ANN CARR-BOYD

Born into a family of professional musicians in Sydney in 1938, Ann Carr-Boyd began her musical training at an early age, learning piano with her father Norbert Wentzel and violin with her uncle Charles Wentzel. At the same time she studied art with her mother Nyora. Her work in the visual arts has given an added dimension to her music, as she regards each musical work in much the same way as a painting, in that it has a framework which encloses colour, structure and climax.

She became the first Bachelor of Music graduate from Sydney University in 1960 and followed this with three years full time study for her Master of Arts, during which she became one of the first people to research the early history of European music in Australia. At the time, so little work had been done in this area that it was scarcely known that there was any history to record - a situation happily being rectified as Australia’s colourful and prolific musical past comes to light through the efforts of musicians, historians and most recently the Music Australia project established by the National Library of Australia and the Australian Music Centre.

Ann’s life as a composer began in earnest when she won the Sydney Moss Scholarship in 1963 and spent some years in England, studying composition with Peter Racine Fricker and then Alexander Goehr.

Since returning to Australia Ann has lived in Sydney and in recent years in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales. Her life as a musician covers many areas, including teaching; conducting numerous master classes in composition in schools and tertiary institutions; producing radio programs about Australian music and composers and performing and recording music by Australian composers.

Her output includes music for orchestra, works for chamber ensemble, vocal music, mandolin, harpsichord, organ and piano music and incidental music for theatre and television. She is always delighted when students perform her music for exams and assessments and has spent some wonderful moments meeting these students and listening to their performances. These works include piano pieces such as ‘Prelude’ and ‘Look at the Stars’ and works for violin and piano.

(Photograph by Nick van der Waarden)

OR for other works by Ann visit http://www.carlisleprint.com.au

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