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Glen Carter-Varney : Associate Artist

'...rich and colourful life experiences in a variety of different genres merge together without boundaries and thus elements of romantic, impressionist and contemporary styles blend in peace and harmony in the music...'

Random Audio Sample: The Artamidae (solo piano) by Glen Carter-Varney, from the CD artamidae


Photo of Glen Carter-Varney

Glennis Carter-Varney is an Australian composer, pianist and educator, formerly Head of Contemporary Keyboard studies and lecturer in piano at the Melba Memorial Conservatorium in Melbourne, and Music Director at The Scots School in Albury New South Wales. She also taught class music at Methodist Ladies College in Melbourne and directed her own private music schools in Melbourne and Brisbane. She has produced musicals, trained choirs and madrigal groups, performed as solo pianist and recording artist, and her experience is wide and varied.

Glen studied piano with Waldemar Seidel and composition with John Ingram and Bernard de Oliviera at the Melbourne University Conservatorium. She later studied piano with Norah Newby at the Royal Academy in London.

Glen has given concerts and workshops in the USA and Australia and has several recordings to her credit which have been used in programs for ABC and commercial radio. She also worked as a session musician accompanying other Australian artists in the recording studios in Melbourne and has given many radio recitals for the ABC from the Melbourne and Sydney studios. As part of a Duo piano partnership with her husband, she was featured in the top-rating television shows. She is currently an examiner for the Australian Music Examinations Board and the Australian Guild of Music Education and has conducted the workshops for Contemporary Popular Music for AMEB throughout Queensland.

Carter-Varney has written, published and recorded a collection of music for the piano. Summer Dreaming - a suite of five pieces - was inspired by the painting entitled The Spirits Within by Australian Artist Roger Saunders. The Artamidae, Sonic Fantasy and Shades of Blue were written for the Keys National Festival for Australian Music and were performed by award winner Andrew Visser at the Festival held at the Brisbane Convention Centre in 2003 and 2004. These piano pieces have now been published in an album entitled The Recital Collection and have become popular recital and examination repertoire. Along with pieces from the books Kool Piano, Kool Shades of Blue and Kool Jazzy Tunes many of Glen's piano works have been included in the various Australian Examination Syllabi.

Art has been an inspiration for much of the music, and art works by Australian Artists have been used for the covers with designs organised by Kathleen Tulley, former Gallery Director Buderim Queensland.


Glen Carter-Varney — current to July 2018

Selected Commissions

  Work Commission Details
Sonic fantasy (solo piano) (2004) Commissioned by Sonya Visser for The Keys National Piano Competition 2004
Shades of blue : for piano solo (2003) Commissioned by Alayna Reeve
The Artamidae (solo piano) (2003) Commissioned by Sonya Visser for Andrew Visser