Leon Coward

Leon Coward (born 1991) is an Australian artist, composer, writer, film-maker and co-founder of the chamber orchestra and vocal ensemble Camerata Academica of the Antipodes.[1]

Leon Coward
Born1991
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
OccupationArtist, Writer, Composer & Film-maker
NationalityAustralian
Alma materUniversity of New England (Australia), Charles Sturt University, Julian Ashton Art School

Biography

Coward was homeschooled, and has an older sister, Imogen Coward, and brother, Taliésin Coward, who are also PhD graduates.[2][3] Coward studied at the Julian Ashton Art School and at the University of New England, graduating with a first class honours Bachelor of Arts degree in 2013. He completed his PhD study in 2017, writing his dissertation on creating a new method for analyzing film design, which was subsequently used in the creation of the film 2BR02B: To Be or Naught To Be.[2] Since 2017, Coward has been a judge for the Sydney Indie Film Festival.[4]

Early life and career

At the age of 14, Coward saw the need to promote good reading for young readers and asked his local bookstore if he could organize events on their premises.[5] Between 2005-2008, Coward organized visits by popular Australian children's authors. He met the author and poet Libby Hathorn through these events, and later illustrated her book Vietnam Reflections[6] which was produced as a presentation gift to the Australian War Memorial and won the 2010 Poetry Prize at the Inaugural Woollahra Library Word Festival.[7]

Camerata Academica of the Antipodes (2014—present)

The Camerata ensemble was founded by Coward and his siblings with musicologists and multi-instrumentalists in 2014,[8] and the ensemble internationally established their "distinctly recognisable culture and ethos" of the 'performer as co-creator'.[9] The ensemble regularly supports the Australian Children's Music Foundation.[8][10] Coward performs piano, violin, and viola, and is a baritone bass.

Compositions

Coward first premiered selections from his music for Alice's Adventures in Wonderland at the Tate Liverpool's major exhibition Alice in Wonderland (November 2011 - January 2012) which celebrated the 150th anniversary of Carroll's book,[11] and later premiered "Beautiful Soup" in Sydney,[12] which scholar Timothy Harries described as "logical, as though it was 'always meant to exist'."[13]

Coward has written music for piano, strings, and voice, and performs his own piano works. His compositions have been positively received by Australian and international audiences, and regularly critiqued in the British Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies publication Criticks. Esther Lie described his work as "full of new invention," leading audiences "into a world full of colour."[14] His compositional style has been frequently described as "Chopin-esque,"[3][9][13] "Neo-Romantic",[3] and exhibiting "a love of nineteenth-century music."[15] Coward frequently engages audiences' imaginations before performing, such as describing ballet sequences for '"Two Kings" suite and "Imaginary Pas De Deux".[9][15]

Original works
  • "Beautiful Soup" (lyrics from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll) - Piano & String Orchestra (2014), later re-arranged with Vocal Ensemble (2017)
  • "Sans Souci" - Piano (2017)
  • "Melody" - Piano & String Orchestra (2016)
  • "Lament" - Piano (2015)
  • "Imaginary Pas de Deux" - Piano (2015)
  • "Trio" - 2 Violins & Piano (2013)
  • "Consolation" - Piano (2013)
  • "Nocturne" - Piano (2013)
  • "The Embrace" - Piano (2012)

Arrangements

Film scores

Books
  • Vietnam Reflections written by Libby Hathorn, illustrated by Leon Coward (Sydney: Pax Press, 2010)

Awards

Sydney Indie Film Festival (Sydney, Australia)

WILDsound Fest (Toronto, Canada)

KaPow Intergalactic Film Festival (California, USA)

The Montreal International Wreath Awards Film Festival (Montreal, Canada)

The Golden Blasters Science Fiction Short Film Awards (The National Irish Science Fiction Film Festival) (Dublin, Ireland)

Fantastic Planet Film Festival (Sydney Australia)

Miami Short Film Festival (Miami, USA)

Best Short Fest (San Diego, USA)

References
  1. Harries, Timothy; Vergison, Jenny (19 September 2014). "Camerata Academica of the Antipodes". British Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies. Retrieved 5 February 2018.
  2. Masson, Sophie (19 October 2016). "2BR02B: the journey of a dystopian film–an interview with Leon Coward". Feathers of the Firebird (Interview).
  3. Harries, Timothy; Vergison, Jenny (19 September 2014). "Camerata Academica of the Antipodes". Criticks. British Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies. Retrieved 20 February 2018.
  4. "Sydney Indie 2017 – It's a Wrap!". Sydney Indie Film Festival. Retrieved 5 February 2018.
  5. Hathorn, Libby; Coward, Leon (2010). Vietnam Reflections. Sydney, Australia: Pax Press. p. 31.
  6. "Vietnam Reflections : Libby Hathorn : 9780646514932". Book Depository.
  7. "Awards Listings". Libby Hathorn: Author & Poet. Retrieved 20 February 2018.
  8. "Camerata Academica of the Antipodes and the ACMF". Australian Children's Music Foundation. 11 March 2015. Retrieved 20 February 2018.
  9. Harries, Timothy (14 September 2015). "Camerata Academica of the Antipodes, August 2015". Criticks. British Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies. Retrieved 20 February 2018.
  10. "Greek-Australian musicians supporting charities". The Greek Australian Vema Monthly National Bi-lingual Newspaper. St Andrew's Orthodox Press. August 2014. p. 18.
  11. The Endurance of Wonderland. "Alice in Wonderland" Postgraduate Symposium. Tate Liverpool, United Kingdom. 19 November 2011.
  12. Vergison, J; Black, A (25 January 2016). "Camerata Academica of the Antipodes: Corelli, Purcell, Mozart and Vivaldi". Criticks. British Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies. Retrieved 20 February 2018.
  13. Harries, Timothy (21 January 2015). "Camerata Academica of the Antipodes concert: Corelli, Purcell, Bach, Nachez, Gilbert and Sullivan". Criticks. British Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies. Retrieved 20 February 2018.
  14. Li, Esther (27 June 2016). "Camerata Academica of the Antipodes: Corelli, Vivaldi, Telemann and Wieniawski's Legende". Criticks. British Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies. Retrieved 20 February 2018.
  15. Vergison, Jenny (16 June 2015). "Camerata Academica of the Antipodes concert: Handel, Vivaldi, Telemann, G&S". Criticks. British Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies. Retrieved 20 February 2018.
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