Nigel Westlake
Encyclopedia
Biography
Nigel Westlake's career in music has spanned more than 3 decades.He studied the clarinet with his father, Donald Westlake (principal clarinettist, Sydney Symphony Orchestra 1961-1979) and subsequently left school early to pursue a performance career in music.
Nigel toured Australia and the world playing with ballet companies, a circus troupe, chamber music groups, fusion bands and orchestras to the cities of London, New York, Rome, Washington, Tokyo, Beijing, Paris, Amsterdam, Vancouver, Moscow, Hong Kong, Berlin, New Delhi and Singapore and many others.
His interest in composition dates from the late 1970s when he formed a classical/jazz-rock/world-music fusion band to play original music. During this time he started to receive offers to compose for radio and circus. Commissions for TV and film soon followed.
In 1983 he furthered his studies of contemporary music in the Netherlands.
From 1987 to 1992 he was a clarinettist with the Australia Ensemble resident at the University of New South Wales.
In 1992 he joined guitarist John Williams's group 'Attacca' as a performer and composer for tours of the United Kingdom and Australia. Since then he has given his primary attention to composition.
His romantic score for the Beatrix Potter biopic Miss Potter won "Feature Film Score of the Year" & "Best Soundtrack Album" at the 2007 APRA / AGSC Screen Music Awards.
The films Babe & Miss Potter were both international hits, being No. I at the box office in many territories around the world.
His television credits include documentaries, telemovies, news themes & station idents.
Westlake's work has been widely performed and has earned numerous awards, including the Gold Medal at the New York International Radio Festival and numerous APRA and Screen Composer Guild awards for his film and concert music.
The feature film Babe won the Golden Globe Award in 1996 for "best feature musical/comedy".
His conducting debut was with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra in 1997. He has conducted concerts & recordings of his work with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, the Sydney Youth Orchestra & in 2011 with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra.
His works have been performed by :
John Williams, London Symphony Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, The Takacs Quartet, The Australia Ensemble, Michael Kieran Harvey, Synergy Percussion, Amsterdam Percussion Ensemble, Trilok Gurtu, New York Percussion Quartet, Craig Ogden, Slava Grigoryan, Leonard Grigoryan, Timothy Kain, Karin Schaupp, Goldner String Quartet, Elektra String Quartet, Macquarie Trio, Sydney Symphony, Sydney Youth Orchestra, Melbourne Symphony, Tasmanian Symphony, The Queensland Orchestra, West Australia Symphony, Australian Chamber Orchestra, Saffire, Guitartrek, Ogden Tanner, The Seymour Group, Australian Virtuosi, The Academy of Melbourne, Simon Tedeschi, Ensemble Aark, Percadu, Rebecca Lagos, Catherine McCorkill, Schoenberg Ensemble, Berlin Philharmonie, 4-Mallity Percussion quartet.
and conducted by :
Kent Nagano, Paul Daniel, Richard Hickox, Markus Stenz, Ola Rudner, David Porcelijn, Yaron Traub, Jean Louis Forestier, Richard Gill, Brett Kelly, Benjamin Wallfisch, David Stanhope, Vladimir Verbitsky, Andrew Litton, Michael Christie & John Demain, Reinbert de Leeuw and Benjamin Northey.
His opus one, Omphalo Centric Lecture (1984) for percussion quartet has become one of the most frequently performed and recorded works in the percussion repertoire by groups in the USA, Japan, Europe and Australia.
In 2004 Nigel Westlake was awarded the HC Coombs Creative Arts Fellowship at the Australian National University.
In 2008 he was voted onto the board of APRA as Writer Director.
In 2008 he formed the Smugglers of Light Foundation in memory of his son Eli, focussed on the empowerment of storytelling
through film and music in youth and Indigenous communities.
"Missa Solis - Requiem for Eli", composed for large symphony orchestra, chorus and solo treble receives premiere performances by the Melbourne Symphony and Sydney Symphony orchestras in 2011.
Filmography
- Candy Regentag (1989)
- Act of Necessity (1991)
- Antarctica (1991)
- Backsliding (1991)
- BabeBabe (film)Babe is a 1995 Australian-American film directed by Chris Noonan. It is an adaptation of the 1983 novel The Sheep-Pig, also known as Babe: The Gallant Pig in the United States, by Dick King-Smith and tells the story of a pig who wants to be a sheepdog...
(1995) - Children of the Revolution (1996)
- Wild Australia: The Edge (1996)
- Babe: Pig in the CityBabe: Pig in the CityBabe: Pig in the City is a 1998 sequel to the 1995 film Babe. It occurs in the fictional city of Metropolis. Due to the unexpected darker and more mature subject matter , the film was not received as well as the first Babe film was, as it flopped at the box office and reviews were generally...
(1998) - A Little Bit of Soul (1998)
- Solarmax (2000)
- The NuggetThe NuggetThe Nugget is a 2002 comedy film about three friends who find the world's largest nugget of gold.-Storyline:The story concerns a group of three road workers who stumble upon the world's biggest nugget of gold, and become instant millionaires — or so they think...
(2002) - Horseplay (2003)
- Hell Has Harbour ViewsHell Has Harbour ViewsHell Has Harbour Views is a 2001 novel written by Richard Beasley . The story is set in a corrupt Sydney law firm and follows the protagonist, Hugh Walker, a lawyer who always hoped he would be a defender of the poor and oppressed, until a Sydney law firm dangled an office with a harbour view in...
(2005) - Miss Potter (2006)
- Stepfather of the Bride (2006)
APRA-AMC Classical Music Awards
The APRA-AMC Classical Music AwardsAPRA Awards
The APRA Music Awards are several award ceremonies run in Australia and New Zealand by Australasian Performing Right Association to recognise songwriting skills, sales and airplay performance by its members annually....
are presented annually by Australasian Performing Right Association
Australasian Performing Right Association
The Australasian Performing Right Association is a copyright collective representing New Zealand and Australian composers, lyricists and music publishers. The association's head offices located in Sydney Australia, and it has branch offices in Auckland, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth...
(APRA) and Australian Music Centre
Australian Music Centre
The Australian Music Centre fosters the development of an Australian music community by providing specialist support to its membership of performers, composers, sound artists, educators, students, and music specialists across Australia and throughout the world.The AMC is the Australian national...
(AMC).
|-
|rowspan="3"| 2005
APRA Awards of 2005
The Australasian Performing Right Association Awards of 2005 are a series of awards which include the APRA Music Awards, Classical Music Awards, and Screen Music Awards. The APRA Music Awards ceremony occurred on 30 May at the Sydney Four Seasons Hotel, they were presented by APRA and the...
|| Piano Concerto – Michael Kieran Harvey
Michael Kieran Harvey
Michael Kieran Harvey is an Australian pianist whose career has been notable for its diversity and wide repertoire. He is renowned for commissioning and performing new music. He has especially promoted the works of Australian composers, such as Carl Vine, all of whose piano music he has recorded...
|| Best Performance of an Australian Composition ||
|-
| Six Fish – Saffire Guitar Quartet
Saffire (music)
Saffire: The Australian Guitar Quartet is an Australian classical music group, consisting of Karin Schaupp, Slava Grigoryan, Gareth Koch, and Leonard Grigoryan Saffire: The Australian Guitar Quartet is an Australian classical music group, consisting of Karin Schaupp, Slava Grigoryan, Gareth Koch,...
|| Instrumental Work of the Year ||
|-
| Crystal Spheres – Solarmax film orchestra || Orchestral Work of the Year ||
|-
| 2007
APRA Awards of 2007
The Australasian Performing Right Association Awards of 2007 are a series of awards which include the APRA Music Awards, Classical Music Awards, and Screen Music Awards. The APRA Music Awards ceremony occurred on 16 June at the Sydney Hilton, they were presented by APRA and the Australasian...
|| When the Clock Strikes Me - Rebecca Lagos (soloist), Sydney Symphony
Sydney Symphony Orchestra
The Sydney Symphony Orchestra , commonly known as the Sydney Symphony, is an Australian symphony orchestra based in Sydney...
|| Best Performance of an Australian Composition ||
|-
|rowspan="2"| 2008
APRA Awards of 2008
The Australasian Performing Right Association Awards of 2008 are a series of awards which include the APRA Music Awards, Classical Music Awards, and Screen Music Awards. The APRA Music Awards ceremony occurred on 16 June at the Sydney Hilton, they were presented by APRA and the Australasian...
|| Rare Sugar - The Australia Ensemble and Catherine McCorkill (clarinetist) || Best Performance of an Australian Composition ||
|-
| Glass Soldier Suite – Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra is an orchestra based in Melbourne, Australia. It has 100 permanent musicians. Melbourne has the longest continuous history of orchestral music of any Australian city and the MSO is the oldest professional orchestra in Australia...
, Geoffrey Payne (cornet), Jean-Louis Forestier (conductor) || Orchestral Work of the Year ||
APRA-AGSC Screen Music Awards
The annual APRA-AGSC Screen Music AwardsAPRA Awards
The APRA Music Awards are several award ceremonies run in Australia and New Zealand by Australasian Performing Right Association to recognise songwriting skills, sales and airplay performance by its members annually....
are presented by APRA and Australian Guild of Screen Composers (AGSC) for television and film scores and soundtracks.
|-
| 2005
APRA Awards of 2005
The Australasian Performing Right Association Awards of 2005 are a series of awards which include the APRA Music Awards, Classical Music Awards, and Screen Music Awards. The APRA Music Awards ceremony occurred on 30 May at the Sydney Four Seasons Hotel, they were presented by APRA and the...
|| Hell Has Harbour Views || Best Music for a Mini-Series or Telemovie ||
|-
|rowspan="3"| 2007
APRA Awards of 2007
The Australasian Performing Right Association Awards of 2007 are a series of awards which include the APRA Music Awards, Classical Music Awards, and Screen Music Awards. The APRA Music Awards ceremony occurred on 16 June at the Sydney Hilton, they were presented by APRA and the Australasian...
||rowspan="2"| Miss Potter || Feature Film Score of the Year ||
|-
| Best Soundtrack Album ||
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| Stepfather of the Bride || Best Music for a Mini-Series or Telemovie ||