Maria Grenfell
Maria Grenfell (born 1969) is an Australian music teacher and composer of New Zealand origin. Early life and education. Maria Grenfell was born in Petaling Jaya, Malaysia in 1969. She grew up and was educated in Christchurch, New Zealand, where she graduated from the University of Canterbury with a Master of Music degree. She subsequently went to the USA, where she completed a Master of Arts at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, and a doctorate from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, while also lecturing in music there. While in the USA  she was taught by Stephen Hartke, Erica Muhl, James Hopkins, and Morten Lauridsen in Los Angeles, and Joseph Schwantner and Samuel Adler in Rochester, New York. Work. Grenfell allows her work to be influenced by poetic, literary and visual sources but also by non-Western music and literature. Her music has been described as “expansive, effusive and energetic”, “magic”, “refreshingly groovy” and "brilliantly crafted." Her chamber works are performed by musicians such as the Australia Ensemble, The Seymour Group, the Vienna Piano Trio, the New Zealand Trio, the Esperance Trio, Stellar Collective, and Antipoduo in the Netherlands. Her orchestral music  has been performed by most of the orchestras in Australia and New Zealand. Grenfell’s music is broadcast regularly on ABC Classic FM in Australia and Concert FM in New Zealand, and is released on Kiwi-Pacific and Trust CDs. Her works are available from the Australian Music Centre, SOUNZ New Zealand Music Centre, Opus House Press and Reed Music. In 2020 Grenfell composed the score for the ABC documentary "Quoll Farm". It was recorded with performers from the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra. Awards and career. Grenfell has been a violinist with the Christchurch Symphony and the New Zealand Youth Orchestra , and has performed bowed piano with the University of Southern California Percussion Ensemble. Her awards include the Jimmy McHugh Composition Prize and the Halsey Stevens Prize from the University of Southern California, the Composers’ Association of New Zealand Trust Fund Award and the University of Otago’s prestigious Philip Neill Memorial Prize. Winner of the Tasmanian State Award for Ten Suns Ablaze in 2013, and Spirals in 2018 at the Australian Art Music Awards, Grenfell's orchestral music has been commissioned, performed or recorded by all the major symphony orchestras in Australia, and her chamber music is played regularly around  the world. In Spring of 2013 Grenfell was a Visiting Professor at Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, Texas. In the Fall of 2019, Grenfell served as Kerr Composer-in-Residence at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. As of 2021 she is an Associate Professor at the Conservatorium of Music at the University of Tasmania. Personal life. Grenfell lives in Hobart, Australia, with her husband, guitarist David Malone, and their two children.