scholarships, awards and much more! tim minchin waltzing matilda

Inside WAAPA Issue 32

PlusScholarships, Awards and much more!

Tim MinchinWaltzing MatildaPage 2

Jai...rising starPage 5

Dragon set to soar Page 4

OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER OF THE WESTERN AUSTRALIAN ACADEMY OF PERFORMING ARTS, EDITH COWAN UNIVERSITY (ISSUE 32) May/June 2013


In April, Davenport and two other street artists, Jackson Harvey and Luke O’Donohoe completed work on Perth’s largest street

art mural.

Measuring 30m by 6m, the mural on the side of the Hive Gallery in North Fremantle took the three artists more than a week to complete and needed a cherry picker and more than $5000 worth of paint.

With the gallery owner and the City of Fremantle on board, the artists said they relished the opportunity to paint on such a big scale and in such a prominent position.

The council contributed the cost of spray paint and the artists worked for free.

Using three videographers, two photographers, a high-definition time-lapse camera and attaching cameras to the artists, the mural’s evolution

was captured every day and posted on www.blankwalls.com.au

According to Davenport, it is important to promote aerosol art as a genuine form of expression, especially in the public forum. He believes the nautical theme exemplified on the art gallery wall is a fitting work for the Fremantle community.

He said the project showed how far street art had come as a recognised and valid artistic endeavour and it would only continue to grow.

The Hive mural also acts as an anti-graffiti measure, with evidence showing replacing blank walls with public art could reduce graffiti by as much as 80 per cent.

Davenport believes his artwork has benefited enormously from his training at WAAPA. “Throughout my three years at WAAPA I’ve

learnt numerous techniques that have helped in projects like the Fremantle mural, such as mapping large scale theatre backdrops, proportional drawing, sculpture and scenic finishes, these being just a small part of what we do.”

After painting the sets for WAAPA’s mid-year musical, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Davenport is heading overseas to complete the work experience component of his final year of study.

“I’m travelling first to New York to build and paint my own piece for a group exhibition hosted by a worldwide arts-based organization, with the whole process being filmed as a documentary,” Davenport said. “Then I will skip to London to assist a renowned sculptor and finally end up at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts to complete my secondment.”

TurnIng blAnk WAllS InTo ArT

Hive

Gal

lery

, (ph

oto

by P

1xel

s)

Jerome Davenport, a WAAPA 3rd Year Props and Scenery student, specialises in scenic painting – however it’s his love of aerosol art that is getting him noticed around town

DreAm role comeS True on WeST enD

Ward has previously been seen in Australia in the musicals Spring Awakening for the Sydney Theatre Company and Dr Zhivago for the Gordon Frost Organisation.

When performing as a finalist at the 2011 Rob Guest Endowment, Ward was asked what his dream role would be. “I told them it was Marius. It is a dream role, because he represents everything that a young man deals with when he enters the real world. So many questions, so few answers, but a whole lot of determination and faith.”

Only two years later, Ward was able to turn his dream role into a reality.

“The role came about after I finished Dr Zhivago,” said Ward. “I was asked to sing

for Cameron Mackintosh and Stephen Brooker. I then recorded myself singing ‘Empty Chairs at Empty Tables’ and put it on YouTube, and I think that may have kept me in their heads. A year later I got a call at 10pm from my agent saying, ‘You don’t have to live with nine other tourists in a share house, mate ... you’re going to the West End!’”

Les Misérables, which opened 27 years ago on the West End, remains one of the most popular musicals in the world. The recent film adaptation saw WAAPA alumnus Hugh Jackman nominated for an Oscar for his role as Jean Valjean.

Music Theatre graduate Jamie Ward plays the role of Marius in Les Misérables on London’s West End

Jam

ie W

ard

– Le

s M

isér

able

s (p

hoto

by

Mic

hael

Le

Poer

Tren

ch &

Ala

stai

r Mui

r)


WAlTzIng mATIlDA

HugH WInS golDen globe

Earlier this year Hugh Jackman was honoured for his professional achievements, winning a Golden Globe award for Best Actor in a Comedy or Musical for his role as Jean Valjean in the film version of Les Miserables, and an Academy Award nomination for the same role.

This was Jackman’s second Golden Globe nomination, having earned a nod in 2002 for Kate & Leopold, and his first win. It’s also a first for a WAAPA graduate, where the superstar honed his craft.

Jackman has continued to maintain his connection to WAAPA after graduating in 1994. “Hugh very kindly organised an advance screening of Les Miserables, along with a personal message and introduction as a fundraiser for WAAPA,” said Julie Warn, Director of WAAPA. “His performance was stunning and deserving of all the accolades.”

Jackman will next be seen in The Wolverine, a spin-off of the hugely successful X-Men film series. Shot in New South Wales and Tokyo last year, the film is due for release in Australia on July 25.

Whether in London, New York or Sydney, Tim Minchin is leaving a swag of rave reviews in his wake

Currently touring Australia in the arena tour of Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s legendary rock

classic Jesus Christ Superstar, Minchin’s performance as Judas Iscariot has left reviewers both here and in Britain struggling for superlatives: “There is only one true superstar in the show, Tim Minchin...” and “Tim Minchin steals the show...”

Over in New York, Minchin’s musical adaptation of Roald Dahl’s book Matilda the Musical is the hottest ticket in town.

Playing on Broadway at the Shubert Theatre, Matilda the Musical has already picked up a New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award for Best Musical and five Drama Desk awards, including Best Musical and winner of Outstanding Lyrics for Minchin. From 12 nominations for the 2013 Tony Awards, Matilda the Musical won 4 awards.

The New York Post was glowing in its review: “Once in a blue moon, a show comes out and restores your faith in Broadway. Matilda is that show. For once, you can believe the hype.”

The show, for which the WAAPA Contemporary Music graduate wrote the

music and lyrics, concerns the inspiring story of a girl who dares to change her destiny.

The Royal Shakespeare Company’s world premiere production of Matilda the Musical, which opened in 2011, continues to play to packed houses at London’s Cambridge Theatre. The London production was the winner of a record-breaking seven Olivier Awards in 2012, including Best New Musical, and the show has since won five other Best Musical awards.

Last year Tim filmed the major recurring role of ‘coked-up rockstar’ Atticus Fetch in the sixth season of Showtime’s hit US TV comedy drama Californication. In September Tim toured with the first ever UK arena tour of Jesus Christ Superstar.

Minchin will perform his final Australian show of Jesus Christ Superstar in Brisbane in June. He then co-stars with actor Toby Schmitz in the Sydney Theatre Company’s production of Tom Stoppard’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, directed by Simon Phillips, before heading back to Britain for more touring in Superstar.

WA WInner for JoHn lennon SongWrITIng conTeST

Guitarist/songwriter Rick Webster, who recently won the Jazz category in the John Lennon Songwriting Competition with his composition ‘Fade Away’, has now progressed further in the competition, adding a Lennon Award to his prizes.

Webster is one of only a handful of Australians to win an award in this international competition since its inception in 1997. In addition to winning over $7,000 worth of prizes, he will now be in the running for the Song of the Year award, which features the grand prize of a further $20,000 cash and other prizes.

Webster, who graduated from WAAPA with both a Bachelor of Music (Jazz) and an Advanced Diploma of Contemporary Music, has performed with artists such as ARIA award winning children’s entertainer Peter Combe and global singing sensation, Il Divo.

Webster released his debut self-titled EP in 2011 and the follow-up EP The Rick Webster Project, was released in 2012. It was described by Chris Gibbs from X-Press Magazine as “pure class” and deemed Rick “one of WA’s premier fusion artists”.

Jesus Christ Superstar – Tim Minchin, (photo by Daniel Bedford)

Photo courtesy of Rick Webster


Tenor Richard Symons is having a dream run since graduating from WAAPA in 2011.

Having performed at the opening ceremony of the 2011 Commonwealth Heads of Government

Meeting (CHOGM), he started his post-WAAPA life as an emerging artist with the West Australian Opera. Last September he scored the only singing role in the WA Ballet’s performance of Pinocchio, playing the role of The Singing Cricket.

In her review of Pinocchio, Margaret Mercer of Dance Australia wrote that Symons gave a stand-out performance: “Closing Act I was another of the production’s stars, Richard Symons, a gifted lyric tenor cast as The Singing Cricket, who gave a magic rendition of a poignant aria about dreams ... One of his other sung numbers, ‘Cricket’s Latin Cavatina’, complete with sombrero and maracas, later became one of the highlights of Act II.”

He capped off the year by being one of three rising opera stars to be awarded a Sir Robert William Askin Operatic Scholarship, worth $20,000.

The Sir Robert William Askin Operatic Scholarship is open to male opera singers aged between 18 and 29 and is awarded every two

years to applicants who show outstanding ability and promise in their field.

Judges Stephen Mould, Patrick Togher and Brian Castles-Onion said: “We felt Richard Symons to be a young tenor of great promise – who we feel will benefit from having his potential recognised and encouraged at this stage of his development.”

Symons said the scholarship money, which is paid in four instalments of $5,000 over two years, will help him follow his dream across the world, giving him the opportunity to study in New York, London and Florence.

“I’m so thankful to Perth for always throwing up opportunities like this to me and to other singers,” he said.

Music Theatre graduate Alexander Lewis, who has played numerous stage roles such as Anthony Hope in Sweeney Todd, Nemorino in L’elisir d’amore, Frederick Barrett in Titanic - The Musical and Vašek in The Bartered Bride, was a recipient of the scholarship in 2010.

DrAgon SeT To SoAr AT WASo

Earlier this year the West Australian Symphony Orchestra appointed Christopher Dragon as its inaugural

Assistant Conductor.

This outstanding opportunity will allow Dragon to hone his skills and gain invaluable experience by working with WASO principal conductor Paul Daniel, international guest artists, and WASO musicians and staff.

Dragon won the position following a series of auditions that culminated in having to conduct the orchestra. Each applicant had 50 minutes to rehearse a work by Beethoven and Tchaikovsky.

“The pieces I conducted were the Egmont Overture and the first movement from

Tchaikovsky’s Fourth Symphony,” said Dragon. “I was extremely nervous at first, but since I knew a lot of the musicians very well, it felt like I was in front of friends.”

Dragon completed his Bachelor of Music in clarinet at WAAPA in 2011, taking first prize in the Woodside Concerto Competition. Yet he had always harboured an ambition to conduct.

“As a clarinettist sitting at the back of the orchestra – especially one who moves a lot when playing! – I found it frustrating not being able to lead the orchestra in shaping the music.”

That same year Dragon began his conducting studies with former Opera Australia conductor, Chris van Tuinen and is currently working toward an honours degree in conducting.

In 2012 Dragon successfully auditioned for the prestigious Symphony Services International Core Conductors Program. Through this program he has worked with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra and Auckland Philharmonia, under the guidance of course director Christopher Seaman. This year he will be participating in numerous modules with orchestras around Australia and New Zealand.

Dragon’s profile is also expanding internationally. Last year he was invited as a Conducting Fellow to the Pacific Music Festival in Japan by Fabio Luisi, the Principal Conductor of the Metropolitan Opera and Artistic Director of the Vienna Symphony Orchestra and Zurich Opera House. Earlier this year Dragon was selected to participate in the Järvi Winter Academy where he made his international debut with the Parnu City Orchestra. From the 10

participants, Dragon was chosen to take part in the Summer Academy from July 12-24.

On his way to the Summer Academy, Dragon will spend time in Europe participating in highly selective courses and studying with world-renowned conductors and pedagogues.

He will undertake a two-week course in Ostrava, Czech Republic with Jorma Panula, former Professor of Conducting at the Sibelius Academy. Dragon will then travel to Zurich, Switzerland to assist and study with Fabio Luisi at the Zurich Opera House. While in Zurich he will also be auditing a masterclass with David Zinman and the Tonhalle Orchestra.

After two weeks in Zurich, he will then travel to Parnu, Estonia, to participate in the Järvi Summer Academy, as part of the Järvi Festival. During the course he will be mentored by father and son, Neeme and Paavo Järvi and also by Paavo’s teacher, Leonid Grin. Both Järvis are highly sought after by the world’s great orchestras. As soon as this course finishes Dragon will fly back to Perth to prepare for a week assisting Simone Young with WASO.

As well as being WASO’s Assistant Conductor, Christopher is a highly active conductor in Western Australia – he is currently Musical Director of the Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, the South Side Symphony Orchestra, Operabox, the WAYO Philharmonic Orchestra, the Leeming Area Concert Band, has co-founded his own orchestra the Swan Philharmonic and has engagements with WAAPA’s Faith Court Orchestra.

gIfTeD Tenor WInS oPerA ScHolArSHIP

Phot

o by

Nik

Bab

icPh

oto

by W

illia

m Ye

oman


grADuATe HAT-TrIck AT SyDney THeATre AWArDS

At the 2012 Sydney Theatre Awards, announced earlier this year, three WAAPA graduates were honoured for their

achievements in theatre: Lucy Durack, Ben Lewis and Claude Marcos.

Presented annually by Sydney’s leading theatre critics, the judging panel for the 2012 awards included Elissa Blake (Sun Herald), Jason Blake (Sydney Morning Herald), Chris Hook (Daily Telegraph), Deborah Jones (The Australian), Darryn King (Time Out Sydney), Jo Litson (The Sunday Telegraph), John

McCallum (The Australian) and Diana Simmonds (Stagenoise).

Lucy Durack, who graduated from WAAPA in 2002, was awarded the prestigious Judith Johnson Award for Best Actress in a Musical for her lead role as Elle Woods in the hit musical Legally Blonde.

Perth-born Durack has blitzed her way to star status in the musical theatre world with a list of major roles to her credit, including her hugely popular run as Glinda the Good Witch in the original Australian production of Wicked.

For her performance in Legally Blonde, Durack again garnered rave reviews. “Lucy Durack is brilliant,” wrote the Melbourne’s Sunday Herald Sun. “She’s very funny and has impeccable timing but she also gifts the role with guts and heart”. The Sunday Telegraph described Durack as “perfect as Elle. She looks the part while bringing grit, humanity and excellent comic timing to the ditzy role ... It’s a hugely demanding role and she smashes it out of the park.”

For his role as The Phantom in Love Never Dies, Ben Lewis (2004 Music Theatre) won the Judith Johnson Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical. The Sydney Morning Herald commended Lewis for “towering physically and vocally over the show” while Stage Whispers described his performance as “impressive, commanding the stage with larger-than-life characterisation and rich clear singing”.

Claude Marcos (2004 Theatre Design) won the award for Best Stage Design of a Mainstream Production for his work on Thyestes, director Simon Stone’s reimaging of Seneca’s tragedy.

Stone has said of Marcos that he is “someone that a director can trust to be making decisions that contribute to the meaning of a piece, rather than just making it look pretty. He thinks abut theatre from a very investigative point of view, rather than just assuming anything about form or theatrical language.”

After roles in All Saints and Packed to the Rafters, Courtney was cast as the doomed Roman gladiator Varro in the TV series Spartacus: Blood and Sand. In 2012 he hit the big screen, appearing as Tom Cruise’s antagonist in the film Jack Reacher.

But it has been his role as Jack McClane, the son of Bruce Willis’ famous character John McClane in the most recent film in the Die Hard franchise A Good Day to Die Hard, that has got everyone talking.

In accepting the part, the 27-year-old actor was handed the torch for the future of Die Hard, one of Twentieth Century Fox Films’ most lucrative properties. “The log line to the whole casting process was, It’s the son and the idea is, one day he’ll take over the whole franchise,” Courtney said.

However Courtney remains intent on resisting typecasting. For a career model, he points to fellow WAAPA graduate Hugh

Jackman and his capacity to deliver in big-budget studio action such as Wolverine in the X-Men series and dramatic movie epics such as Les Misérables and even Broadway musicals, including The Boy from Oz.

“I’m sure ... there’ll be offers for action-heavy stuff. That’s not necessarily what I want to do next,” Courtney said. “I hope to explore a diverse landscape of genres. I’m trying not to box myself in.”

In the upcoming months, Courtney will be seen in three more high-profile projects: the Australian cop drama Felony opposite Joel Edgerton and Tom Wilkinson; the horror-thriller I, Frankenstein directed by Pirates of the Caribbean writer Stuart Beattie and starring Bill Nighy, Aaron Eckhart, Aden Young and Miranda Otto; and Divergent, the film adaptation of the Veronica Roth bestseller, starring Kate Winslet and Shailene Woodley.

Jai’s sTar shines in holly WooDActing graduate Jai Courtney is enjoying a stellar rise to fame after appearing in two big-budget Hollywood movies in a row and is hotly tipped to become Australia’s next big Hollywood star

Left to right: Andrew Lloyd Webber, Ben Lewis and Ben Elton – Love Never Dies Melbourne Premiere

Red Carpet Images of Jai and Bruce courtesy of Natalie O’Shea

Jai and Bruce courtesy of Fox Studios

Jai and Bruce courtesy of Fox Studios


The Fulbright Program is the largest and one of the most prestigious educational scholarship programs in the world. Operating between the United States and over 155 countries worldwide, it promotes mutual understanding through educational and cultural exchange.

The scholarship, worth up to $45,000, will enable Smith to undertake a two-year Master of Music at the Manhattan School of Music in New York.

For her Masters, Smith applied to three of the most prestigious music schools in America: the Juilliard School, the California Institute of the Arts and the Manhattan School of Music. She was not only offered a place at all three, she was awarded the Marvin Hamlisch Scholarship in Composition from Juilliard and the Manhattan School of Music Scholarship for Composition.

In addition, over the past year the talented musician has won WAAPA’s 2012 Barbara MacLeod Scholarship for the Most Outstanding Female Classical Student, the Dr Harold Schenberg Music Prize for Composition from the University of Western Australia, and a 2013 Young People and the Arts International Scholarship from the Department of Culture and the Arts, worth $30,000. Combined with her Manhattan School of Music Scholarship and the Fulbright, Smith will use these scholarship monies to fund her overseas study.

“I decided to accept the offer from the Manhattan School of Music due to its strength in support of new contemporary music by both staff and students, as well as its outstanding

faculty,” says Smith.

Smith believes that her studies in New York will provide her with the necessary skills and knowledge to fully develop her potential as an artist.

“My artistic goal is to specialise in collaborative media - especially opera, theatre, installation, dance, and film composition,” she says. “The Manhattan School of Music offers unparalleled collaboration and performance opportunities and it’s my hope that studying there will encourage me to push the limits of my existing skill set, as well as catalyse the development and discovery of new compositional skills. I truly feel that this venture will open doors and help me to achieve my artistic goal.”

“Also, it’s New York; that kind of machine-gun-style sensory overload can’t help but be inspiring in some way.”

A classically trained violist and pianist, Smith is currently working on her second commissioned piece for the WA Youth Orchestra, which premieres at the Perth Concert Hall on July 13.

“I live to write for orchestra,” says Smith. “It’s also the ensemble I find the most difficult to write for. There are just so many glorious variables and so much opportunity.”

Smith has also scored music for short films, a comedy series, and has worked in a compositional capacity with the Western Australian Symphony Orchestra, WA Youth Orchestra, Australian Youth Orchestra, and LINK

Dance Company, along with numerous bands and contemporary new music ensembles Australia wide.

Now Smith joins fellow WAAPA alumni who have previously been granted Fulbright scholarships including Dr Jonathan Paget (WAAPA Senior Lecturer), Cecilia Jian Xuan Sun (1992 Music Performance), Carmel Dean (2000 Music), Robert Griffin Byron (2003 Music Composition) and Sam Nester (2009 Music).

Smith regards the highlight of her time at WAAPA as having her perception of music broadened in the best possible way.

“I have encountered some incredible musicians and composers across all disciplines of music in my time here. This was key to helping me form my own musical ideals, such as being as stylistically unbiased as possible; something I feel is incredibly important for all artists, especially in their early development.”

WAAPA Music Lecturer Lindsay Vickery believes that Smith is ready to make her mark on the international music scene. “Bec Smith has made an astoundingly big splash at the start of her professional career, cleaning up practically every available award and gaining admission to three of the most prestigious institutions in the United States,” he says.

“Bec’s flair and attention to detail make her music unusually vivid and alive and I’m sure she will step up to the challenges of studying abroad with great confidence: exciting things are sure to follow.”

Kučka is the avant-electronic music of producer/vocalist and WAAPA student Laura Jane Lowther. Originally a solo project produced in her bedroom, Kučka’s eclectic combination of ambient sounds, industrial glitches and her own striking vocals is now making a name for itself in the world.

Kučka’s self-titled debut EP, an eclectic mixtape with a unique textural avant-pop sound released last year, has been described as “one of the most intriguing and ambitious releases by a Perth artist”. One of the tracks, Polly (serialkillersundays) won a WAM Song of the Year Award in the experimental category.

Kučka is also gaining a reputation for her live shows, with WAAPA Composition graduate Jake Steele on analog synths, current student Katie Campbell on live electronic beats and percussionist Rosie Taylor to accompany her haunting vocals and mixed-up sampling.

Earlier this year Kučka beat popular acts Runner and Sugarpuss to win the 2013 Path to Laneway competition, which gives one talented local unsigned artist the chance to open the St Jerome’s Laneway Festival.

Laura’s vocal abilities have also been recognised internationally. After sampling her music for his hit single Long Live A$AP, A$AP Rocky asked Laura to sing backing vocals on both Long Live A$AP and Fashion Killa. Both of these tracks appear on his debut album, which charted at No 1 on the US Billboard Charts.

In April, Lowther and her band flew overseas as part of her award for winning the WAM Song of the Year to perform at the Quartz Electronic Music Awards and Forum des Images in Paris, as well as Belgium and the UK. Kučka also headlined an event as part of Technopol’s celebration of Electronic Music.

comPoSer nAmeD fulbrIgHT ScHolArRebecca Erin Smith, who graduated last year with a first class Honours degree in Music Composition, has been awarded a 2013 Fulbright Postgraduate Scholarship

kuckA comeS ouT of THe beDroom

Page 6 Inside WAAPA Issue 32

Pho

to b

y Ro

bert

Sim

eon


kevin Penkin (2012) was accepted into London’s Royal College of Music for a Masters of Composition for Screen with a partial scholarship. Penkin has composed music for two Japanese PSP games in collaboration with Nobuo Uematsu, composer for the acclaimed series Final Fantasy, and was nominated on Square Enix Music Online (Annual Video Game Music Award) for Best Newcomer. His concert music recently enjoyed its premiere performance by the Perth Symphony Orchestra and Perth Chamber Orchestra. His group Cycle~ 440, with WAAPA graduate Sam Gillies, was nominated for a WAMI award in the experimental category.

caitlin Woods (2011) was awarded the faculty of science and engineering scholarship to undertake the Masters of Music Technology at the Digital Media and Arts Research Centre at the University of Limerick, Ireland.

Dan Thorne (2007) won the big band category of the 2013 WCOM Dankworth Composition Prize in the UK.

Henry Andersen (2012) is currently studying privately in Berlin with acclaimed composer Peter Ablinger. He recently received the Arteles Creative Residency in Finland and is creating works for double bassist Caleb Salgad and Ensemble Quiver. He will be performing at Madame Claude in Berlin as part of the eXperimontag series.

Sam gillies (2012) was commissioned by ZED Digital Radio Brisbane for the program Back Lick to write a new 60 minute work, Warning Tones. He was selected for the Transart Program curated by the City of Perth to present a new sound art work. His duo Cycle~ 440, with WAAPA graduate Kevin Penkin, toured Japan in February and was selected to perform in the New Music Network Mini Series in Sydney in August.

charlie Daly (2011) engineered the track Loners are Cool by Allday which debuted #18 on the ARIA album charts and #1 on the iTunes hip hop chart.

mitch mollison (2011) was commissioned by Ars Musica Australis to compose a seven-minute flute solo, Orbits, for a dance/visual art piece by Sydney’s Flatline collective (Carl Sciberras and Todd Fuller). Recently awarded first class Honours from Monash University, Mollison collaborated with jazz legend Paul Grabowsky and his Shapeshifter ensemble of the Australian Art Orchestra and Monash musicians, creating an electronic element for Grabowsky’s Variations, performed at Bennetts Lane Jazz Club and Monash University.

Adrian kelly (1995) 2012 saw the release of his latest CD, Chinese Whispers, featuring music from and inspired by China. Starting December 2012, this album was selected to be featured on selected Cathay Pacific flights as part of their onboard music offerings.

Smoke AnD mIrrorS A cleAr WInnerSmoke and Mirrors, the new release from

WAAPA’s Coordinator of Jazz Studies Jamie Oehlers and his quartet, has been voted 2012 Jazz Album of the Year by Rhythms magazine.

The album was also one of three finalists nominated for both Best Australian Contemporary Jazz Album and Best Australian Jazz Ensemble in the 2013 Bell Awards.

The album features Oelhers on tenor saxophone, Tal Cohen on piano, Jacob Evans on drums and Phil Stack on bass, with special guest artist US drummer Ari Hoenig.

This is just the latest award in an accolade-studded career for the talented saxophonist. In 2007 Oehlers was named Australian Jazz Artist of the Year at the Bell Awards, as well as winning both the 2007 and 2005 Bell Awards for Best Contemporary Jazz Albums. In 2003 he was the winner of the prestigious White Foundation World Saxophone Competition.

“Oehlers’ original compositions call to mind late night smoky jazz sounds, with focus on sultry ballads, forthright melody and Coltrane-esque moments,” wrote Jazzhead in their review.

Oehlers and Hoenig have performed together on and off for a number of years, during which time “the musically distinguished pair have developed and enhanced their unique approach to create an exceptional recording...Smoke and Mirrors is set to be a great Australian classic.”

Oehlers was also nominated for a 2013 Bell Award for Best Australian Jazz Vocal Album for his work with vocalist Gian Slater on their album The Difference.

Other Bell Award nominees with WAAPA connections include graduate Mace Francis, nominated for Best Australian Jazz Song of the Year for ‘Land Speed Record’ and graduate Callum G’Froerer, nominated for Young Australian Jazz Artist of the Year for his album City Speaks.

muSIc SnIPPeTS

Photo by Tony Lendrum Photography


cHIlDren’S SHoWS lure grADuATeS

Earlier this year Lachy Gillespie, a 2007 Music Theatre graduate, replaced founding member Jeff Fatt as the Purple

Wiggle in the worldwide hit children’s music group, The Wiggles.

Gillespie joined The Wiggles in 2009, touring with the Dorothy the Dinosaur Travelling Show as Captain Feathersword, and then as a Wiggly Dancer and Wags the Dog during the group’s regular tour.

Ainsley Melham, who graduated last year from WAAPA’s Music Theatre course, was announced as one of three new cast members of the children’s entertainment group Hi-5.

While it started as a television show in 1998, Hi-5 now spends more than half a year touring

Australia and the world, building huge fanbases throughout Asia and South America.

“Being in Hi-5 means I am able to meet so many beautiful kids, travel the world and sing and dance with four people who feel like your best friends,” says Melham.

Melham has been tap dancing since he was three years old. He is now looking forward to showcase his tap dancing skills on the show – something Hi-5 fans have never seen before.

Melham, who was awarded the Bill Warnock Award for most promising Music Theatre student in his second year at WAAPA, follows in the footsteps of former WAAPA alumni and Hi-5 cast members, Sun Park and Tim Maddren.

Park, who graduated from WAAPA’s Music Theatre course in 2001, was a member of the Hi-5 team from 2006 to 2008. Tim Maddren, a 2005 graduate, joined the Hi-5 cast in 2009 and has only recently left the show to perform the role of Wednesday Addams’ love interest, Lucas Beineke in The Addams Family: The Broadway Musical at Sydney’s Capitol Theatre.

Michelle Lim Davidson walked straight out of WAAPA in 2010 into a role in Ben Elton’s Ben Elton Live from Planet Earth, which she was cast in after Elton saw her at the end-of-year WAAPA showcase. Now she faces a different challenge, joining the longest-running children’s show in Australia – Playschool.

Children’s entertainment is proving a valuable career path for WAAPA graduates

Going from being a stage manager to running a national relocation business might not be a common career path, yet that is exactly the journey one WAAPA graduate has taken. And she has done it so convincingly that a few months ago, she was awarded for her efforts.

Sue Pember (nee Conway), a WAAPA Stage Management graduate, was the recent recipient of a WA Business News’ 40under40 award for 2013. These awards recognise and reward 40 of WA’s best young business talent every year.

Pember is owner and director of Aussie Orientation Services, which specialises in tailor-made one-on-one relocation programs to ensure new arrivals settle into Australia smoothly. Services include securing accommodation, organising bank accounts, enrolling children in school and helping clients discover the best of their new city.

Since launching in Perth in 2010, the business has now expanded, servicing clients in Darwin, South Australia, Victoria, New South Wales and

Queensland. Sue is proud of the reputation her business has among her corporate clients such as Bechtel, Leighton Contractors and INPEX Corporation.

What makes Pember’s workplace special is that her employees are all working mothers and semi-retirees – as Pember sees it, a fantastic pool of highly qualified individuals who are seeking a flexible but rewarding career.

In addition to her stage management training, Pember has worked as a real estate agent and prior to starting her business three years ago, was a Business Development Manager with the Chamber of Commerce and Industry where she was responsible for managing a large portfolio of clients from the Resources sector.

“I think the most important thing I learnt from my time studying Stage Management at WAAPA that I still use in business today is how to work hard and to a deadline, as well as being able to prioritise what is most important,” says Pember. “I also realised the importance of networking and reputation, as the work as a Stage Manager was often contract based so you were only as good as the last job you worked on.”

STAge mAnAger To AWArD-WInnIng buSIneSS DIrecTor

Left to right: Michelle Lim Davidson (photo by Ben Symons for Play School), Lachy Gillespie as the Purple Wiggle (photo courtesy of The Wiggles) and Ainsley Melham (photo courtesy of Hi 5)

Photo courtesy of Sue Pember


lIeDTke felloWSHIP SenDS grADuATe overSeAS

The 25-year old dancer and choreographer was chosen by the board of Trustees of the Tanja Liedtke Foundation from a national field of candidates vying for this unique international exchange program. The Foundation, which supports the development of contemporary dance theatre and fosters Australian/European artistic connections, was established in 2008 to preserve the artistic legacy of German-born dancer and choreographer Tanja Liedtke, who died in a tragic accident in Sydney in 2007.

“What Tanja did was extraordinary,” said Simons. “Her body of work was extremely inspiring to me when I was a student at WAAPA, and I’m so thrilled to be entrusted with this Fellowship that honours her legacy.”

“I’m also very grateful to the Trustees for giving me such an opportunity. I look forward to experiencing it all but, more importantly, I can’t wait to bring my discoveries back to Australia and continuing work as a more informed creator.”

The program starts in August with a three-week creative residency at ada Studios in Berlin, where

Simons will work with local artists and have the chance to show his work to an invited audience. The residency coincides with Berlin’s international contemporary dance festival, Tanz im August. Following the residency, Simons will travel to Frankfurt to take up a place in the International Summer Lab presented and facilitated by Tanzlabor_21, Frankfurt’s central hub for independent contemporary dance theatre.

Gerlinde Liedtke, chair of the board of Trustees of the Tanja Liedtke Foundation, said, “Joseph impressed us with his talent and commitment to contemporary dance, as well as presenting a convincing concept for his dance work to be developed in Berlin. We are confident that Joseph will benefit from the artistic environment of Berlin and Frankfurt and gain the necessary inspiration for his choreographic development. I am sure he will be a good ambassador for the arts and Australia.”

Dance graduate Joseph Simons has been named as the winner of the 2013 Tanja Liedtke Fellowship

Inside WAAPA Issue 32 Page 9

WAAPA Dance graduate Mia Thompson has been announced as

one of the Queensland Ballet’s newest company members for 2013.

Thompson, who hails from Queensland’s Gold Coast, trained with the Queensland

Dance School of Excellence in Year 11 and 12 and in 2010 was accepted into Queensland Ballet’s Professional Year program, performing with the company in several productions.

In 2011, Mia was accepted into WAAPA’s Advanced Diploma of Performing Arts.

In 2012 Mia was awarded first place in the Australian Institute of Classical Dance

Competition in Western Australia, and was awarded first place in the Royal

Academy of Dance 2012 Linley Wilson Scholarship.

Li Cunxin, the Artistic Director of Queensland Ballet said of the new company: “I am delighted to welcome such exciting new talent to our Company in 2013. Over 180 dancers recently auditioned in Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney, and I was extremely impressed with the level of talent in Australia. We also received a lot of applications from international dancers.”

“Not only will creatives from around the world want to work with Queensland Ballet dancers, our dancers will inspire a love of ballet in

everyone who sees them celebrate this beautiful art form.”

WAAPA Dance graduate Abigail Smith has danced her way into a place as a Young Artist with the WA Ballet.

“It has been my greatest ambition to become a professional ballet dancer in a company either here in Australia or overseas, representing Australian dancers,” says Smith.

Smith has worked with the WA Ballet before, performing as a corps de ballet dancer in Balanchine’s Serenade for the 2012 Quarry Season, as well as the lead role as Waltz Lady in Balanchine’s Serenade at WAAPA. She danced for Queen Elizabeth II at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in 2011 and was nominated for the 2010 Anne Woolliams Award for Best Dancer.

Smith is passionate about her chosen profession: “Expressing to others how the human body can be manipulated and transformed into shapes and movements that are unexpected and interesting is a major incentive to pursue a career in dance and to share the passion that I have for classical ballet and contemporary dance.”

comPAny offerS for DAncerS

Phot

o by

Jon

Gre

enPh

oto

by J

ohan

Stå

hlbe

rg P

hoto

grap

hy

Quee

nsla

nd B

alle

t Com

pany

, (ph

oto

by D

avid

Kel

ly)


DIrecTor of IrelAnD’S ToP DrAmA ScHool AT WAAPAVisiting guest director Patrick Sutton, who was at WAAPA in April-

May to direct the 3rd Year Acting students in The Cripple of Inishmaan by Martin McDonagh, knows a thing or two about drama schools.

Back in his home country, Sutton is Director of Ireland’s premier drama school, The Gaiety School of Acting - The National Theatre School of Ireland. Sutton is also an actor, writer, activist, advisor to government, and the Director of Smock Alley Theatre-1662.

Sutton regularly teaches in the USA and is the Director of COMMUNICATE, a communications company working at a senior level in politics, industry and the arts.

“WAAPA is one of the most significant drama schools in the world,” he said in a recent radio interview in Perth. “Not just because of the calibre of the graduates who are coming out of there but because of the energy and focus.”

Of his time at WAAPA, Sutton said: “From the moment I met the cast and crew I knew all would be well. Talent, generosity and a warm WAAPA welcome ensured we got the work done, the show up and a fantastic reaction to The Cripple of Inishmaan. It was a pleasure and a privilege.”

PHot

o co

urte

sy o

f W

est A

ustr

alia

n Ne

ws

Ltd

Talitha maslin (2009) has received a grant from the Ian Potter Cultural Trust to attend ImPulzTanz, the Vienna International Dance Festival, held from 11 July to 11 August this year. Later in the year Maslin will tour the US and Canada with Lucy Guerin Inc in the work Weather, first performed in Melbourne last October, and now co-commissioned by Les Place Des Arts in Montreal. Earlier this year Maslin undertook a three-week internship with Chunky Move and worked with Antony Hamilton on Black Project 2.

Summer bAy for WeSTAWAy 2011 Acting graduate Nic

Westaway is making a legion of fans as Kyle Braxton, half-brother to the notorious River Boys on Home and Away.

Despite making his screen debut only last August, Westaway was a nominee for the best screen newcomer at this year’s leading television awards, the Logies.

Born and raised in Margaret River, Westaway took drama classes and joined a high school theatre group before being accepted into WAAPA.

After graduating, Westaway moved to Sydney and by May 2012, he’d landed the role of Kyle on the hugely popular soap.

“Everyone on the show is amazing,” says Westaway. “There’s such a high turnover of people on the show that, with the regulars and the guests that come on, at any one time there’s probably 30 cast members.”

“I guess people are just used to being friendly and professional. I just felt a part of it from day one.”

London has led the Global Poverty Project UK since 2010 and is the international head of the Live Below the Line campaign, which drives awareness of living on a budget of £1 a day.

She regularly speaks on development, communications and philanthropy, and has worked with the UK Department for International Development.

Thanks to London, the Live Below The Line campaign expects to raise £1m in the UK this year for charities fighting poverty.

“I believe the work of the Global Poverty Project will have a significant impact in mobilising individuals to think differently and act differently about extreme poverty,” says London. “I’m committed to seeing an end to extreme poverty within our lifetime and am passionate about engaging personally, and

engaging my community to join the movement. Taking the Live Below the Line challenge is one of the best ways I have found to do that.”

London, who moved to the UK in 2008 and holds a Masters in Development Management from the London School of Economics, is renowned as a development professional with particular expertise in fundraising.

She brings funding expertise to the development sector from her experience as a Philanthropy Specialist and Corporate Partnerships Coordinator at the Sydney Opera House, and is passionate about finding sustainable funding solutions for non-profit organisations.

London has experience working with a number of aid and development organisations including World Vision, The Oaktree Foundation,

and Overseas Development Institute. She has established an endowment fund for Australian aid organisation, The Oaktree Foundation, and has worked on advocacy campaigns including the 2007 Make Poverty History Zero Seven Roadtrip. She is a board member of The Oaktree Foundation UK.

“Whether Elisha is warming up for Bill Gates, persuading politicians to live on £1 a day, or inspiring students to be ambassadors for change, she brings an inimitable style and delivers results that help save lives,” says Roz Hunt, Communications Manager of Malaria No More UK. “Her passion, infectious enthusiasm and intelligence never fail to convince her audience that fighting global poverty is one of the most important things they will ever do.”

ArTS mAnAgemenT grADuATe fIgHTS PoverTy

vIennA bounD

Elisha London, a graduate from WAAPA’s Arts Management course, is a woman with a mission

Set of Cripple of Innishman. Left to right: Felix Johnson, Justina Ward and Patrick Sutton, (photo by Stephen Heath)


neW courSe AT WAAPA

At the beginning of 2013, WAAPA’s new Bachelor of Performing Arts course had its first intake of students. The three-year

degree offers students the opportunity to explore performing, writing, devising and directing, and to gain skills in managing independent arts projects.

The students’ training will draw on a range of approaches including naturalistic acting, Japanese performance, puppetry, and working with new technology in performance. They will apply knowledge and skills to a number of productions including group performances, solo work, and site-specific productions. All of these are done in highly experimental and independent contexts with students devising their own work under the guidance of WAAPA staff.

Course Coordinator Frances Barbe is a performance maker, teacher and scholar who moved to Perth to take up the role. She has worked all over the world with theatre, dance, opera, puppetry and circus artists. Her broad interest is complemented by a highly specialised focus on intercultural and Japanese performance, and she has earned international recognition for her intercultural approach to performer training. She worked closely with Perth based teacher, actor and director, Tamara Cook to prepare for the start of the new course.

“The course offers students a really good balance of student-led work and access to staff expertise and guidance,” says Barbe. “It facilitates both practical and theoretical research and reflects new and evolving modes

of performance. The boundaries between acting, dance and performance are increasingly blurring in the performance industry. While Fringe venues and festivals have long fostered such experimentation, now the main stage shows also integrate different art forms and approaches in new ways. Actors are also puppeteers, dancers devise movement as well as text, and writers don’t necessarily deliver the text fully formed at the outset. This course

prepares students for this dynamic and exciting landscape of performance.”

The students accepted into the course for its inaugural intake are drawn from WA, interstate and as far away as Switzerland, Germany, France and Spain.

Bethany Cooper, originally from Kalgoorlie, sees the Bachelor of Performing Arts as a way to enhance skills already gained at WAAPA. “After graduating from the Aboriginal Theatre course at WAAPA, I knew I could never work in any other

industry. The broad scope of this course will provide me with the skills I need to succeed in my dream of operating my own theatre company.”

Melissa Ettler was on a gap year in Australia from Switzerland when she joined a theatre group in Perth and heard about the course. “Hundreds of emails and a video-audition later I got the news that I was accepted into the Bachelor of Performing Arts. I was really interested in this

course because it covers so many things. I wanted to know and learn more about directing, acting, screenwriting. So I decided to leave my home country, Switzerland, and my family and friends for three years.”

Nicole Harvey heard about WAAPA’s new course from her theatre teacher in Brisbane. “I was interested in this course specifically because it focuses on the creation of new work, as well as improving and refining the skills of performing. There aren’t many courses that really work on devising independent, interdisciplinary performance. I

think this kind of work is crucial to contemporary theatre and the course will challenge me and my current understanding of theatre. I hope for the opportunity to collaborate with others and grow from that experience. I want to become more confident in my creative process and create new work that is extraordinary.”

Look out for these graduates in a few years time, when we expect them to be making a splash on the Perth theatre scene with their bold visions and new explorations in performance.

Frances Barbe (photo by Kathy Wheatley)

Summerdance

Hamlet Rites

The Cripple of Inishmann

The Golden Age

A glimpse of what’s been happening on stage at WAAPA


THAnk you To our PArTnerS

cover creditsFront CoverHive Gallery, Mural, photo by Kathy WheatleyTim Minchin, photo by Daniel BedfordJai Courtney, courtesy of Natalie O’SheaChris Dragon, photo by Nik Babic

Back Cover Production photos by Jon Green

crIcoS IPc 00279b

Rites

No WorriesThe Cripple of Inishmaan

Once on This Island

Speaking in Tongues

Rites

Enright in the Enright The Golden Age

LINK Dance Company - Moving Object

In THe SPoTlIgHTA glimpse of what’s been happening on stage at WAAPA

Hamlet

scholarships, awards and much more! tim minchin waltzing matilda

Documents