Making Waves was honoured to be positively singled out by Cat Hope in her 2018 Peggy Glanville-Hicks Address as an example of “individuals and initiatives working for change” in regards to gender representation in the new music sector.

Read Cat’s full address in Limelight Magazine here.

Making Waves curators Peggy Polias and Lisa Cheney share their reflection on 4 years of Making Waves with the Music Trust‘s Loud Mouth E-Zine.

Read the article here.

Making Waves has established itself as a leader in the representation of new Australian music, providing a diverse community of composers with the opportunity to have their incredible musical voices heard. The resources Peggy, Lisa, and the team have produced gift the country with an invaluable aural archive of culture and creativity, and empower listeners to unearth lesser-heard music.

There are many hurdles that musicians must jump in order to get their music heard, and Making Waves is working hard to give those in the art music world a leg up.  It is quite simply one of the best and easiest ways for composers and performers in the early/mid-stages of their careers to share their sounds, and we are constantly pushing for ways to further engage, promote and support contemporary classical/art musicians.

The Arts only thrive through community, and yet resource and opportunity scarcity so often leads to division and competition. The absolute beauty of Making Waves is that it is about celebrating work, about visibility, and about diversity in all its guises.

Making Waves was a perfect way for me to get outside my own composing bubble and actively engage with the new music community by supporting other composers. During my time as an intern and much longer time as a MW fan, the podcast has expanded my listening horizons more than I could ever hope to do by myself.

Making Waves presents so-called ‘art music’ in a demystifying, interesting and ‘accessible’ way.

“I wanted to say congratulations on season 1 of Making Conversation. I thoroughly enjoyed it and have listened to almost every one. I loved the variety of composers (both stylistically and geographically), and also the variety of interviewers. It was great to hear from composers no longer residing in Australia and I think you covered a good range of emerging and more established names. I think the length of each podcast was a digestible length – even if I was at times a little hungry for more, while some others were spot on in length… I have absolutely loved setting aside an hour each month to delve into the world of another composer, to invite my ears to their sound and life.”

Stephanie Eslake of CutCommon magazine interviews Sasha Kelly about her involvement in the Making Conversation podcast series

About her experience as an interviewer for Making Conversation Sasha says: “I loved it – everyone has an interesting story, and I love hearing everyone’s different opinions on the importance of new music.”

Read the article here.

Making Waves curators Peggy Polias and Lisa Cheney talk to the AMC about our monthly playlists and the Making Conversation podcast series.

About the podcast series Peggy and Lisa write: “After a solid first year of programming 12 hours of music in playlists, we found ourselves yearning to know more about the composers behind the music. While some of the featured composers were colleagues whom we had met, others we only knew from afar. As we delved into their bios, we began to discover the many permutations of a ‘portfolio career’. The more we learned, the more we wanted to find out. How did they work? How do they balance creativity and life? What are their fears? What are their passions? Why do they compose?”

Read the article here.

Making Waves curators Peggy Polias and Lisa Cheney talk to Re:hearsal Magazine about  about our International Women’s Day special edition playlist. Read the article here.

Antoinia Zappia of CutCommon magazine outlines how best to approach listening to the Making Conversation podcast series. Read the article here.

Andrew Ford speaks to Sally Macarthur, Lisa Moore and Making Waves’ own Peggy Polias about the raw deal facing women composers. The panel not only highlight the issues but also proffer solutions. Learn more here, and listen again to the radio show, which first aired 6/08/2016.

Making Waves is delighted to be acknowledged for our goal of maintaining gender parity among featured composers. Read more about the issue of gender in new music and some suggested ways to address this from  Sally Macarthur, Cat Hope, and Dawn Bennett in ‘The sound of silence: why aren’t Australia’s female composers being heard?‘

And of course, listen back through the Making Waves archives for an amazing array of music from Australian composers of all genders. As well as providing hours of listening enjoyment, we hope this collection of recordings can inspire and influence the programming of ensembles and major arts organisations!

Stephanie Eslake of CutCommon magazine discussed the motivation behind the Making Conversation Australian Composers Project. Read the article here.

Making Waves in 2015 and beyond

Australian Music Centre’s Resonate Magazine chats to the co-founders of Making Waves about the project’s origins and futures.

Great to see our International Women’s Day special edition playlist mentioned and embedded in a Limelight Magazine online article: International Women’s Day celebrated in Australian arts.

Well, it’s like going to a free concert of new Australian music, every month! And it’s composers from ALL around Australia, and the music is so varied you’re bound to hear something that excites or fascinates you. And you get to find out about all these other composers in other cities who you’d perhaps not hear of otherwise.

Great source for new music listening. When recommending to composers, I mention the necessity for new music composers to listen closely to our contemporaries and peers. When recommending to musical friends, I talk about listening to musical voices from different countries and perspectives.

Fantastic way to hear new music by Australia’s young and emerging talent… Good quality recordings too.