Composition

Composition at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music is a graduate specialist program with an undergraduate pathway. This forward-looking course builds on our distinguished history of musical innovation.

Study Composition at the Melbourne Conservatorium

Composition at the Conservatorium is grounded within the Western notated art music tradition, while also engaging in dialogue with other contemporary musical practices. We'll equip you with skills in instrumental and vocal writing, orchestration, electro-acoustic music, professional score presentation, rehearsal skills and concert management, helping you to develop an original voice. Notable alumni include Peter Sculthorpe, Barry Conyngham, Liza Lim, Matthew Hindson, Annie Hsieh and Dominik Karski.

Composition study options

As an undergraduate Bachelor of Music student you can apply to major in Composition from your second year of study, taking a guided program of specialised study. Graduate student study options in Composition include Graduate Diploma (by coursework) and research degrees (Master of Music and Doctor of Music).

Undergraduate students from other areas of the University can learn about composition through related subjects such as Composition Studies, Orchestration and Music Language Stream (one, two and three) through Breadth study.

Alternatively, if you are interested in music and sound for a range of contemporary media contexts, visit our Interactive Composition discipline page.

Composition courses

Our people

As active composers in the profession, Conservatorium Composition staff cover a wide range of technical and philosophical backgrounds, while remaining committed to a shared vision of compositional instruction.

HEAD OF COMPOSITION


Professor Stuart Greenbaum  
BMus(Hons) MMus PhD Melb  
stuartgreenbaum.com

ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR


Associate Professor Elliott Gyger  
BMus Syd PhD Harvard

Elliott Gyger at the Australian Music Centre

SENIOR LECTURER


Dr Katy Abbott  
BEd GradDip(Comp) MMus PhD Melb

katyabbott.com

SENIOR LECTURER


Dr Miriama Young  
BA VUW BMus (Hons) NZSM MFA PhD Princeton

miriamayoung.com

LECTURER

Dr Melody Eötvös
BMus(hons), MA(phil), MMus, DMA Indiana University

melodyeotvos.com

Learn about our student and alumni successes, and meet our current research candidates.

Recent student successes

Our current students and graduates have a record of sustained success in obtaining opportunities in the wider music industry. Many of our composers are selected to write orchestral works for both the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra’s Cybec 21st Century Australian Composers Program and the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra (TSO) Composer School. Our composers also consistently feature in national development programs including those offered by The Song Company (MODART), The Australian String Quartet (National Composers’ Forum) and Soundstream (Emerging Composers Forum). We actively cultivate a creative environment that starts with Conservatorium's own musicians and ensembles and radiates out to the local community, to national programs and opportunities for performance through international workshops, residencies and concerts.

Scholarship, award and prize winners
  • Albert H Maggs Composition Award (annual award and Australia’s second largest national prize for composition) Past winners
  • Dorian Le Gallienne Prize for Composition (biennial). Past winners
  • Adolph Spivakovsky Scholarship for the Composition of Music Past winners
  • Esther Rofe Composition Award - Past winners include Lauren Morgan, Hannah Zreikat, Martine Wengrow, Clare Johnston, Carolyn Schofield and Samatha Wolf.

Find out about the range of funding, scholarships, awards and other opportunities available to Conservatorium composition students.

The Composition program has strong links with the wider musical community, notably the Australian National Academy Music (ANAM), the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and Melbourne Recital Centre. Recent opportunities include:

  • Annual BMus Honours composer workshop with the University of Melbourne Orchestra
  • Annual reading and recording sessions for postgraduate students with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
  • Opportunities to collaborate with Melbourne Conservatorium of Music ensembles (such as Big Band, Percussion Ensemble, Brass Ensemble, Symphonic Winds, including via the Honours year subject)
  • Recurrent opportunities with ensembles in the wider community (such as Zelman Symphony and Choral at Monsalvat)
  • In-house workshops with professional artists and ensembles such as Marshall McGuire, Syzygy Ensemble, Halcyon Ensemble as well as Conservatorium performance staff

The Conservatorium offers funding for all postgraduate students. For composers, this funding may be used for interstate or international travel to attend performances of their music or to record works for folio purposes.

Each year, two graduating students are chosen to receive a commission to compose a work for the Melbourne Recital Centre’s Local Heroes Series.

Scholarships and awards

Scholarships and awards are also available, including:

  • Albert H Maggs Composition Award
  • Dorian Le Gallienne Prize for Composition
  • Adolph Spivakovsky Scholarship for Composition of Music
  • Esther Rofe Composition Award
  • Catherine Mary Sullivan Bequest
  • Dr Allan Zavod Composition Award

View scholarships for more information

New Music Studio

The New Music Studio presents an opportunity for students, staff and alumni to collaborate, compose, curate and perform new works together, to engage with major international artists, and to connect with the public via performance.

Composition Seminar

Each week, both postgraduates and undergraduates in the composition major meet for seminars from visiting composers, group lessons and post-graduate student presentations.  Past guests have included Mark Applebaum, Anne Boyd, Martin Bresnick, Eve De Castro-Robinson, Brett Dean, Andrew Ford, Don Freund, Detlev Glanert, Philip Glass, Barbara Hannigan, Gordon Kerry, Stephen Lias, Liza Lim, John McCabe, Richard Mills, Kate Neal, Steve Reich, Terry Riley, Andrew Schultz, Harry Sparnaay, Peteris Vasks and Carl Vine.

Partnerships

Composition at the Conservatorium also has a number of industry partnerships:

Want to know more?

Get information on the courses you’re interested in, or ask our team a question.

Make an enquiry

Conservatorium Events

  • Jazz and Improvisation Winter Camp 2025

    7 July 2025 - 11 July 2025
    We are inviting high school aged instrumentalists and vocalists in years 9-12 to spend a week on campus and explore the world of Jazz and Improvisation. Meet like-minded musicians and develop your playing, skill set and creativity when approaching Jazz music and exploring Improvisation. The w...
  • Arts & Peacebuilding Workshop: Creative tools for engaging with conflict

    Friday 18 July 2025 9:15am - 7:00pm
    Are you curious about how the arts can support peacebuilding and dialogue? Join this research workshop to explore participatory, arts-based tools designed to support creative approaches to conflict mapping, an important step in peacebuilding and dialogue. Facilitated by researcher and practit...
  • Master of Music (Orchestral Performance) Showcase Concert

    Wednesday 30 July 2025 7:30pm - 9:00pm
    Join our Master of Music (Orchestral Performance) students for their annual showcase concert. You will hear the entire cohort perform alongside elite musicians from our city’s professional orchestras in performances of Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf and Saint-Saëns’s Carnival of the Animals. The ...
  • Clarinet and Saxophone Mega Day

    Saturday 2 August 2025 10:00am - 7:00pm
    We’re inviting clarinet and saxophone players to join us for workshops, masterclasses, rehearsals and performances with our incredible Mega Ensembles directed by David Griffiths and Joseph Lallo. Participants will engage in workshops, masterclasses, rehearsals, meet with like-minded musicians and...
  • French Horn Mega Day

    Sunday 3 August 2025 9:00am - 6:00pm
    We’re inviting French Horn players of all ages and abilities to come experience a day at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music! This jam-packed day will provide participants with the opportunity to engage in masterclasses, rehearsals, panel discussions, meet with like-minded musicians and perform...
  • Guitar Festival 2025: Guitar Concerto

    Friday 8 August 2025 7:30pm - 9:30pm
    This event is presented as part of the 2025 Guitar Festival at the Conservatorium   Works for guitar and string orchestra by Peter Sculthorpe, Joaquin Rodrigo and a new concerto written by Melody Eotvos. Soloists: Gerard Mapstone, Natalie Poloni, Zixiao Wei and Ken Murray. More u...
  • Guitar Festival 2025: The Blues and the Abstract Truth

    Saturday 9 August 2025 3:00pm - 4:00pm
    This event is presented as part of the 2025 Guitar Festival at the Conservatorium Doug de Vries and James Sherlock in concert. A rare opportunity to hear these two guitar masters in duo. More upcoming Faculty of Fine Arts and Music events
  • Guitar Festival 2025: Kanahi Yamashita

    Saturday 9 August 2025 7:30pm - 9:30pm
    This event is presented as part of the 2025 Guitar Festival at the Conservatorium A concert featuring international guitarist Kanahi Yamashita.   Kanahi Yamashita is supported by Altamira Guitars. More upcoming Faculty of Fine Arts and Music events
  • Guitar Festival 2025: 100 Guitar Ensemble

    Sunday 10 August 2025 3:00pm - 4:00pm
    This event is presented as part of the 2025 Guitar Festival at the Conservatorium This showcase concert features the staff and students of the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music, Guitar Festival participants and guest artists. Performances by the Leading Edge Guitar Ensemble and the Guitar ...
  • Guitar Festival 2025

    8 August 2025 - 10 August 2025
    We’re inviting guitarists of all ages, abilities and walks of life to come experience a weekend at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music! Participants will enjoy engaging workshops, connect with like-minded musicians, attend seminars by international artists and perform incredible music together....
  • Guitar Festival 2025: Gabriel Bianco

    Sunday 10 August 2025 7:30pm - 9:30pm
    This event is presented as part of the 2025 Guitar Festival at the Conservatorium A concert featuring international Guitarist Gabriel Bianco.   Gabriel Bianco is supported by Altamira Guitars. More upcoming Faculty of Fine Arts and Music events
  • Symposium: Musical Exile, Migration and Cultural Mobility

    15 August 2025 - 16 August 2025
    When musicians become migrants, they often exert a profound influence on their new environment: transforming concert life, creating or reshaping music institutions, and contributing to music education. This symposium considers the significance of migration for music-making, examining themes such ...
  • The University of Melbourne Wind Symphony Concert

    Sunday 17 August 2025 5:00pm - 7:00pm
    Join The University of Melbourne’s Wind Symphony for their third concert of 2025. The ensemble’s energetic program kicks off with the Paul Hindemith’s Symphony in B-flat. The concert also features two Australian composer premieres and horn soloist, Carla Blackwood. The evening will conclude w...
  • Queensland Conservatorium Wind Orchestra and The University of Melbourne Wind Symphony

    Thursday 21 August 2025 7:30pm - 9:00pm
    The Queensland Conservatorium Wind Orchestra joins forces with The University of Melbourne Wind Symphony to present a program of epic contemporary works for wind, brass and percussion, including the world premiere of Symphony No. 4 for Winds by Paul Dean. Program: Daugherty – Lost Vegas ...
  • The University of Melbourne Wind Symphony

    Saturday 23 August 2025 7:30pm - 9:30pm
    Join The University of Melbourne Wind Symphony for their first concert in Verbrugghen Hall! The energetic program kicks off with the Hindemith Symphony in B-flat. The concert will also feature two Australian composer premieres and horn soloist, Carla Blackwood. The evening will conclude with Kevi...
  • Interactive Composition Mega Day

    Sunday 24 August 2025 10:00am - 6:00pm
    Interactive Composition invites sound designers, songwriters, producers, DJs, music and sound makers of all genres, abilities and walks of life, to come experience a day at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music! Interactive Composition Mega Day offers interaction with professional songwriters...
  • Piano Festival 2025: An evening song and dance

    Saturday 11 October 2025 7:30pm - 9:00pm
    This event is presented as part of the 2025 Piano Festival at the Conservatorium. Conservatorium Keyboard Area staff join together to perform solo and duo repertoire that was inspired by – or emulates the spirit of – both song and dance. The concert will showcase our internationally recognise...
  • Piano Festival 2025

    11 October 2025 - 12 October 2025
    Pianists at both the pre-tertiary and tertiary level are invited to spend the weekend with our Keyboard Area staff at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music. The festival will feature the entire Conservatorium Keyboard Area staff in a gala concert on Saturday 11 October. This concert titled An Eve...
  • Gender Defying Jazz 2025

    2 November 2025 - 7 December 2025
    Gender Defying Jazz (GDJ) is a program run by Andrea Keller, Head of Jazz & Improvisation at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music, University of Melbourne. Beginning in 2017 and originally called Girls Do Jazz, the name of the program has been changed to Gender Defying Jazz, to more truly re...

News

Exhibit combines sound art and ecology at Venice Biennale

7 May 2025
University of Melbourne researchers will unveil the ‘Song of the Cricket’ at the 19th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, opening in V...

Inside the musician: Stuart Greenbaum: Emerging from the darkness

15 August 2022
Professor in Composition at the Conservatorium, Stuart Greenbaum, has released 'A Trillion Miles of Darkness', a new album of soulful, evocative music featuring the clarinet....

Nigel Westlake wins University of Melbourne Albert H Maggs Award for Composition

23 November 2020
The University of Melbourne last week decided the 2020 winner of the Albert H Maggs Composition Award as Nigel Westlake for his piece, Sacred Sky....

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