We are delighted to announce the appointment of Ms Louisa Trewartha to the position of Musical Director of the Footscray-Yarraville City Band.

Louisa brings a wealth of performance experience to this role having performed regularly as a casual musician with Orchestra Victoria and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, and also extensively as a freelance trumpeter for many years.

Louisa has worked brilliantly with the band since earlier this year as our interim MD, and we are thrilled that she has officially accepted the position.

Louisa will lead us at the Victorian State Band Championships in Ballarat this Saturday, and we are looking forward to working closely with her for years to come!

My new album Colours Vibrant is available HERE on bandcamp.com

It features Josh Rogan playing my Trumpet Concerto, Leigh Harrold playing the piano reduction, myself playing the Flugelhorn Concerto, and an incredible orchestra made up of talented musos from around Melbourne. What you won’t hear is Brett Kelly and myself conducting and Steve Semmler-Farr as Sound Engineer and Co-Producer. The project has been supported by Creative Victoria and through crowdfunding.

In early Feb 2019, I joined a dozen other musicians to delve into the world of adjudication. Run by Maestros with a Mission, this two day (twelve hour) professional development was directed by Kevin Cameron and Matt Klohs, assisted by Kara Williams.

The seminars covered:

• Adjudication and Philosophy
• Methodology of Assessment
• Score Preparation for Adjudication
• Technique and the Technical
• Report Writing and Feedback Techniques
• Public Speaking for Adjudicators
• Adjudication Panel with Q&A
• Mock Adjudications: Solo String, Woodwind, & Brass. Brass Ensemble. Brass Band

On day two we were joined by Mark Ford, Eric Andersen, and Andrew Snell who assisted with mock auditions and provided incredible insight during the Q&A. All very experienced adjudicators, their advice was invaluable. Thanks to the Victorian Bands League for giving me the opportunity to attend this workshop. I can now approach future adjudication with the confidence needed to positively encourage performers.

The biggest project I completed in 2018 was a commission for the Regional Centre for Culture. The Nature of Sound, was written for 30 pipes & drums, and 70 brass & percussion. In September, the premiere in Daylesford was unfortunately rained out, but a recording session was held in December to archive and acknowledge the piece.

A big shout-out to the co-producers of the Regional Centre for Culture, Jo Porter and Elizabeth Walsh who not only got me on board with this brilliant project, but also produced hundreds of incredible cultural events in Central Victoria throughout 2018.

 

A short video about the project can be found here.

 

A month-long Kickstarter campaign has wrapped up successfully to fundraise for the post-production costs of my new album. The twelve track album will feature my Flugelhorn Concerto and Trumpet Concerto, with both orchestral accompaniment and a piano reduction. Click here for more info.

 

The premiere of Louisa’s new piece Drone Swarm, for trumpet and electronics will be at:

Augmented Trumpet – First Blood

Presenting the first compositions for Elliott Hughes‘ Augmented Trumpet. 

Six Melbourne composers have written new works for trumpet & electronics, designed to feature the homebuilt valve sensor that makes the instrument ‘augmented’. The sensor allows the electronics to synchronise with the acoustic sound through the movement of the valves, opening up new possibilities for each composer to explore.

Live visuals will accompany the new pieces, creating a multi-sensory experience.

On Saturday 4 August 2018 at 8:00pm

BUY TICKETS

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ABOUT: Drone Swarm

Story 1: Bees are dying at an alarming rate because of the actions of humans. Bees are responsible for 80 percent of the worlds pollination. In other words: they give us food! We need bees more than they need us, but we’re killing them.

Story 2: Drones (autonomous unmanned aircrafts) are powerful. Used in warfare since 2002, the ethics of this technology is very, very messy. Drone swarms (multiple drones) are even more dangerous and are currently being tested for warfare. 

What happens next? Choose your own adventure! 

(Both stories end with the smartest, richest, and prettiest humans moving to Mars)

I just received a recording of my concert band work, Silver Lake. This piece was commissioned and performed (Oct 17) by the Mid America Freedom Band. This work takes inspiration from the book By the Shores of Silver Lake, written by Laura Ingalls Wilder. This is the fifth book in the Little House book series, and was published in 1939. The piece depicts a day at Silver Lake (the area now known as De Smet, South Dakota.)

Here is a preview of the work:

This work will be published and available for purchase in 2019! Stay tuned 🙂

 

 

Announced in December 2017:

 

Louisa’s composition At Night the Owl Hunts was selected by the South Carolina Music Educators Association as the winner for the Sight Reading Composition Contest, grade 2 category.

This short work will now be played by a beginner strings orchestra as a sight-reading work.