Welcome to the Australian Art Music playlist! A monthly playlist of classical, jazz, experimental and electronic music focused on contemporary Australian composers, musicians and sound artists.

Musicians need support to keep creating the music you love. So, moving forward I’ll be hosting the playlist on Bandcamp and BuyMusic.Club where you can listen to and buy digital or physical copies of your favourites each month. I’m buying a digital copy of every album featured and I invite you all to join me!

I find place is always something that impacts me as composer (and as a person). Whether it is creating perfect cozy nest to compose in (complete with colourful pens, scraps of paper, a social media ban and buckets of coffee), or the inspiration of new places, experiences, and bright horizons. The sensations of these experiences lend themselves to different parts of the creative process and indeed to creating different pieces all together.

I’m intrigued to see how these forces (or variations on them) have shaped the music in this month’s playlist. 

We see both ‘Home’ and ‘Away’ in Leah Blankendaal’s love letter to finding an unexpected home in Adelaide (Music for a Sleeping City) and the musical letters exchanged between nomadic artists (Retreat by Garling Wu and Jessie Leov). 

We hear from musical voices that have shaped Australian art music across time as they’ve figured out what it means to call Australia home (The Old Music by Eugen Goossens, Jerrinja Song by Martin Wesley-Smith, and On and off the Ground by Moya Henderson).

We also feature the Australian-made Stuart and Sons piano on Christopher Moore’s recording of the Carl Vine Bagatelle No. 3.

We meditate on places both local (Port Arthur & Remarkable Cave by Meredith Beardmore, Remote Connections by Anthony Lyons) and abroad (Jabal (mountain) / Nahasdzą́ą́n (mother earth) by Jess Green, Sandy Evans and Dylan van der Schyff).

We also explore time and emotions, with works based on nostalgia for the past in Daniel Bickham-Cullis’ Shooting Star, wonder and concern for the future of jazz in Laurence Pike’s 502 Bad Gateway. The journey between these states (and more) captured in the deceptively titled CALM by Sophie Rose.

Regardless of where this playlist finds you, I hope you enjoy this listening experience and are inspired to check out some of the albums and discographies associated with these tracks, there are plenty more gems to uncover.

As always please feel free to pitch your music (wherever you are) to aussieartmusic@gmail.com and let us know your favourite tracks from this month on socials.

And, if you’d like to support the playlist, please join the Australian Art Music playlist Patreon to suggest and vote on future themes, and get some behind the scenes posts and perks.

Track by Track

1. Music for a Sleeping City by Leah Blankendaal | performed by The Sydney Scoring Orchestra, conducted by Joanna Drimatis
2. Port Arthur by Meredith Beardmore
3. The Old Music Box by Eugene Goossens | performed by Dr Christopher Moore
4. Threads (unravelling) from One Thing At A Time by Alice Humphries | performed by Blair Harris
5. Shooting Star by Daniel Bickham-Cullis
6. CALM by Sophie Rose
7. Remarkable Cave by Meredith Beardmore
8. Jerrinja Song by Martin Wesley-Smith | performed by Rachel Scott
9. Interconnecting Islands by Anthony Lyons
10. Retreat by Garling Wu & Jessie Leov | performed by Jessie Leov, Martin Roberts, & Madeleine Xiao
11. On and off the Ground by Moya Henderson | performed by Leah Lock, Deborah de Graaf, & John Martin
12. Cloudburst by Jess Green, Sandy Evans, & Dylan van der Schyff
13. 502 Bad Gateway by Laurence Pike
14. Remote Connections by Anthony Lyons
15. Empyrean Traces by David Kotlowy | performed by Benaud Trio
16. Uluru Song by Martin Wesley-Smith | performed by Rachel Scott
17. Jabal (mountain) / Nahasdzą́ą́n (mother earth) by Jess Green, Sandy Evans, & Dylan van der Schyff
18. Step from One Thing At A Time by Alice Humphries | performed by Blair Harris
19. Bagatelle No. 3 from Five Bagatelles by Carl Vine | performed by Dr Christopher Moore
20. first there was nothing then it exploded by Sophie Rose

If you’re wanting more music to explore, check out previous playlists from this year here. Otherwise, I’d always recommend the Australian Art Music Archive, with all 1,759 previously featured Spotify tracks (roughly 178 hours of music), Limelight’s Guide to Australian Composers, and my 2024 community listening project: 1,000 Curious Ears – all 12 monthly editions of that series can be found here. 

Until next month, may you make a home wherever you find yourself.

-Cameron

Listen on Bandcamp or BuyMusicClub

Listen natively on Bandcamp with your fan account here. 

Otherwise listen on desktop at BuyMusic.Club below:

This playlist is updated monthly. Explore previous months’ playlists on our website and listen to the archive playlist (2019-2025) on Spotify.

Contact Cameron Lam on Facebook, Instagram, his website or via direct email: aussieartmusic@gmail.com to recommend tracks for the Australian Art Music playlist.