Like many composers I really enjoy writing music for a specific performer or event. Here are some works I've been asked to write.
Choir:
...where eucalypts green-tip the sky was specially composed for the Perth Discovery Choir's 10th Anniversary concert in 1999. PDC's conductor asked me to take a few rehearsals for him while he was away, and also to write something new for them. I suggested a topic and went about collecting suitable poems. My "Call for Poems" produced dozens to choose from, and I was able to compose the music very quickly. ...wegtts is song cycle for choir, piano and speaking voices featuring thirteen poems by seven Australian poets. Published by HMP.
Film:
(Defying) GravityCow Field (winner of Audience Prize)
Two sound tracks for annonymous entries in the Artrage Festival's Pandora's Box Super 8 Film Festival 2000, each three minutes long. Under the rules of the competition filmmakers and composers or bands were randomly matched, like a blind date. There was no communication between us whatsoever, so all I could go on was my own reading of the silent films. The composers were allowed four days to view the video tapes, and then given six hours in a recording studio, and up to six hours for mixing.
Theatre:
The Hamburger ManIncidental music to the play of the same name by my late father, John Joseph Jones. The tape was recorded at the Callaway Auditorium, University of WA by Allan Meyer, clarinets. The tape has house music for the first thirteen minutes, followed by the incidential music. First performed at the Hayman Theatre, Curtin University, circa 1982, directed by Tony Nicholls.
Special Occasion:
Fanfare and Interlude for Brass Sextet (two trumpets, two French horns, trombone & tuba). A special celebration in the Octagon Theatre in 1982 to mark the twenty-fifth anniversary of the founding of the Faculty of Medicine, University of Western Australia. The evening included a Son et Lumiere and addresses from the Minister for Health and others.