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Was born in 1957 in the Uzbekistan capital of Tashkent.
At the age of fourteen she chose music as a career, and started studying
at the selective Gnessin Musical College in Moscow. In 1975, she and her
family emigrated from the Soviet Union to Australia. She entered the New
South Wales Conservatory as a pianist and as a composition student of
Richard Toop. Upon graduation in 1980 she received
a daad Fellowship to study with Helmut Lachenmann in Hanover. While in
Europe she became active in theatre and ballet, composing for state
theatres in Berlin, Vienna, Hamburg, and Bochum. After 13 years in
Germany, she returned to Australia in 1994. Since then she has become one
of Australia1s leading young composers. She has written two operas, two
piano concertos and works for performers such as David Pereira, David
Nuttal, Marshall McGuire, Stephanie McCallum, Alpha Ensemble, Evelyn
Glennie, Bang-on-a-Can All-Stars, the Australian Chamber Orchestra, and
the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. In 1996 she received the Jean Bogan Award
(for Charleston Noir) and the OSounds1 Australian State Award (for
Cadences, Deviations and Scarlatti). Three Oportrait1 cd1s of her music
have been released so far on the abc Classics, Wergo and Tall Poppies
labels (Clocks, Unceremonious Processions, Purple Black & Blues). Her
score for the ballet Wild Swans choreographed by Meryl Tankard, for the
Australian Ballet in May 2003, was a critical and popular triumph, setting
box office records for a new Australian work.
Selected works: Stairs for orchestra (1983), Tast- en
for piano (1990), Clocks for ensemble and tape (1993), Retonica for
orchestra (1993), Concertino for violin and ensemble (1994), Coco1s Last
Collection, suite for two pianos and dancer (1994), Clip for percussion
(1994, new version 1995), Cadences, Deviations and Scarlatti for two or
more instruments (1995), Chamber of Horrors for harp (1995), Peggy1s Rag
for piano (1996), ProMotion for six amplified instruments (1996),
Removalist Rag for piano (1996), Rug Rag for piano (1996), Russian Rag for
clarinet and piano (1996), The Schubert blues for piano (1996), Smash for
ensemble and tape (1996), Charleston Noir for string ensemble (1996), Doo
for children1s choir, mixed choir and vocal sextet (1996), Get Well Rag
for piano (1996), Gypsy Ramble for piano, viola and cello (1996),
Twenty-five Measures for solo clarinet (1996), Wedding suite for flute and
violin (1996), Wild Rice for cello (1996), Purple Prelude for piano (1996,
new version 1997), Talk Show, five songs for mixed choir (1997), Sunday
Rag for piano (1997), Zoom and Zip for string orchestra (1997), Gone with
the Waltz for vocal sextet (1997), Hemispheres for ensemble (1997), Iphis,
opera (1997), Champagne in a Teapot for English horn and 13 instruments
(1997), Kosky Tango for two clarinets, two violins, viola and cello
(1998), Matricide, the musical, opera (1998), The Widiwer for singer,
actor and 14 musicians (1999), Velvet Revolution for horn, violin and
piano (1999), Turn Table Turn for ensemble (1999), Combination Rag for
piano (1999), Le Gars, opera (1999), Backstage Rag (1999), Sarglos
for also saxophone, percussion and piano (1999), Displaced Dances for
piano and orchestra (2000), Deep Sea Dreaming for choir and orchestra
(2000), Heaven Is Closed for large orchestra (2000), Vitalia1s Steps for
solo percussion, piano and three pianists (2000), Character Interludes for
flute and guitar (2000), The MsTaken Identity for soprano and string
quartet (2000), Page Turn for piano (2000), Still Life for viola and piano
(2001), Smudged Mirror Shapes for piano (2001), Sand Waltz for flute, oboe,
clarinet, French horn and bassoon (2001), Numer 7 for piano (2001), Patina
for violin (2001), Piano Concerto No. 2 (2001), Rockhamton Rag for piano
(2001), Mystery for piano (2001), Almost
a Blues for piano (2001), Little Door for piano (2001), Ko1ysanka for
piano (2001), Cinema for piano (2001), Drums for piano (2001), For Rosa
for string quartet (2001), Garden Symphony for tenor solo, children1s
choir, mixed choir and orchestra (2002), Chamber1s Apprentice for oboe and
piano (2002), Interlude 2 for viola (2002), Memorial Rag for three
children1s choirs and string quartet (2002), Mr Barbeque, 12 cabaret songs
for singer and chamber ensemble (2002), Wild Swans, ballet music for
orchestra (2002), Torque for solo accordion and chamber ensemble (2002),
A-void-ance for violin, cello and piano (2002), Bleached Memories for
guitar ensemble (2002), Next, Please! for baritone and ensemble (2002),
Differenz/Wiederholung 7 for large orchestra and electronics (2002),
Bertina for two guitars, clarinet, cello and marimba (2003)
Gypsy Ramble
The piece was written in 1996 for the Australian ensemble Perihelion. The
initial thought was to write a dry and Odriving1 piece, reminiscent of
elements of baroque music. However, as quite often is the fact with my
pieces, after the first couple of pages, there was gradually
a melody evolving out of that texture and it reminded me of a gypsy song I
heard as a child in Russia. This melody took on a life of its own and
became a set of variations on the theme, at times growing into an almost a
tango and at other times into a choral-like material, playing with the
harmonies of the Gypsy song. Two other main elements of the work are the
major third stated by the piano at the beginning which recurs a number of
times in the course of the piece, and an ostinato figure later in the work,
in which piano1s high register is extensively pitted against the strings.
Elena Kats-Chernin
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