice, with video art.
• 2004 In the Shadow's Light for string quartet.
• 2004–05 The Quickening for soprano and qin (a Chinese string instrument).
• 2008 Ochred String for oboe, viola, cello, and double bass.
• 2013–14 The Weaver's Knot for string quartet.

Solo Works

These are pieces for just one instrument.

• 1992 Amulet for solo viola.
• 1997 Philtre for Hardanger fiddle or retuned violin.
• 2007 Wild Winged–one for solo trumpet.
• 2007 Weaver–of–Fictions for alto Ganassi recorder.
• 2007 The Long Forgetting for tenor Ganassi recorder.
• 2008 Well of Dreams for solo alto trombone.
• 2008 Sonorous Body for solo B♭ clarinet.
• 2011 Love Letter for any solo instrument.

Awards and Recognitions

Liza Lim has received many important awards for her music.

• In 2007, her work as the Sydney Symphony Composer Residency was nominated for an APRA Classical Music Award. Her piece Mother Tongue was also nominated for Best Composition. She won the Orchestral Work of the Year Award for her piece Flying Banner (After Wang To).
• In 2018, Liza Lim won the Don Banks Music Award. This award honors a very important artist who has made a huge and lasting contribution to music in Australia.
• In 2023, she was made a Member of the Order of Australia as part of the King's Birthday Honours. This is a special recognition from the Australian government.
• In 2024, she received an Australian Laureate Fellowship, which is a very high honor for researchers and scholars in Australia.

See also

In Spanish: Liza Lim para niños