“one of Australia’s most versatile and prolific composers”
“an important voice in contemporary classical music”
“her creative vision reigns supreme ”
Photo by Nat Cartney@Rolling Media Productions
Dr Felicity Wilcox is an award-winning Australian composer, whose compositions are performed and broadcast in Australia and internationally. She has received commissions for many leading artists and ensembles, was composer and Assistant Music Director for the 2000 Paralympic Games in Sydney, and has composed the soundtracks for over 60 screen productions (as Felicity Fox). Her recent solo albums have received critical acclaim: her chamber opera Threading the Light (Move 2022) received 5-stars from Fine Music Sydney and her collection of chamber works, Uncovered Ground (Move 2021) received two 5-star reviews and was named ‘Pick of the week’ by music critics at the Sydney Morning Herald.
In Australia, Felicity’s works have been selected for international arts festivals including: Sydney Festival, Vivid Sydney, Canberra International Music Festival, and Sydney Mardi Gras Festival; and have been performed in iconic venues such as Sydney Opera House, Melbourne Recital Centre, and Belvoir St Theatre. Internationally her music has been programmed by arts organisations such as: Philadelphia Orchestra, New Music Network (USA), TurnUP Festival (USA), Sadari Theatre (Seoul), Claire Merviel Productions (Paris), Royal College of Music (London), Royal Northern College of Music (Manchester), Pantopia Festival (Berlin), and Balderin Sali (Helsinki), and has featured in international film festivals including Venice, Paris, Toronto, Berlin, Tokyo and others. Her film music has been shortlisted for three AFI/AACTA Awards, and an ARIA Award, as well as winning APRA/AGSC Screen Music and a FIFREC Award (France) for Best Music for Film.
Felicity is a Senior Lecturer in Music and Sound Design at the University of Technology Sydney, and the current recipient of a prestigious Discovery Early Career Researcher Award from the Australian Government, awarded to conduct research on gender in opera, and to compose a new contemporary chamber opera. She lives on unceded Darug Country in the Blue Mountains, NSW, Australia.
NEWS
Felicity’s forthcoming contemporary opera EMergenc/y and related research, New website now live!
Emergence is Felicity’s Discovery Early Career Researcher Award Project (PRO22-14336), running from 2023-2026, funded by the Australian Research Council and University of Technology Sydney.
As the key output for this project, Wilcox will create a new work of music theatre with renowned librettist Alana Valentine and a stellar team of singers, instrumentalists, and other creatives. Forthcoming also, are scholarly articles on gender in music and contemporary opera; and a podcast that will examine state-of-the-art and gender in contemporary opera, featuring interviews with diverse, leading, global practitioners.
Watch Emergenc/y trailer
Dr Felicity Wilcox invited to speak for Louise Hanson Dyer Colloquium, University of Melbourne, 9 May 2024.
Felicity is honoured to present a free, online, public lecture on her current ARC research titled, “Emergence: examining gender representation in music through contemporary opera practice.”
Felicity is heading to Classical: NEXT in Berlin!
Keeping fine company as part of a strong Australian contingent, Felicity is is thrilled to attend Classical:NEXT in Berlin from May 13-17, 2024! She will be promoting her new opera, EMERGENC/Y, and has also been invited to contribute to a panel on working with First Nations collaborators, May 14. Thanks to Sounds Australia for their support in facilitating what promises to be a rich experience among international music industry peers.
People of This Place released for the 5th time on a new compilation album!
Jason Noble’s exciting new recording of Felicity’s bass clarinet work People of This Place was released in April 2024, on Red Earth Luminous Connections, a beautiful compilation recorded live at Pantopia Festival in Berlin during Ensemble Offspring’s 2023 European tour.
‘Unified by themes of nature, universal concepts through the shared language of instrumental chamber music by First Nations composers alongside western heavyweights.’
Dr Felicity wilcox and Dr Barrie Shannon publish New report on women and minority genders in music
The Women and Minority Genders in Music report by Dr Felicity Wilcox and Dr Barrie Shannon presents new, primary data about the lived experience of over 200 music creators of diverse genders in Australia and Aotearoa/New Zealand. It provides a unique insight into present-day music creation from practitioners active across a wide spectrum of musical genres. Co-designed and co-authored by a female and gender diverse research team, the Women and Minority Genders in Music report offers an important snapshot of the ‘matrix of barriers’ that prevents access to equal representation and achievement for women and gender diverse music creators. This research was supported in-kind by music industry organisation, APRA AMCOS, and funded by the School of Communication, University of Technology Sydney.
‘The Surge’ goes on tour again in Spring 2023!
Ensemble Offspring’s vibrant 2021 program, ‘The Surge’ toured again in Spring 2023! Full of extraordinary new pieces by the likes of Robert Davidson, Jessica Wells, Nigel Westlake, Peter Sculthorpe, and Paul Mac, Felicity Wilcox’s septet, Tipping Point, is a standout of the program, attested by its selection as Finalist for Best Performance of the Year in the 2022 Australian Art Music Awards, accompanied by beautiful images produced by media artists Peachey & Mosig.
‘Tipping Point’, performance at Casula Powerhouse and Arts Centre, 5 June 2021. Film by Hospital Hill
2023 Tour dates:
Goulburn
October 6, 2023 | 7pm
Oberon
October 7, 2023 | 4pm
Parramatta
October 8, 2023 | 4pm
Wyong
October 13, 2023 | 8pm
Bundanon
October 15, 2023 | 3pm
Felicity shortlisted in the 2023 Art music Awards for ‘Sound Fields’!
The annual Art Music Awards acknowledge excellence in Australian new music and celebrate leading practitioners. Felicity was honoured to be shortlisted in the highly-competitive category of ‘Work of the Year’ (chamber music) alongside Lachlan Skipworth (winner), Jack Symonds, and Paul Dean.
Below you can read about the nominated piece Sound Fields, which Felicity composed for Rubiks as the 2021 Pythia Prize winner.
Sound Fields
‘A balanced blend of mystical timbres’- Julie McErlain (Classic Melbourne)
Read all about the commission and composition process in Limelight.
Sound Fields is the 2021 Pythia Prize commission for Melbourne-based ensemble Rubiks Collective. The work is Wilcox’s response to art works by US painter Helen Frankenthaler, who is widely credited for playing a pivotal role in the transition from Abstract Expressionism to Color Field painting. Wilcox worked closely with the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation in New York City and with the members of Rubiks while making this piece, which is accompanied by projections of each luminiscent artwork.
WP Performance: 26 October 2022, Primrose Potter Salon, Melbourne Recital Centre.
On 10 May 2023 Rubiks launched the beautiful new video of Sound Fields (see left) made by Underground Media. Felicity was invited to a special event held for the 2021 Pythia Prize funders to discuss the making of her prize-winning work with Rubiks Artistic Directors, Tamara Kohler and Kaylie Melville, and cellist Gemme Kneale. The team is now seeking to secure a US premiere of the work in 2024.
