Gordon Kerry

Gordon Kerry (born 1961) is an Australian composer, music administrator, music writer and music critic.

Career

Kerry studied composition at the University of Melbourne under Barry Conyngham. He then worked for the Sydney Festival After the retirement of Fred Blanks, Kerry was invited to become a music critic for the Sydney Morning Herald. a post he held for 18 months but left as he had too little time to compose. He then became the organisation's musical adviser.

His Clarinet Concerto was commissioned by Symphony Australia and was premiered on 21 August 2002, with soloist Francesco Celata and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra under Sir Mark Elder. It includes a short quotation from Kerry's "Fioritura", a short solo piece written for Celata.

In 2012 he was Musica Viva Australia's Composer-in-Residence.

On 16 May 2012, Kerry's opera Midnight Son was premiered at the Malthouse Theatre, Melbourne, by Victorian Opera. Its libretto was by Louis Nowra, and it was directed by Nicki Wendt. The opera was based on the 2005 murder of Maria Korp by her husband Joe Korp's lover Tania Herman, and Joe Korp's subsequent suicide (it was originally to be called Korp). Principal soloists were Antoinette Halloran and Byron Watson. Although all the names were changed, members of the Korp family and victims of crime organisations criticised the production for lack of sensitivity.

His opera The Snow Queen (libretto by John Kinsella, based on the fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen) was commissioned by Victorian Opera, and was premiered in Wodonga on 3 November 2017, conducted by Richard Mills.

In May 2021, his Sinfonia Concertante for flute, clarinet and orchestra, was premiered by Alison Mitchell, Irit Silver and the Queensland Symphony Orchestra under Benjamin Northey.

Selected other works

Sinfonietta (1992, for the Perth International Arts Festival) Cello Concerto (1997–98; Truls Mørk, Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, Michael Halász) Opera Snow White and Other Grimm Tales (2015; libretto by John Kinsella)

Awards and nominations

APRA Music Awards

The APRA Awards are presented annually from 1982 by the Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA). They include the Art Music Awards, which are distributed by APRA AMCOS and the Australian Music Centre (AMC). "String Quintet No. 2" (Gordon Kerry) for Australian String Quartet and Pieter Wispelwey