Life

Helen Gifford was born in Melbourne

Melbourne

Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...

, Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

, of Scots

Scots

Scots may refer to:*The Scottish people, the inhabitants of Scotland*Scots language *Scotch-Irish*Scottish English*Scots pine, a Scottish tree*Short for Pound Scots...

 and Cornish

Cornwall

Cornwall is a unitary authority and ceremonial county of England, within the United Kingdom. It is bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Cornwall has a population of , and covers an area of...

 heritage. She attended Tintern Junior School and Melbourne Girls Grammar, and then the University of Melbourne

University of Melbourne

The University of Melbourne is a public university located in Melbourne, Victoria. Founded in 1853, it is the second oldest university in Australia and the oldest in Victoria...

 Conservatorium on a Commonwealth Scholarship. She studied with Roy Shepherd and Dorian Le Gallienne

Dorian Le Gallienne

Dorian Leon Marlois Le Gallienne was an Australian composer, teacher and music critic.-Biography:Dorian Le Gallienne was born in Melbourne in 1915. His father, an actor, was born in France, and his mother, a pianist who had studied with G. W. L. Marshall-Hall, was the daughter of the Assistant...

, graduating with a Bachelor of Music in 1958. She won the Dorian Le Gallienne Award in 1965, a Senior Composer's Fellowship in 1973, and served as composer-in-residence with the Australian Opera

Opera Australia

Opera Australia is the principal opera company in Australia. Based in Sydney, its performance season at the Sydney Opera House runs for approximately eight months of the year, with the remainder of its time spent in the The Arts Centre in Melbourne...

 beginning in 1974. In the 1960s and early '70s, her music showed the influence of travel to India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

 and Indonesia

Indonesia

Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...

.

Works

Gifford composes for stage, orchestra, chamber ensemble and solo instruments, often incorporating elements of Balinese

Balinese

See:*Bali, an Indonesian island*Balinese art*Balinese people*Balinese language*Balinese script*Balinese mythology*Balinese , a cat breed*Balinese Gamelan, local music*Balinese Room, a famous illegal casino in Galveston, Texas...

 and Javanese

Javanese language

Javanese language is the language of the Javanese people from the central and eastern parts of the island of Java, in Indonesia. In addition, there are also some pockets of Javanese speakers in the northern coast of western Java...

music. Selected works include:

• Phantasma (1963) for string orchestra
• Chimaera (1967) for orchestra
• Imperium (1969) for orchestra
• Of old Angkor (1970) for French horn and marimba
• Regarding Faustus (1983)
• Iphigenia in Exile (1985)
• Music for the Adonia (1993) for chamber ensemble
• Point of Ignition (1995) for mezzo-soprano and orchestra
• Choral Scenes: the Western Front, World War I (1999)
• As foretold to Khayyám (1999) for piano solo
• Catharsis (2001) choral work
• Piano sonata for solo piano
• Skiagram for flute, viola and vibraphone
• Fantasy for flute and piano
• The Tears of Things (2010) for speaker and choir