BIOGRAPHY

Curriculum Vitae: Nicholas Ng (PDF)
Biography: Nicholas Ng (PDF)

Aims/Aesthetics

Nicholas Ng brings together the ancient and the modern in music through the use of traditional instruments and electronic sound. As a composer, he is open to just about anything – a trait encouraged from his student days by Anne Boyd and Ross Edwards, and perpetuated today by supervisor Larry Sitsky.

Former teachers who have helped Nicholas; development include Moya Henderson, Matthew Hindson and Kirsty Beilharz. Over a three year period, he was fortunate to receive brief instruction from Michael Easton, Graeme Koehne, Gordon Kerry and Edward Primrose. These composers gave him further insight into the craft of composition.

Nicholas believes that music should be relaxing to the soul but also invigorating. He is intrigued by meditation, the inner mind and the world of spirits while also very much conscious of the vibrancy of modern life in our present world. Accordingly, much of his work connects deeply with the human emotions and is very much based on breath and physical movement.

His native style is influenced by a sonic quest for his roots as an Australian composer of Chinese descent and often involves implementing old–world Asian modality in a contemporary ‘western’ context towards the creation of a fresh, unique and highly energised sound.

With an interest in world cultures, Nicholas writes for standard ‘western’ and ‘non–western’ instruments, making use of the latter in non–traditional contexts the belief that the cultures of the world should be brought together in harmony.

He often aims for an interesting fusion of acoustic and electro–acoustic sound. Apart from a dedication to concert hall music, he finds special joy in writing for stage and screen.

Achievements

Achievements include the Frank Albert Prize III for Music, the Ignaz Friedman Memorial Prize for Composition, the Sarah Therese Makinson Prize for Composition, the De Viana Music Prize and an Equal High Commendation from The Australian Voices Young Composer Award 2002.

His Opium Dreaming, Poppies and Spice and Meditation on Veni Emmanuel have been broadcast on ABC Classic FM; When Mary Met Johnny Ah Long, a composition based on Celtic and Chinese folk styles was aired on ArtSound 92.7 FM in 2003.

In 2004, he won third prize for his composition Where is Heaven? at the Nan Tien Temple Rhythm of the World competition at City Recital Hall, Angel Place, Sydney. It was performed again in September of that year in collaboration with choreographer and contemporary dancer Vivienne Rogis at the Sun Yat–Sen Memorial Hall, Taipei.

Poppies & Spice for tenor recorder and guitar was recently performed by the German ensemble Saitenwind at Klosterkirche, Remscheid–Lennep.

Commissions

Nicholas Ng has written for various new music ensembles such as The Australian Voices, The Coruscations Ensemble, Gamelan Kyai Kebo Giro (Javanese ‘orchestra’), Michele Morgan and the Chelate Compound, The Song Company and The ZÜrich Ensemble for New Music.

He has received commissions from the Art Gallery of NSW, Ars Musica Australis, United Nations Association of Australia (NSW Division), MetroScreen, The Australian Choreographic Centre, Tugpindulayaw Theatre and the Sydney’Asia Pacific Film Festival.

In May 2005, the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra premiered his Secret of the Golden Flower: Spirals with new media artist Warwick Lynch at Melbourne CUB Malthouse in a live–to–air broadcast on ABC Classic FM.

Nicholas has also been commissioned by Vivienne Winther’s Music for Everyone ‘Asian Music’ program, a project funded by artsACT (the ACT government’s arts agency). He is published by Orpheus Music.

Performance

Nicholas enjoys performing in western, Middle Eastern and Chinese ensembles on the erhu (Chinese ‘violin’). He has played with guitarists Marko West and Harold Gretton, the Choir of St Christopher’s Cathedral in Canberra, and with the combined ensembles of Kathy Walsh’s Arabic ‘Rahbani Dance Troupe’ and İsmail Bektaş’s Turkish group ‘Bekta’.

In addition, he takes pleasure in performing for the Canberra Spiritualist Association of Canberra. As a soloist, he has been recorded for the soundtrack of SBS Independent film Yum Cha Cha and has performed in venues such as The Canberra Theatre Playhouse and ‘The Studio’ of the Sydney Opera House.

In 2003, Nicholas established The Australian National University Chinese Music Ensemble, which is active in performing for the Chinese and Taiwanese communities of Canberra. A member of the Jinju Wushu (Martial Arts) Academy, he is also a drummer for the traditional Lion Dance.

Research

At the ANU, Nicholas’ research interest is on traditional and contemporary performance practice in the music of Sydney’s Chinese community. Equipped with a sizable amount of raw data obtained in 2000, he embarked on a series of field-trips in 2004 to observe and study four Chinese sub–communities (two religious and two secular):

  1. Australian Catholic Chinese Community
  2. Buddha’s Light International Association
  3. The Australian Chinese Teo Chew Association Inc.
  4. Australian Chinese Culture and Arts Centre (musicians)

His dissertation investigates issues of migration and local identities, musical transformation and revitalisation, language use and generational change.

In the field, Nicholas applied the general method of participant observation with informal and formal interviews to help tap into local histories. He has successfully collected and captured various sounds and sights (several hours of audio and audiovisual footage) from the collectivities mentioned.

His study also involves some comparative research with parallel Chinese sub–communities in London and Manchester.

Nicholas has presented his research at the Asian Performing Arts Symposium, University of New England (2003) and the 38th International Council of Traditional Music World Conference, University of Sheffield (2005).