Leopold Godowsky (1870-1938) was a Polish pianist, generally known as the infamous arranger of Chopin Etudes that 'updated' the traditionally 'difficult enough' Etudes into downright impossible. What the general public perhaps does not realise is Leopold Godowsky the Arranger was to become a Composer in his own right later in his career. He was genuinely interested in the polyphonic possibilities of left hand alone. Godowsky the composer was self-taught, by reading the Taneyev Counterpoint textbook, that lead to a culmination of infinite possibilities of polyphonic voice-leading that are compact and concise enough to fit into the tiny confinement of five fingers.

It is a popular myth that Godowsky's writing is regarded as particularly difficult just because he could do it: what is missing is Godowsky the Teacher: you can see the teacher in his endless variety of fingerings that human hands are capable to physically play. It is actually one of the most idiomatic and kind of pianistic writings in the entire repertoire.

'Suite' is a Baroque Dance Suite reimagined by the interwar pianist Leopold Godowsky of the Belle Epoque era. Traditional dance rhythms are fused with Post-Romantic chromatic harmonies.

'Prelude and Fugue on BACH' is a tribute to good old JS. Bach's name which is invoked literally as the name B A C H is spelt at the end of the Prelude and throughout the Fugue for three voices.

DJ Ha is a pianist who studied with Alexandra Vinokurov and Aleksei Nasedkin. In his youth he was injured with a stroke, but thanks to discovering Godowsky, he resumed playing, this time with left hand alone. Instead of focusing on what he missed (use of right hand, accompanying, chamber music), he now makes up in teaching and composing.

Composer biographies

In 2007, Andrián Pertout completed a PhD degree at the University of Melbourne. Composition awards include the Jean Bogan Prize, ‘John Cage Centennial’ Wolf Museum of Music and Art Composition Prize (USA), Friends & Enemies of New Music Composition Prize (USA), Louisville Orchestra Prize (USA) and APRA Award for Orchestral Composition. He is currently the Vice-President of the Melbourne Composers’ League, Member of the Executive Committee/Australian Delegate of the Asian Composers’ League, and International Coordinator of the PUENTE Festival Interoceánico (Valparaíso, Chile). As well as being a freelance composer, he additionally works as composition lecturer, teacher, supervisor and examiner at various institutions at Bachelor, Masters and PhD levels. In 2019, he was Visiting Professor at Aichi Prefectural University of the Arts (Japan). His music has been performed in over fifty countries by orchestras that include the Melbourne and Tasmanian Symphony Orchestras, The Louisville Orchestra, Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, Orquesta de Cámara Simón Bolívar, Tatarstan National Symphony Orchestra, Uzbekistan National Symphony Orchestra, Orquestra Petrobrás Sinfônica, Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de México, Vietnam National Opera and Theatre Choir and Symphony Orchestra, Orquesta Sinfónica de Puerto Rico, Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de Chile, Logos Foundation Robot Orchestra, University of Hong Kong Gamelan Orchestra, La Chapelle Musicale de Tournai.


Johanna Selleck is a composer, musicologist, and flautist. She holds a PhD from the University of Melbourne, where she is currently an honorary fellow. Her compositions have been performed by internationally renowned artists including in Australia, Europe, the USA, Japan, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Singapore, Malta, Israel, and the USA. Current commissions include an orchestral piece for the 2023 PUENTE Festival Interoceánico in Chile. As a flautist, she performs regularly as a soloist and in chamber music, particularly in collaboration with harpist Jacinta Dennett and at Melbourne Composers’ League concerts. Johanna’s research focuses on Australian music and cultural history and is published widely including by Cambridge Scholars Press, Lexington Books, Palgrave Macmillan, and this year, Hollitzer Verlag, Vienna. Publishers of her music include Lyrebird Press and the Australian Music Centre. Her recordings appear on labels including Move Records, Tall Poppies, Albany (USA) and Navona (USA). Johanna’s awards for composition include the Percy Grainger Prize, the Albert Maggs Composition Award, and the ANZVS Viola Composition Competition.  She is currently undertaking a Creative Residency in collaboration with First Nations artist Amos Roach at the University of Melbourne.  


In recent years Sydney born composer Alan Holley (b.1954) has been a featured composer at numerous music festivals and received composer profile concerts in Croatia, Serbia, Albania and Australia. The trumpet concerto Doppler’s Web (2005) written for soloist Paul Goodchild, A Line of Stars (2007) and A Shaft of Light (2015) for oboe and orchestra with Shefali Pryor as soloist were commissioned and performed in the Concert Hall of the Opera House by the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. Loaded with Dream (2011) was commissioned by the Sydney Symphony for performance by the Fellows. In 2018 And the rain received numerous performances by the Australian Chamber Choir in Victoria and Sydney. This choir then commissioned and performed Time Passages in Australia, Denmark, Germany, Belgium and England on their 2019 tours. In 2024 Alan returns to the Balkans and to Italy for music festivals and composer residencies.

His works are now published by Kookaburra Music and recorded on HAMMERINGS RECORDS.

Described by critics as ‘outstanding’, ‘excellent’, ’sensitive’, ‘perfect’, Sydney based pianist Katherine Day returns to St Stephens with a programme of romantic favourites from Liszt to Prokofiev. 

 

Katherine Day grew up in the small town of Little River in rural Victoria, beginning her piano studies aged four with Scottish pianist Irene Shaw. She went on to study at University High School, the Victorian College of the Arts, and the Royal College of Music. Katherine attended the first international summer school of music at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in 1991, and toured Europe in 1997 with Geminiani Orchestra. Katherine has worked at the University of Melbourne, the Victorian College of the Arts, and the Australian National University. She has performed as concerto soloist and orchestral pianist with many orchestras standards like Rhapsody in Blue and lesser known works like Concerto in E Flat by Franz Zaver Mozart. Katherine performed as a solo recitalist this year for the Montague Visiting Artist series in Narooma,  the Sapphire Coast Music Society in Wolumla and will be appearing in two weeks for Berrmia’s Vivace series. Aside from solo and concerto recitals, Katherine also performs extensively as an art song collaborator and associate artist, appearing alongside famous artists like David Hobson, David Pereira, Radovan Vlatkovic, Alteouise DeVaughan, Bill Howard and more. Her recent concerts include performances of Beethoven's “Archduke Trio” and Mendelssohn’s Piano Trio in D Minor in Cairns and Port Douglas, concerts for Sydney’s Wagner Society, a recital for Art Song Canberra with Sarahlouise Owens, and in Melbourne for Vienna based violinist Russell MacGreggor. Katherine has recitals scheduled in Adelaide and Sydney with flute players Kathryn Moorhead and James Fortune, and she will be appearing in masterclasses and recitals with international artists in the 2023 Australian Flute Festival.

A graduate in organ performance from Sydney Conservatorium, Heather Moen-Boyd has been organist and choir director at Scots Kirk Presbyterian Church in Mosman since 2006. In March she coordinated a successful ecumenical Hymnfest involving churches throughout the Mosman- Neutral Bay area. She was a guest organist at the recent New England Bach Festival. 

In addition to giving solo recitals in Sydney and beyond, Heather has accompanied many church and community choirs in major oratorio presentations.

 In 2021 she was appointed organist to Macquarie University for their graduation ceremonies.

She is pianist with several groups bringing music to residents of aged care facilities, and in recent times has been playing piano in dance bands. In addition to a private teaching studio in Sydney’s Hills district, Heather teaches piano at Georges River Grammar School, and is an examiner with the Australian and New Zealand Cultural Arts.

She also enjoys choral singing and is a member of the Mater Chorale.