Composer in Residence
Olivia Davies
Olivia Bettina Davies is an Australian composer of acoustic and electro-acoustic music that spans multiple genres including classical minimalism, experimental and ambient. Davies’ compositions often explore ideas of space, stasis and flow, resulting in texturally-driven and nuanced soundworlds.
Davies is the current Composer in Residence with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra—her tenure of three years commenced in 2022 and is supported by Prue Ashurst. She has been the recipient of a number of awards and scholarships including the Schenberg Music Fellowship in Composition and the prestigious 2022 Art Music Award: Large Ensemble for her piece Stratus (2021)—conducted and performed by Asher Fisch and WASO. Davies is currently undertaking a year-long Prelude residency at the renowned Peggy Glanville-Hicks house in Sydney.
This year has seen three world premieres for Davies’ music, including a 6-hour performance installation titled Gradient—in collaboration with Callum G’Froerer and Nick Roux—a choral work titled Murmuration performed by WASO Chorus, and an orchestral work titled Oscillations for Orchestra conducted and performed by Asher Fisch and WASO. 2024 marks the final year of her residency with WASO and will see a further two orchestral commissions, the first of which will have its premiere alongside Dvořák’s Symphony No.8 on August 2.
Olivia Davies is supported by Prue Ashurst.