Biography

Carol Dixon pursued her ambition to become a composer after a career as a Health Professional. After studying a 2-year major in Piano performance with Caroline Almonte (2010 -11) at the University of Melbourne, she proceeded to study composition with Julian Yu, Katy Abbott, and Kevin March, and graduated in 2015 with a Bachelor of Music with Honours majoring in music composition. In 2014, she was one of four successful candidates in the national Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra Composer’s School with her second orchestral work, Language of a Song.

Since her graduation, Carol has forged an independent direction focusing on melodic lines. Her first commission in 2015 was Fantasia on a Melody for Ensemble con Fuoco, and she subsequently wrote for The Melbourne Women’s Choir. She completed a 13 minute piece in three movements brass quintet, Terra Firma, for Best of Brass (Brisbane). These compositions will receive public performances in 2015 by the ensembles for which they were composed. She has written her first Piano Trio, completed in August, and she continues to work towards further collaboration with local and interstate performing artists to perform her works in the coming year.

Featured Works

Terra Firma, for brass quintet.

Inspiration for this programmatic piece came from three great feats of nature. Tempi and character gain overall momentum as the piece progresses from the first to the third movement – Rock Chasm, Ice Melt, and Shifting Sands. Brass articulations, harmonic language, and overall musical expressions are chosen to reflect these three phenomenon.

Featured in Playlist 10 – Existential Waves (31/10/2015)