The Sydney Conservatorium of Music has announced a new, limited two-year postgraduate initiative for next year’s applicants in lieu of its Composing Women program.

Words, Text, Voices, Music will run over 2023–2024 and take on four applicants to write works that explore the intricate relationship between words and music. It is led by Associate Professor Paul Stanhope, who is also the Artistic Chair of the Australia Ensemble and received the 2022 Art Music Award for Choral Work of the Year for Requiem, a work performed by Sydney Chamber Choir.

Sydney Conservatorium of Music’s Verbrugghen Hall. Photo courtesy of The University of Sydney.

Head of School and Dean, Professor Anna Reid, spoke to Limelight about the new program and the “exciting” collaboration with NIDA.

“We realise that writing for opera is a rare skill, and needs very specific support. Similarly, our NIDA librettists are also working on developing this skill. Consequently we are having this two-year program to promote understanding and capability in working with staged (and unstaged!) voices. It...