Melita White : Represented Artist
Artist website: http://www.melitawhite.com
Artist website: http://https://soundcloud.com/melita-white
Melita White was born in Adelaide, where she studied and worked
as a composer and musician until 2000. White was a member of
Adelaide's experimental composer-performer group ACME New Music
Co. from 1993 to 1995. This experience provided non-academic,
intensive training in experimental composition and contemporary
performance, and also included periods of study with composer
Raymond Chapman Smith.
In 1995 White founded the new music ensemble Auricle and was
artistic director, concert manager, composer and performer with
the ensemble until 2001. Auricle was one of the most active new
music ensembles in Adelaide at this time, and the group premiered
many new works by Australian composers. With Auricle, White
developed innovative, themed concerts, including a touring
program of works by Australian women composers. Auricle also
provided employment for dozens of young, talented Adelaide
musicians, introducing them to contemporary repertoire and
enabling them to work directly with composers.
In 2000, White took part in a two-day composition workshop with
composer Philip Glass in Perth. Soon after, she moved to
Melbourne to study composition at Monash University with
Catherine Schieve and Thomas Reiner. White completed a Bachelor
of Arts (Honours) majoring in composition and a Master of Arts
(Music Composition). She received numerous scholarships and
awards, including the Australian Postgraduate Award, an
Australian Federation of University Women award, and the Monash
University Dean's Scholars Award.
White has written instrumental and electroacoustic works in a
range of styles. These include experimental works, her own
'Neoplastic' style of music (based on the work of artist Piet
Mondrian), twelve-tone music, and musique concrète. The use of
text and the voice have also featured prominently in White's
recent music.
Her focus since 2002 has been on researching women's music,
developing theories about feminist methods of composition, and
creating a body of feminist works. These foci formed the basis of
her Masters folio in composition.
Her most recent work is concerned with feminist and personal
themes and is built upon conceptual foundations. She enjoys
finding sonic equivalences for what are often considered
extramusical ideas. White believes that the elements of a musical
composition are inextricably linked to, and are an expression of,
the society in which it was created. She sees art and composition
as powerful tools that can bring about personal and social
awareness and change.
Significant recent works include Pope Joan, an
electroacoustic piece about the life of a female pope; The
Third Day for two alto recorders, a work based on a text in
Nushu, a secret Chinese women's language; and Traces, an
electroacoustic work about her father's experience of Alzheimer's
disease. White received an Arts Development Grant from Arts
Victoria to create Traces in 2008.
White's music has been performed at the Barossa International
Music Festival, the Australian Women's Music Festival, at the
London Portrait Gallery, and the 2008 Beijing International
Congress of Women in Music. Both ACME and Auricle performed her
music extensively. Her compositions have also been performed by
renowned Australian flautist Geoffrey Collins, The Firm, Halcyon,
The Seraphim Trio, and re-sound new music ensemble. White's music
has been broadcast on radio stations including ABC Classic FM,
5MBS, and RTR FM's Difficult Listening program.
Melita White — current to November 2010