Cameron Lam

BIOGRAPHY

Cameron Lam is a freelance composer, the Artistic Director of Sydney-based hybrid-art production company, Kammerklang, and the Art Music Specialist at the Australasian Performing Rights Association (APRA AMCOS).

His compositional experience has always been based in practical work and experimentation. After completing his Bachelor of Music Composition (Honours) at the Sydney Conservatorium, Cameron’s career has focused on collaboration, interdisciplinary practice, and entrepreneurship. He has had the pleasure of collaborating with and writing for many of Australia’s leading musicians such as acclaimed percussionist Claire Edwardes, vocal ensemble Halcyon, the Nexas Saxophone Quartet, contrabass clarinettist Sue Newsome, and YouTuber and EWI player Peter Smith.

These partnerships have led to multiple commissions, premieres and four portrait albums – the fifth, ‘The Art of Disappearing’ in collaboration with poet Sarah Holland-Batt, is due for release in June 2019.

Cameron is proud to be an Australian Music Centre represented composer, Fine Music 102.5FM’s 2018 Stephen Kruger Scholar, and featured in US publisher NewMusicShelf’s recent ‘Anthology of New Music for Mezzo Soprano’.

Composer website:  www.cameronlam.com or www.kammerklang.com

FEATURED WORKS

The Colour of Woods, for marimba and temple blocks.

“Written for percussionist Claire Edwardes in Kammerklang’s first project, Kammerklang 2009, ‘The Colour of Woods’ explores the physicality of percussion playing, often sending the poor percussionist careening from one end of the marimba to the other, as well as the depth of tone colours available with wooden percussion.

The piece was inspired by the mythological stories and character of Coyote in Tom Sidell’s Gunnerkrigg Court and seeks to capture his otherworldly, powerful and playful essence.”

Featured in Playlist 1: Chamber Waves (31/1/15)

Orphic Hymn No 9: Selene, for solo soprano, solo mezzo-soprano and chamber orchestra.

Orphic Hymn #9 is chronologically the second of the 87 Orphic Hymns I have set and is dedicated to Selene, the Greek moon goddess. Programmatically, the piece follows the ritual of two moon priestesses; one a wise old crone, the mezzo-soprano, and the soprano, a naïve apprentice. These characters present the original Ancient Greek text as well as the English translation, prepared by Karl Hand, highlighting their different viewpoints on the mystical nature of the moon.

Featured in Long Waves – August 2016.

Three Landscapes: I. Alien Sunrise for EWI duo.

Three Landscapes (2015) was the last set of pieces to be written for this album, after Peter Anthony Smith requested a set of EWI duos. These are probably the most heavily inspired by video game music and Peter’s YouTube channel. All three are particularly inspired by Keiichi Suzuki and Hirokazu Tanaka’s score for Mother 2 (or Earthbound).

Alien Sunrise depicts an alien world at sunrise, panning between the wilderness, a busy city and the dawn itself.

Featured in Space Waves – June 2017, curated by Marlene Radice.

Golden Bird, for solo EWI (electronic wind instrument) and piano.

For Golden Bird, I wanted to write a piece where the piano joins after a prolonged solo opening. The final piece hangs on the soloist’s expressiveness and ability to hold the audience’s attention whether accompanied by the piano or by silence. This arrangement, commissioned by EWI-ist Peter Smith, really showcases the EWI’s delicacy and nuance as an instrument. “The soloist is the bird, the piano it’s gilded cage”.

Featured in Electronic Waves (April 2019), curated by Aidan Maizels.