Top SCU graduates nominated for Screen Music Awards

Southern Cross University’s Bachelor of Contemporary Music degree has delivered three nominees for the 2009 Australian Screen Music Awards.

The nominees, all graduates of the degree, are Alastair Ford, for Best Music for a Television Series for his work with McLeod's Daughters; Sean Peter, for Best Children’s Music for The Adventures of Charlotte and Henry; and Yantra de Vilder for Best Music for a Documentary – Rainforest: the Secret of Life.

The Screen Music Awards, in association with APRA (Australasian Performing Rights Association) and the AGSC (Australian Guild of Screen Composers) recognise the talents of Australian music composers’ efforts across 13 categories, including feature films, mini-series, children’s television, advertising, documentaries and short films.

Winners will be announced at a gala reception on November 2 at the City Recital Hall, Angel Place, Sydney, when an orchestra led by renowned pianist and composer Paul Grabowsky will play Yantra de Vilder's opening theme music.

Southern Cross University music lecturer and vocal coach Leigh Carriage said she was thrilled to see Bachelor of Contemporary Music students doing so well.

“It shows the depth of knowledge and experience we have within the department to mentor and develop the talents of these promising young musicians and turn out professional graduates ready to take their place on the world stage,” she said.

Composer/lyricist Sean Peter said he was ‘chuffed’ by the nomination. A multi- award-winning writer/composer, Sean has worked as a sound designer, sound engineer, and composer/ lyricist for many leading Australian and overseas arts, TV and theatre companies, including Disney Channel, Nickelodeon, Sydney Theatre Company, Company B, Sydney Symphony Orchestra and the Sydney Opera House. He was the winner of the 2008 AWGIE award for Music Theatre.

Sean, who now lives and works in Hornsby in Sydney’s northern fringe, studied composition at SCU and said he was deeply into amateur theatre throughout his teens – ‘from earnest youth theatre to daggy pantomimes’.

“So I had a really strong theatre background, as well as having done some TV acting as a kid. I worked out I really wasn’t a very good actor just after I finished high school. I think to be a really good actor, you’ve got to want to have drama and conflict in your life, and being someone with only a slight grip on sanity, I thought it’d be best to give it a miss, and so I ploughed into music instead,” he said.

“I actually entered SCU as a vocal major, and was convinced I was going to be the next Michael Hutchence. After two years of that as my major, I switched to composition as it was where my heart actually lay, and I thought that being able to earn a living on graduation would be a good idea!

“I actually played my way through Uni earning money doing a sort of rock piano bar, and when I graduated worked as a keyboard player and MD in a whole lot of concept shows – you know Blues Brothers, Tom Jones, that kind of dodgy thing.

“These days, I don’t think I could afford the financial and mental insecurity of being a performer, though I did compere and play in a retrospective of my pieces for the Adelaide Cabaret Festival and the Melbourne International Arts Festival.”

Nominee Alistair Ford has won the APRA-AGSC Screen Music Awards for Best Music for a Television Series – McLeod’s Daughters three times previously – in 2003, 2004 and 2007. This year Alistair has again been nominated for McLeod’s Daughters as well as being nominated in the Most Performed Screen Composer – Overseas category.

Yantra de Vilder has just arrived home in Australia from Bangladesh, where she has been composing with the BBC.

Rainforest: the Secret of Life was narrated by actor Jack Thompson and is a film that captures rare and fascinating wildlife sequences, including the mating rituals of lyrebirds and bowerbirds, and explores the intricate web of life that has evolved in our rainforests. The documentary also led to the recent scientific discovery of the greatest secret of all – how rainforests form part of a vast global system that regulates the world’s climate.

APRA CEO Brett Cottle said: “The annual Screen Awards afford us the opportunity to honour Australian composers’ commitment to their craft: the creative, collaborative and challenging process of composing for the screen. It is an event that shines the spotlight on the quiet achievers of the silver and small screens.”

Photo: SCU graduate Sean Peter, one of the nominees for the 2009 Australian Screen Music Awards.