Stephen Leek
Encyclopedia
Stephen Leek is an Australian composer, conductor, educator, and publisher.
, Australia in 1959, lived in Brisbane
from 1964 through 1969, and then spent the rest of his childhood in Canberra
. After coming late to music, Leek took up piano
and percussion, and later the cello
as a teenager, and became active as a member of many musical organisations including the Canberra Children's Choir, Canberra Youth Orchestra, Australian Youth Orchestra
, Canberra Symphony Orchestra
and his own vocal group, VOCE. He attended Torrens Primary School, Melrose High School
and Phillip College (now Canberra College).
Following school and after a period of working in Sydney
, Leek returned to Canberra
in 1979 and commenced a Bachelor of Arts (Music) degree at the Canberra School of Music graduating with a double degree - the first student to achieve this honour. After graduating in 1984 with a double degree majoring in Cello Performance and Composition, Leek moved to Sydney
where he free-lanced as a cellist and as a composer - getting more work as a music copyist than anything else in the initial stages. As a music copyist he was able to work for many of the active composers around Sydney at that time. He also worked as a music copyist and arranger for Musica Viva Australia
, the Australian Broadcasting Commission, and the Midday Show.
. When he resumed his freelance career as a composer in 1986, he worked extensively in theatre, dance, education and community music across Australia and undertook numerous residencies in schools, universities, community groups, orchestras, choirs and theatre companies. Some of his residencies have included the National Music Camp (2 years) St Peters Lutheran College
(4 x 3 months), Sydney Grammar School
, Sydney Youth Orchestra
, the Arena Theatre Company (Melbourne) and Alice Springs Junior Singers. He has written widely on composition and contributed to numerous books and treatise on this subject area. Prior to setting up The Australian Voices
, Leek created the innovative and experimental ensemble vOiCeArT who became quite well known in Australia for their choral and musical improvisational performance events in concert halls, theatres, galleries, city malls and other public spaces across Australia. Many of the members from vOiCeArT are now leading composers and performers both in Australia and overseas.
Leek has been described as a pioneer of composer residency schemes in the Australian music community, and his involvement with numerous groups across Australia has strongly influenced the nature and directions of new Australian choral music. He has also been described as Australia's best known choral composer. In 1993 Leek, with Graeme Morton
, founded The Australian Voices
, an ensemble of young adult singers who work to promote Australian composers and change the landscape of choral music in Australia. Leek left The Australian Voices in 2009, leaving Gordon Hamilton
as Artistic Director.
Over the past 20 years Leek has worked with ensembles including The Sydney Children's Choir, AusDance, Gondwana Voices, St Peters Chorale at St. Peters Lutheran College (Brisbane), Glenn Ellyn Children's Choir (USA), The Australian Youth Orchestra
, Opera Queensland
, Tapiola Children's Choir (Finland), Taipei American School (Taiwan), Leeds Girls' High School
(UK) and The Formosa Singers (Taiwan).
Stephen Leek's music is published by Morton Music, Oxford University Press
, Boosey & Hawkes
and more recently self-published at stephenleek.com. For many years Leek taught Composition and Improvisation sessionally at the Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University. In 2009 he left this position to fulfill to a greater capacity his hectic freelance schedule of commissions, workshops, residencies, teaching and conducting engagements, as well as his new position on the Board of the International Federation for Choral Music
, a project of UNESCO
. At the same time, he relocated from Brisbane to a pristine coastal area on the Hawkesbury River
, north of Sydney.
In 2003 Leek was awarded the prestigious Robert Edler International Prize for Choral Music. Leek was cited by a distinguished international jury for his ‘decisive influence’ on both the Australian music scene and the international choral community as a composer and conductor.
In 2004, his composition die dunkle Erde was commissioned by the Brisbane Writers Festival and in 2006 was selected by the Australian Broadcasting Commission to represent Australia at the UNESCO International Rostrum of Composers in Paris. Based on texts by the contemporary Brisbane-based indigenous poet Samuel Wagan Watson
, the work is scored for speaker, didgeridoo and voices.
In 2005 Leek was Composer in Residence at the Marktoberdorf Musik Akademy in Bavaria, Germany, and guest conductor with the acclaimed Formosa Choir in concerts in Taiwan.
In 2006, Leek presented workshop sessions and concerts throughout Australia and overseas including the Australian National Conference of Orff Schulwerk. The ISME (International Society for Music Education Conference) in Malaysia and at the World CHoir Games in China.
In 2007 he fulfilled numerous commissions and undertook several guest conducting positions around the world including work and concerts with The Taiwan National Youth Choir.
In 2008 he was awarded the Sounds Australian Award for Best Choral Composition of 2007/8. He was also a member of the international jury at the World Choir Games in Austria and was a contributing composer to the World Sun Songs Project with the Kamer... choir in Latvia.
Early life
Leek was born in SydneySydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
, Australia in 1959, lived in Brisbane
Brisbane
Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...
from 1964 through 1969, and then spent the rest of his childhood in Canberra
Canberra
Canberra is the capital city of Australia. With a population of over 345,000, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The city is located at the northern end of the Australian Capital Territory , south-west of Sydney, and north-east of Melbourne...
. After coming late to music, Leek took up piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
and percussion, and later the cello
Cello
The cello is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is a member of the violin family of musical instruments, which also includes the violin, viola, and double bass. Old forms of the instrument in the Baroque era are baryton and viol .A person who plays a cello is...
as a teenager, and became active as a member of many musical organisations including the Canberra Children's Choir, Canberra Youth Orchestra, Australian Youth Orchestra
Australian Youth Orchestra
The Australian Youth Orchestra is an Australian organisation for young musicians. It operates the flagship Youth Orchestra as well as Camerata Australia, Young Australian Concert Artists and Young Symphonists. It also runs several other activities including master classes, outreach programmes and...
, Canberra Symphony Orchestra
Canberra Symphony Orchestra
Canberra Symphony Orchestra is the principal professional orchestra of the Australian Capital Territory based in Canberra, the national capital of Australia....
and his own vocal group, VOCE. He attended Torrens Primary School, Melrose High School
Melrose High School (Canberra)
Melrose High School is a government school located in the Canberra suburb of Pearce. It serves years 7 through to 10. The school's name is taken from an old property that was located in the Woden area, which in turn was named after the town called Melrose in Scotland...
and Phillip College (now Canberra College).
Following school and after a period of working in Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
, Leek returned to Canberra
Canberra
Canberra is the capital city of Australia. With a population of over 345,000, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The city is located at the northern end of the Australian Capital Territory , south-west of Sydney, and north-east of Melbourne...
in 1979 and commenced a Bachelor of Arts (Music) degree at the Canberra School of Music graduating with a double degree - the first student to achieve this honour. After graduating in 1984 with a double degree majoring in Cello Performance and Composition, Leek moved to Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
where he free-lanced as a cellist and as a composer - getting more work as a music copyist than anything else in the initial stages. As a music copyist he was able to work for many of the active composers around Sydney at that time. He also worked as a music copyist and arranger for Musica Viva Australia
Musica Viva Australia
Musica Viva Australia is the oldest independent performing arts organisation in Australia and the world's largest entrepreneur of chamber music. It was formed in 1945 in Sydney by violist Richard Goldner...
, the Australian Broadcasting Commission, and the Midday Show.
Choral work and composition
His early professional career began as full-time composer and musician for the then Tasmanian Dance Company (now TASDANCE) for 3 years. During this time he worked with many of Australia's leading choreographers and dancers in the creation on new work and also in the innovative Dance in Education program of the company. Much of this time was spent "on the road" with the company working in small towns, schools and in community centres around TasmaniaTasmania
Tasmania is an Australian island and state. It is south of the continent, separated by Bass Strait. The state includes the island of Tasmania—the 26th largest island in the world—and the surrounding islands. The state has a population of 507,626 , of whom almost half reside in the greater Hobart...
. When he resumed his freelance career as a composer in 1986, he worked extensively in theatre, dance, education and community music across Australia and undertook numerous residencies in schools, universities, community groups, orchestras, choirs and theatre companies. Some of his residencies have included the National Music Camp (2 years) St Peters Lutheran College
St Peters Lutheran College
St Peters Lutheran College is an independent, co-educational, Lutheran, day and boarding school, situated on a campus in Indooroopilly, an inner suburb of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia....
(4 x 3 months), Sydney Grammar School
Sydney Grammar School
Sydney Grammar School is an independent, non-denominational, selective, day school for boys, located in Darlinghurst, Edgecliff and St Ives, all suburbs of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia....
, Sydney Youth Orchestra
Sydney Youth Orchestra
The Sydney Youth Orchestra , is one of Sydney's premier youth orchestras and is the flagship orchestra of the Sydney Youth Orchestras family. The SYO consists of around 100 skilled young musicians residing around Sydney....
, the Arena Theatre Company (Melbourne) and Alice Springs Junior Singers. He has written widely on composition and contributed to numerous books and treatise on this subject area. Prior to setting up The Australian Voices
The Australian Voices
The Australian Voices are a choral ensemble based in Brisbane, Australia.In 1993 Graeme Morton and Stephen Leek founded The Australian Voices, an ensemble of young adult singers who work to promote Australian composers. The Australian Voices has performed and promoted new Australian music...
, Leek created the innovative and experimental ensemble vOiCeArT who became quite well known in Australia for their choral and musical improvisational performance events in concert halls, theatres, galleries, city malls and other public spaces across Australia. Many of the members from vOiCeArT are now leading composers and performers both in Australia and overseas.
Leek has been described as a pioneer of composer residency schemes in the Australian music community, and his involvement with numerous groups across Australia has strongly influenced the nature and directions of new Australian choral music. He has also been described as Australia's best known choral composer. In 1993 Leek, with Graeme Morton
Graeme Morton
Graeme Morton is an Australian composer and conductor, currently directing the St Peters Chorale and Brisbane Chamber Choir. With these choirs, he has produced numerous recordings. In 1993 he and Stephen Leek created The Australian Voices.-References:...
, founded The Australian Voices
The Australian Voices
The Australian Voices are a choral ensemble based in Brisbane, Australia.In 1993 Graeme Morton and Stephen Leek founded The Australian Voices, an ensemble of young adult singers who work to promote Australian composers. The Australian Voices has performed and promoted new Australian music...
, an ensemble of young adult singers who work to promote Australian composers and change the landscape of choral music in Australia. Leek left The Australian Voices in 2009, leaving Gordon Hamilton
Gordon Hamilton (composer)
Gordon Hamilton is an Australian composer and conductor. Since 2009, he has been the Artistic Director of The Australian Voices. He was born in Newcastle, lived and worked in Bremen, Germany for five years as a conductor and composer and he now lives in Brisbane.He studied in Australia at the...
as Artistic Director.
Over the past 20 years Leek has worked with ensembles including The Sydney Children's Choir, AusDance, Gondwana Voices, St Peters Chorale at St. Peters Lutheran College (Brisbane), Glenn Ellyn Children's Choir (USA), The Australian Youth Orchestra
Australian Youth Orchestra
The Australian Youth Orchestra is an Australian organisation for young musicians. It operates the flagship Youth Orchestra as well as Camerata Australia, Young Australian Concert Artists and Young Symphonists. It also runs several other activities including master classes, outreach programmes and...
, Opera Queensland
Opera Queensland
Opera Queensland is an opera company based in Brisbane, Queensland. The company was founded with funding from the Queensland State Government in 1981, then under the name Lyric Opera of Queensland, after the Queensland Opera Company was closed in December 1980.It is after Opera Australia the second...
, Tapiola Children's Choir (Finland), Taipei American School (Taiwan), Leeds Girls' High School
Leeds Girls' High School
Leeds Girls' High School was an independent, selective, fee paying school for girls aged 3–18 located in Headingley, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England...
(UK) and The Formosa Singers (Taiwan).
Stephen Leek's music is published by Morton Music, Oxford University Press
Oxford University Press
Oxford University Press is the largest university press in the world. It is a department of the University of Oxford and is governed by a group of 15 academics appointed by the Vice-Chancellor known as the Delegates of the Press. They are headed by the Secretary to the Delegates, who serves as...
, Boosey & Hawkes
Boosey & Hawkes
Boosey & Hawkes is a British music publisher purported to be the largest specialist classical music publisher in the world. Until 2003, it was also a major manufacturer of brass, string and wind musical instruments....
and more recently self-published at stephenleek.com. For many years Leek taught Composition and Improvisation sessionally at the Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University. In 2009 he left this position to fulfill to a greater capacity his hectic freelance schedule of commissions, workshops, residencies, teaching and conducting engagements, as well as his new position on the Board of the International Federation for Choral Music
International Federation for Choral Music
International Federation for Choral Music – IFCM, is an international association founded in 1982 to facilitate communication and exchange between choral musicians throughout the world...
, a project of UNESCO
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...
. At the same time, he relocated from Brisbane to a pristine coastal area on the Hawkesbury River
Hawkesbury River
The Hawkesbury River, also known as Deerubbun, is one of the major rivers of the coastal region of New South Wales, Australia. The Hawkesbury River and its tributaries virtually encircle the metropolitan region of Sydney.-Geography:-Course:...
, north of Sydney.
Acclaim and awards
Amongst his numerous accolades and awards, Leek has been the recipient of a Sounds Australian National Award for the Most Distinguished Contribution to Australian Fine Music by an Individual in 1991, A Sounds Australian National Award for Best Composition in 1990, an Australia Council Fellowship, a Churchill Fellowship, and the Australian Federation Medal.In 2003 Leek was awarded the prestigious Robert Edler International Prize for Choral Music. Leek was cited by a distinguished international jury for his ‘decisive influence’ on both the Australian music scene and the international choral community as a composer and conductor.
In 2004, his composition die dunkle Erde was commissioned by the Brisbane Writers Festival and in 2006 was selected by the Australian Broadcasting Commission to represent Australia at the UNESCO International Rostrum of Composers in Paris. Based on texts by the contemporary Brisbane-based indigenous poet Samuel Wagan Watson
Samuel Wagan Watson
Samuel Wagan Watson is a contemporary Indigenous Australian poet.Samuel Wagan Watson was born in Brisbane, his family is Irish, German, Bundjalung and Birri Gubba...
, the work is scored for speaker, didgeridoo and voices.
In 2005 Leek was Composer in Residence at the Marktoberdorf Musik Akademy in Bavaria, Germany, and guest conductor with the acclaimed Formosa Choir in concerts in Taiwan.
In 2006, Leek presented workshop sessions and concerts throughout Australia and overseas including the Australian National Conference of Orff Schulwerk. The ISME (International Society for Music Education Conference) in Malaysia and at the World CHoir Games in China.
In 2007 he fulfilled numerous commissions and undertook several guest conducting positions around the world including work and concerts with The Taiwan National Youth Choir.
In 2008 he was awarded the Sounds Australian Award for Best Choral Composition of 2007/8. He was also a member of the international jury at the World Choir Games in Austria and was a contributing composer to the World Sun Songs Project with the Kamer... choir in Latvia.