Maria Grenfell
Composer (TAS)
The music of composer Maria Grenfell (b. 1969) has been described as “expansive, effusive and energetic”, “magic,” “refreshingly groovy” and “brilliantly crafted.” Born in Malaysia, she completed composition studies in Christchurch, New Zealand before undertaking further studies at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, and the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. Maria Grenfell’s work takes much of its influence from poetic, literary and visual sources and from non-Western music and literature.
Winner of the Tasmanian State Award for Ten Suns Ablaze in 2013, and Spirals in 2018 at the Australian Art Music Awards, Maria’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. Maria composed her first film score for the documentary Quoll Farm in 2020. Recorded by the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, it was a finalist for an Australian Guild of Screen Composition 2021 award for Best Music for a Documentary. In 2023 she completed her second film score, Living with Devils, also for the TSO.
Maria mentors emerging composers through various programs including the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra’s Australian Composers’ School, the Composing Women program (Sydney Conservatorium), and the Australian Society for Music Education (ASME) Young Composer Program. She has undertaken two international composer residencies: in 2013 she was Visiting Professor of Composition at Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, Texas, and in Fall 2019 she was Kerr Composer in Residence at Oberlin Conservatory, Ohio.
Maria lives in Hobart with her husband, guitarist David Malone, and they have two children. She is an Associate Professor and Co-ordinator of Composition at the University of Tasmania Conservatorium of Music.
Image supplied by artist
