Associate Professor Paul Stanhope awarded David Harold Tribe Symphony Award 2021

The $12,000 award for a new symphonic composition of 20 minutes or longer was presented to Associate Professor Stanhope for his piece, Trombone Concerto. Paul is a composer, conductor, and current full-time academic and associate professor in composition at the Conservatorium.

This year’s judging panel included Professor Matthew Hindson AM, Deputy Head of School and Deputy Dean; Associate Dean (Education), Sydney Conservatorium of Music, Professor Liza Lim, Sculthorpe Chair of Australian Music, Professor in Composition, Sydney Conservatorium of Music, and Professor Stuart Greenbaum, Head of Composition, Melbourne Conservatorium of Music, University of Melbourne.

Of the winning work, the judging panel said:

“The winning work was beautifully crafted, not just for the soloist but also within the entire orchestral context. It was well-paced and demonstrated a highly idiomatic while exploratory use of the soloist. This is a substantial work with a large emotional range. The result was fresh and exciting.”

The judges were impressed with the calibre and variety of this year’s entries, particularly in a period marked by significant challenges for the music community.

“Altogether, the submissions demonstrated a wide range of instrumentations and forms, from concertos to symphonies to works with choir and orchestra. There was a diversity of styles and approaches that reflect the diversity within the contemporary art music discipline,” said the panel.

 “It was also rewarding to observe that composers from around the country are writing substantial pieces of music, despite the various challenges in getting such works performed.”

The David Harold Tribe Awards were established to inspire ingenuity across the arts, with prizes awarded across fiction, poetry, philosophy, sculpture and symphony. The awards have been made possible by a generous donation from the late David Harold Tribe through the David Harold Tribe Charitable Foundation.