In Round 2 of this year’s Melbourne International Chamber Music Competition, presented by Musica Viva Australia, entrants will be asked to play a new, specially commissioned Australian composition.

Maria Grenfell has composed a piano trio called Bitter Tears, while Melbourne-based composer Lee Bradshaw has composed a 15-minute string quartet called Resolve. He spoke to Limelight about the commission and the composition.

Lee Bradshaw

Lee Bradshaw. Photo © Peter M. Lamont

Congratulations on the commission for this year’s Melbourne International Chamber Music Competition. How did you feel about being asked to write for this particular competition?

Thank you! This commission was a major turning point for me, after having made the decision a few years earlier to come back (as it were) to classical music making. I had been a rock and roll record producer for 20 years, and knew exactly how time flies. I was happy with my work, but I wasn’t prioritising the things I wanted to show for myself. I didn’t want another 20 years to pass by without having done them.

I met Wilma Smith through the Flinders Quartet’s Emerge program, as it is now known. The piece of mine...