Liza Lim

Liza Lim (born 30 August 1966) is an Australian composer. Lim writes concert music (chamber and orchestral works) as well as music theatre and has collaborated with artists on a number of installation and video projects. Her work reflects her interests in Asian ritual culture, the aesthetics of Aboriginal art and shows the influence of non-Western music performance practice.
Early life and education
Liza Lim was born in Perth, Western Australia, to Chinese parents. They were doctors who during her early years spent long periods working and studying in Brunei, and she was sent to boarding school. At the age of 11, she was encouraged by her teachers at Presbyterian Ladies' College, Melbourne to turn from piano and violin to composition. She has said that she "owes everything to them". Lim earned her Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Queensland, her Master of Music from the University of Melbourne (1996), and her Bachelor of Arts from the Victorian College of the Arts (1986). She has studied composition in Melbourne with Richard David Hames, Riccardo Formosa, and in Amsterdam with Ton de Leeuw.
Career
Lim has been a guest lecturer at the Darmstadt Summer School, the University of California, San Diego, Cornell University, Getty Research Institute, major Australian universities and at the IRCAM Agora Festival. She was a lecturer of composition at Melbourne University in 1991. Lim was the guest curator for the twilight concert series of the 2006 Adelaide Festival of Arts.
Lim has been commissioned by some of the most eminent performers in the world including the Los Angeles Philharmonic (for whom she wrote Ecstatic Architecture for the inaugural season of the Frank Gehry-designed Walt Disney Concert Hall), Ensemble InterContemporain, Ensemble Modern, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Arditti String Quartet and the Cikada Ensemble. Her work has featured at festivals such as , MaerzMusik at the Berliner Festspiele, Venice Biennale, Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival and all the major Australian festivals.
Since 1986, Lim has worked extensively with members of the ELISION Ensemble; she is married to Daryl Buckley, its artistic director. In 2005, Lim was appointed the composer-in-residence with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra for two years. Among other works, the orchestra commissioned—jointly with the radio station Bayerischer Rundfunk—her work The Compass; in its premiere performance on 23 August 2006 at the Sydney Opera House it was conducted by Alexander Briger, William Barton played the didgeridoo.
Sponsored by the German Academic Exchange Service, she spent one year in 2007/2008 as artist-in-residence in Berlin where she developed her third opera, The Navigator, inspired by Tristan and Isolde to a libretto by Patricia Sykes. She was appointed professor in composition at the University of Huddersfield in March 2008.
In March 2017 her appointment to the composition unit at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music was announced.
Selected works
Stage works
1991–93 The Oresteia. A Memory Theatre, opera
1994–95 Bar-do'i-thos-grol, 7-night installation performance based on The Tibetan Book of the Dead, artist Domenico de Clario
1991–99 Yuè Lìng Jié (Moon Spirit Feasting), A Chinese ritual street opera, libretto by Beth Yahp
2005 Glass House Mountains, installation work with artist Judy Watson
2008 The Navigator, opera for 5 singers, 16 instruments and electronics, libretto by Patricia Sykes
Orchestra works
1994–95 Sri-Vidya, Utterances of Adoration for choir and orchestra
1996 The Alchemical Wedding for orchestra (22 instruments)
2001–02 Ecstatic Architecture, commissioned for the inaugural season at the Walt Disney Concert Hall
2004 Immer Fliessender (Ever Flowing), a companion-piece for Gustav Mahler's Ninth Symphony
2005 Flying Banner, "Fanfare" for orchestra, after Wang To
2005–06 The Compass for orchestra with flute and didgeridoo soloists
2010 Pearl, Ochre, Hair String for orchestra
2010 The Guest for orchestra with recorder soloist
Ensemble works
1988–89 Garden of Earthly Desire for flute, oboe, clarinet, electric guitar, mandolin, harp, violin, viola, violoncello, contrabass, percussion
1989 Voodoo Child for soprano solo, flute/piccolo, clarinet, violin, violoncello, trombone, piano, percussion
1990 Diabolical Birds for piccolo, bass clarinet, piano, violin, violoncello, vibraphone
1993 Li Shang Yin for coloratura soprano, 15 instruments
1995 Street of Crocodiles for flute, oboe, alto saxophone, alto trombone, cimbalom/cymbal, violin, viola, violoncello, baroque violoncello
1999 Veil for flute/bass flute, bass clarinet, trumpet in C, percussion, piano, violin, violoncello
2001 Machine for Contacting the Dead for twenty-seven instruments
2005 Songs Found in Dream for oboe, bass clarinet, alto sax, trumpet, 2 percussion, viola, cello
2005 Mother Tongue for soprano and 15 instruments, poems by Patricia Sykes
2006 Shimmer Songs for string quartet, harp, 3 percussion
2006 City of Falling Angels for 12 percussion
2007 Sensorium for soprano, C-tenor recorders, baroque harp, viola d'amore
2010–11 Tongue of the Invisible, a work for improvising pianist, baritone and 16 musicians
2014 Winding Bodies: 3 Knots for alto flute, bass clarinet, piano, percussion, violin, viola, violoncello and double bass
Chamber music
1996 Inguz (Fertility) for clarinet in A, violoncello
1997 The Heart's Ear for flute/piccolo, clarinet, violin I, violin II, viola, violoncello
1999 Sonorous Bodies for koto and voice solo, in collaboration with video artist Judith Wright
2004 In the Shadow's Light for string quartet, commissioned by Festival d'automne à Paris for the Kairos Quartett
2004–05 The Quickening for soprano and qin, commissioned by the Festival d'Automne à Paris
2008 Ochred String for oboe, viola, cello, double bass
2013–14 The Weaver's Knot for string quartet
Solo works
1992 Amulet for viola solo
1997 Philtre for Hardanger fiddle solo 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 solo instrument
Awards and nominations
APRA Classical Music Awards
The APRA Classical Music Awards are presented annually by Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) and Australian Music Centre (AMC).
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|rowspan="2"| 2007 || Flying Banner (After Wang To) (Liza Lim) – Sydney Symphony, Gianluigi Gelmetti (conductor) || Orchestral Work of the Year ||
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|Liza Lim – Sydney Symphony Composer Residency || Outstanding Contribution by an Individual ||
Don Banks Music Award
The Don Banks Music Award was established in 1984 to publicly honour a senior artist of high distinction who has made an outstanding and sustained contribution to music in Australia. It was founded by the Australia Council in honour of Don Banks, Australian composer, performer and the first chair of its music board.
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| 2018
| Liza Lim
| Don Banks Music Award
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Other awards
1996 Australia Council fellowship
1996 (inaugural) Young Australian Creative Fellowship
2002 APRA Classical Music Award (Best Composition)
2004 Paul Lowin Award for Ecstatic Architecture
2023 Member of the Order of Australia in the King's Birthday Honours for "significant service to the performing arts as a music composer and academic"
References
Composer's page on ELISION Ensemble website
External links
Australian Music Centre: biography, catalogue of works, recordings, digital samples, articles
Recordings at Amazon
Liza Lim's new opera at the Opéra national de Paris
Publisher's website: Liza Lim at Ricordi
1966 births
20th-century classical composers
21st-century classical composers
APRA Award winners
Members of the Order of Australia
Australian expatriates in Brunei
Australian expatriates in England
Australian expatriates in Germany
Australian expatriates in the United States
Australian women classical composers
Australian opera composers
Women opera composers
Living people
Victorian College of the Arts alumni
University of Melbourne alumni
University of Melbourne women
Academic staff of the Sydney Conservatorium of Music
20th-century women composers
21st-century women composers