For Australian composer Andrew Schultz, opening a door on an orchestra playing is a step into a magical realm, a world in which fantastic and endless possibilities are at work just as much as in the enchanted forests of fairy tales. This landmark Australian recording, performed by the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra and conducted by Richard Mills, captures such a world, with three of the Sydney-based composer’s major orchestral works represented.

The deeply moving Endling describes the ‘last surviving individual of a species or plant’ and the feeling of immense regret and sorrow about all that has been lost from the face of the earth. The theme of nature and the spirit of imagination continues in the Violin Concerto, featuring internationally-renowned English violinist Jennifer Pike, as Schultz dreams of superb natural settings and the sounds of echoed music and voices across lakes, forests and mountains. Stories – abstract or simple, familiar or unknown – are told in Once Upon A Time. Dreams unfold and are crushed, characters ridiculous and sublime strut the stage, the tragic and the bizarre are juxtaposed, and the heroic and the desolate stand together. Schultz’s musical language is ineffable and mysterious yet absolutely powerful and direct, and the ‘story’ is different for every pair of ears that hears this important new album.

About Andrew Schultz…
Andrew Schultz was born in Adelaide in 1960 and grew up in regional NSW and Victoria before his family moved to Brisbane, where he completed his secondary schooling. He has been the recipient of various awards in Australia and overseas, including Australia Council Fellowships, Fulbright Award, Commonwealth Scholarship, Paul Lowin Prize, Schueler Composition Award, Maggs Award and the APRA Music Award for Contemporary Classical Composition of the Year. Schultz has held posts and residencies including Head of Composition and Music Studies at the Guildhall School of Music (London) and Professor of Composition and Dean of Creative Arts at the University of Wollongong (Australia). He is currently Professor of Music at the University of New South Wales, Sydney. He has also served as Chair of the Arts NSW Music Committee, Chair of the Australian Music Centre Board and Editor of the Biographical Directory of Australian Composers. Other significant works include those such as cantata Journey to Horseshoe Bend (2002-03, libretto by Gordon Kalton Williams), Wild Flower (2006) written for The Song Company and Beach Burial for Sydney Philharmonia Choirs (2009).