Michael SMETANIN

Michael SMETANIN is probably the most distinctive figure among younger Australian composers. Born in 1958 of Russian parents he completed his Bachelor of Music in Composition at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music winning several young composers' prizes, including the Frank Hutchens Scholarship in three successive years.

In 1982, having been awarded an International Fellowship by the Music Board of the Australia Council, Smetanin went to study with leading Dutch composer Louis ANDRIESSEN at the Royal Conservatorium in The Hague. Further awards from the Netherlands Ministry of Education and Science, and the Amsterdam Foundation for Arts Funds enabled him to spend two and a half years studying with Andriessen until December 1984.

While studying in Holland, Smetanin composed his first major work Track (for 12 musicians, in collaboration with the ensemble Hoketus. In 1984 he wrote The Ladder of Escape for Harry SPARNAAY's Het Basklarinetten Kollektief. This work was premiered at the 1984 Salzburg Aspekte Festival in Austria and has since received many performances all over the world. It has been recorded by Sparnaay (Attacca LP, now on CD) and its title was appropriated for a whole series of new music CDs issued by Attacca.

Since Smetanin's return to Australia, his work has continued to garner awards including the inaugural New South Wales Young Composers Award, Per Canonem II was selected for performance at the International Gaudeamus Foundation Music Week in Amsterdam, second prize in the 1989 Olympia International Composition Competition (Greek Radio) for his string quartet Red Lightning, the Sounds Australian State Awards for his controversial orchestral work Black Snow, which gained front-page headlines in the national press, the 1991 Sounds Australian National award for best chamber work for Spray, and first prize in the Georges Enescu International Composition Competition for the work Fylgjir.

During this period his music both crytallised and diversified--the initial minimalist influences of his work, already sharpened and refined by his contact with Andriessen were partly supplanted by a more abrasive hyper-energetic style, whose roots can be found in sources as diverse as Stravinsky, `funk´ and Xenakis.

In February 1993, the internationally acclaimed ELISION Ensemble presented the first programme entirely devoted to Smetanin's music, including the premiere of Hot Block for electric guitar, amplified percussion and live electronics, and the large-scale song cycle The Skinless Kiss of Angels for soprano, baritone and 15 musicians. These works were subsequently recorded for compact disc by ELISION and released on ABC Classics in May 1995.

Smetanin's largest works to-date are two operas. The first is the chamber opera The Burrow, with libretto by Alison CROGGAN, which is a `psychological profile´ of Franz Kafka during his last minutes of life. It created a sensation when it was premiered at the 1994 The Festival of Perth, with Lyndon TERRACINI as Kafka. It received a Sydney season shortly after and was also presented in Melbourne by Chamber Made Opera in 1995. The work has been recorded for CD release. His second opera Gauguin has recently been completed.

April 1996