Nerida Tyson-Chew

Nerida Tyson-Chew (born 1965) is an Australian music composer, conductor and orchestrator, principally working in screen music. She won her first Australian Guild of Screen Composers (AGSC) Award, in 1996, for her work on Hotel Sorrento and Brilliant Lies (1996). With Hotel Sorrento she was also nominated for an AFI Award for Best Original Music Score in 1995. In 2003 she won the Screen Music Award, co-presented by AGSC with APRA AMCOS, category Best Music for a Mini-Series or Telemovie for Evil Never Dies ; in 2007 she won Best Music for a Television Series or Serial for Two Twisted, episode "Delivery Man" (2006) and she won Best Music for a Documentary for Trishna & Krishna: The Quest for Separate Lives (2009) in 2010. At the APRA Music Awards of 2020 she was acknowledged for her Distinguished Services to the Australian Screen.

Biography Nerida Tyson-Chew was born in 1965. She was raised in Sydney where she attended the State Conservatorium of Music, then University of Sydney for a Bachelor of Music with honours in composition. When composing she uses "4 Ps : Pencil, Paper, Piano and Performer." She began her career as an orchestrator for Australian composer Bruce Rowland.

Tyson-Chew gained widespread recognition for screen music composition on her first feature film, Hotel Sorrento (1995), which was directed by Richard Franklin. In the following year she worked on Franklin's next film, Brilliant Lies. She won her first Australian Guild of Screen Composers (AGSC) Award, in 1996, in the category Best Music for a Children's Television Series for the two films. She had also received a nomination for the AFI Award for Best Original Music Score for Hotel Sorrento in 1995. Her third film with Franklin, One Way Ticket (1997), was a made-for-television drama. The composer collaborated with the director on most of his subsequent projects – he also provided lyrics for some of her tunes. Tyson-Chew typically starts with a description from a film's director (in this case, Graham Rattigan) and on her grand piano in her suburban home she writes the themes and melodies, some for an entire orchestra (Melbourne Symphony Orchestra). From 2002 AGSC combined with APRA AMCOS to provide the Screen Music Awards. At the 2003 ceremony she won Best Music for a Mini-Series or Telemovie for Evil Never Dies . At the APRA Music Awards of 2020 in December she was acknowledged for her Distinguished Services to the Australian Screen, which recognised her long-term career as a composer in diverse forms including film, TV dramas, children's programmes and documentaries.

Awards and nominations

AGSC Awards

The Australian Guild of Screen Composers (AGSC) sponsored the AGSC Awards from 1996 to 2000. From 1992 to 2001 APRA AMCOS had provided two screen music-based categories, Best Television Theme and Best Film Score, at their annual ceremonies.

Australian Women in Music Awards The Australian Women in Music Awards is an annual event that celebrates outstanding women in the Australian Music Industry who have made significant and lasting contributions in their chosen field. They commenced in 2018. 2018 Nerida Tyson-Chew Musical Excellence Award