founders

Lisa Cheney is an Australian composer, orchestrator and arranger based in Melbourne. She has had works performed by The Australian Voices, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Southern Cross Soloists, Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra and The Australian Ballet. Cheney graduated with a Bachelor and Master of Music in Composition, mentored by Gerard Brophy, Dr. Gerardo Dirie and Dr. Brydie Bartleet at the Queensland Conservatorium of Music. In 2017 Cheney was named the Victorian Young Achiever of the Year for the Arts and was the recipient of the Art Music Fund to write a new opera for children based on Edward Lear’s nonsense poem, The Owl and the Pussycat. Cheney is currently a PhD candidate at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music, supervised by Dr. Elliot Gyger and Dr. Katy Abbott. www.lisacheney.com.au

Peggy Polias is a composer and music copyist based in Sydney. She prepares scores, instrumental parts and other print music materials for some of Australia’s leading composers. Polias has also worked for the Australian Music Centre and assisted with the start-up of publishing label Wildbird Music. In 2010 she graduated with a Master of Music (Composition), supervised by Professor Anne Boyd at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. www.peggypolias.com

 team members

Marlēné Radice is a Melbourne based composer who specialises in notated electroacoustic composition. Marlēné’s music has been performed and recorded by theSonic.Art Quartet, COUP Melbourne, Feminatronic and her electronic duo Erwartung. She has been commissioned as sound designer and composer for Canberra’s National Museum of Australia in 2017 and Questacon in 2013. Marlēné completed a double degree in Music and Arts (Italian) at the Australian National University. In 2016 she completed her Honours in Composition at Monash University with Prof Mary Finsterer. Marlene Claudine Radice Soundcloud
Timeline: Internship, September 2016 – July 2017. Team Member: January 2018 – March 2019.

Mark Wolf is a composer of concert and film music based in Brisbane. In the pursuit of presenting temporally obscure musical experiences, his artistic vision is being realised through the translation of architectural ‘space’ into musical ‘time’ mirroring the unconventional spatial design qualities expressed in a cutting edge contemporary architecture. Wolf was recently announced the winner in the solo category of the 2017 Flute New Music Consortium Composition Competition for his solo flute piece Hamarøy Troll. He was also the winner of the 2015 ICon Arts International Composition Competition for his Second String Quartet “The Flying Roof”. Recent projects include an extended solo work for Anthony Zatorski entitled Plato’s Cave in Concrete, scored for baritone voice, toy piano, melodica and electronics. Part One received its première at Anthony’s ‘Set in Stone’ concert in Adelaide. Spiral Spring for chamber orchestra to be premièred by players of the Queensland Symphony Orchestra in November 2017; and Rubin’s Vase for Ensemble Móbile commissioned by Núcleo Música Nova, and performed at the IV Bienal Música Hoje, Brazil, 2017. www.australianmusiccentre.com.au/artist/wolf-mark
Timeline: Internship, January – July 2017. Team Member:  August 2017 – January 2018.

Ethan Connor McAlister is a musician based in Canberra. As a post-experimental composer and electric guitarist, Ethan views his work as curated autobiographical documentation. Through the reduction of sonic possibilities in his music, Ethan explores sound in interactions and stillnesses. He has studied performance and composition at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music, before completing his honours in Canberra under the direction of Kim Cunio. Ethan is currently a contemporary guitar/bass and theory instructor in locations across Canberra. Ethan Connor McAlister Soundcloud 
Timeline: Internship March 2018 – September 2018. Team Member: October 2018 – June 2019.

interns

We’re grateful to the amazing community of volunteer new music lovers, past and present, who contribute to Making Waves. We offer an six-month online internship pathway to becoming a fully fledged team member. If you would like to join the team we would love to hear from you. Read more.

Stella Joseph-Jarecki is a writer and classically-trained soprano who is slightly fanatical about writing about music. She would love to work to break down the intimidating cloud which can hover above the world of classical music and opera for many young people. In 2018 she completed her Honours thesis on film scores of 1940s Hollywood films (focusing on the work of Erich Wolfgang Korngold), and is particularly interested in researching the relationship between music and drama. In October of 2019, Stella established Fever Pitch Magazine, an online newsletter for young musicians, music therapists, educators, composers and arts administrators. Fever Pitch Magazine 
Timeline: March 2019 – current.

Rachel Bruerville (b. 1991) is a South Australian composer, arranger, cellist, singer, and writer. She writes music for the concert hall, the theatre, and other collaborative work, and is currently Composer in Residence with Young Adelaide Voices, supported by a 2019 Carclew Fellowship. Rachel hopes to always make music to entertain, to educate, and to be explored and enjoyed by audiences of any musical or non-musical background. When she’s not in a rehearsal, you might find her hanging out in the Hufflepuff common room. Rachel Bruerville’s Soundcloud
Timeline: February 2019 – current.

Aidan Maizels is a composer, electric bassist, guitarist and producer.  Having completed a Bachelor of Music (Composition) at the University of Melbourne in 2016, Aidan has since devoted most of his time to his own solo music project; combining elements of classical, electronic, ambient and psychedelic music to create a unique strand of experimental rock. His tracks have received airplay on many community FM radio stations, including Melbourne’s PBS and RRR, as well as Brisbane’s 4ZZZ. Aidan also works in musical instrument retail and plays bass for several acts around Melbourne.  Aidan Maizels’ Soundcloud
Timeline: October 2018 – April 2019.

Michelle Nguyen is a composer and sound artist focussing on live processing and sample-based studio production. She is interested in exploring texture and how immersive sound worlds are created, as well as forming new ways to think about sound and music with current and upcoming technologies. She has had work performed at Tilde New Music and Sound Art Festival and BIFEM, as well as interactive installation work as part of a collaboration with Humphrey Cheung shown at Newkind Festival and Culture Jam events. At Monash University, Michelle is currently completing her Honours of Music Composition, and is part of a collective of music students that organises Future Creatives Festival. Michelle Nguyen Soundcloud
Timeline: November 2017 – May 2018.

Alexis Weaver is an electroacoustic composer based in Sydney, Australia. She fuses her traditional musical education with the ever-expanding area of music technology to create vibrant acousmatic sound worlds. She has composed soundtracks for animation, short stories, radio, and the Sydney Fringe Festival. Her acousmatic and radiophonic works have been broadcast overseas in France and Scotland, with a recent feature in the 2017 RMN Music Album, Electroacoustic and Beyond Volume 2, and the Australian Museum’s Culture Up Late Series beginning January 2018. Alexis is also a co-founder of the all-female experimental music group, lost+sound, and is beginning her Master of Composition at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music in 2018. Alexis Weaver soundcloud
Timeline: November 2017 – March 2018.

Angus Baxter is a composer of orchestral, chamber and electronic music. Having experienced a lifelong passion for the mysteries of the distant past, Angus initially trained as an archeologist. After completing a Bachelor of Arts (Music) at the University of Sydney in 2015, Angus moved to Melbourne to take up graduate study in composition at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music where he is currently enrolled. Angus Baxter Soundcloud
Timeline: May – October 2016. 

Would you like to join our team? email makingwavesnewmusic@gmail.com