Phillip Wilcher

Wilcher started piano lessons at the age of eight; his first teachers were Gladys Woodward and Jean Teasel.[4][7] His interest in composing music began at an early age, before his teens.[7] At the age of 14, Wilcher published his first piano composition, "Daybreak",[2] with the Sydney-based music company, J. Albert & Son,[8] making him the then-youngest published composer in Australia.[4][9] The track was later recorded in 2006 by John Martin on his CD, Ancient Rivers.[4]

It was around that time Richard Gill awarded Wilcher a prize in the City of Sydney Eisteddfod for a work titled ‘Autumn Mists.’ Wilcher had entered it along with four other pieces, a Barcarolle, a Rhapsody, an Etude (which Gill praised as a “noble effort” that “rivaled Chopin’s Etude Opus 10 No. 4 in its ideas and difficulty”) and a smaller study he likened to the Opus 110 by Brahms, in both style and difficulty. In his autobiography 'Thinking Allowed' Wilcher recalls: "He was very kind to me, and encouraged me to continue on, suggesting – even foretelling – that mine was a name worth remembering."[10]

For seven years, after he published "Daybreak", Wilcher was a student of composer and musicologist, Franz Holford, who was an editor at J. Albert & Son; he later composed music with Holford for over twenty years.[8][9] Wilcher's piano piece, "Autumn Rain", was published when he was 17, by J. Albert & Son. He also studied with classical musicians Neta Maughan and Elpis Liossatos, and began a thirty-year association with composer Miriam Hyde. Hyde is quoted as saying of Wilcher: "I find great satisfaction in the fact that we - Australia - have one composer who can succeed in a medium of sensitivity in spite of the ugliness and violence predominating in so many countries." [11] In 1976 Wilcher became an assistant editor for J. Albert & Son's Classical/Educational Division. During the 1980s he worked for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).[7]

According to Wilcher's autobiography, it was while working at the ABC Wilcher came into contact with American Pulitzer-Prize winning composer Ned Rorem, who was to prove a major influence upon Wilcher's way of thinking, and how he considered creativity one's primary purpose for being. As Rorem had once written Wilcher: "The meaning of Life is to seek Life's meaning." Although musically they are of different worlds, Wilcher considers Rorem a mentor. The two shared a correspondence spanning over 30 years. Rorem to Wilcher: "Meanwhile, get your work done, there are too few people who know (as you and I know) what they want to do and how to do it."[10]

Early in 1991, while working in the Macquarie University early childhood music program, Wilcher met Anthony Field, former member of the Australian rock group the Cockroaches, who was studying child development. According to Wilcher, Field asked him to help them record their self-titled debut album.[6]

Wilcher claims that he "contributed the most musically to the debut album",[9] composing 75% of the music.[6] The album included another piece he had composed at 14, "Summer Dance", which appeared on the album as "Archie's Theme".[7][9] Wilcher was nicknamed Archie due to his admiration of American pianist Liberace.[12][13] He performed in two of the group's videos, "Get Ready to Wiggle" and "Dorothy the Dinosaur".[8][9][14]

In 1992, Wilcher left the Wiggles. Their spokesperson, Dianna O'Neill, claims that he submitted a letter of resignation because he wanted to continue composing classical music.[9] According to fellow founding member Greg Page, "Archie had considerable input into the arrangement of some songs on that first CD ... he is quite a musical genius ... However ... the musical direction of the Wiggles was changing".[12] Australian Record Industry Association (ARIA) awarded the band members, including Wilcher, with gold and platinum certificates for the album.[15]

In 1993, Wilcher published a lesson plan for early childhood activities, A Musical Offering.[16] The Australian composer and music educator, Dulcie Holland remarked: “Phillip Wilcher’s 'A Musical Offering' is an ingenious and imaginative approach to music. Through rhythm and rhyme, movement and sound, the very young person is gently introduced to music as an enjoyable activity. This will provide a wonderful foundation for a lifetime of musical experience and richness.” Holland would later set Wilcher's poem 'Sounds and Silence' from 'A Musical Offering' for women's choir. It was premiered by the Faye Dumont Singers and later published by EMI.[17]

In 2000, for reasons not entirely clear, the Wiggles had not only rerecorded their first album, but also renamed it "Wiggle Time" and removed all of his compositions.[9][6][7][18] In 2005, when the Wiggles had become Australia's most successful children's act,[14] he seemed to criticise the Wiggles in the press, but he has since stated that reporters had misrepresented him and that he chose to remain silent in the aftermath of their articles.[19][20]

Phillip Wilcher's has composed over 100 works for solo piano, pieces for soloist and piano as well as chamber ensembles.[21] His music was described by The Sydney Morning Herald's Steve Dow as "an eclectic mix of classical and flim-flam".[9] Wilcher's compositions are influenced by Chopin and J.S. Bach, and some of his works are notable for their use of Eastern scales, such as his Six Etudes, which uses Chinese and Japanese scales.[22][21] He has composed music for pianist Aaron McMillan, and for musician and former ABC broadcaster, news reader and journalist, Clive Robertson.[9] He has also set poetry by American librettist Jack Larson to music.[9] In 2007, he composed "1791", a work honouring Mozart on the anniversary of his death, which was performed by oboist Rachel Tolmie, and the Bourbaki String Ensemble conducted by David Angell.[7] It appeared on a compilation album, Into His Countenance (2008), which featured various artists performing Wilcher's compositions.[23][24]

His works have been included on several other CDs released by Jade Music and Wirripang. Pianist Jeanell Carrigan has recorded six CDs of his compositions, two for Publications by Wirripang.[9] Carrigan, on the transportive nature of Wilcher's music, remarked: "Whether he wishes to transport the listener to a cafe in Paris or to the top of a mountain in Java, his skilful use of harmony, rhythm and tempi creates the perfect atmosphere." [11] Rita Crews, in a review of Carrigan's album Shimmer (2004) for The Studio Quarterly Magazine, described Wilcher's style as "free-flowing, with an underlying romantic character, one in which melodic line and lyricism are all-important elements".[1] 2MBS-FM's Mike Smith found it was of "a more openly romantic nature than in his earlier" work and he was "reminded of Rachmaninov, Albeniz and even Brahms".[25]

As well as composing, Wilcher has performed both solo and with ensembles.[8][26] This has included playing three times for the Liberace Foundation in Las Vegas.[9] His music has been broadcast by radio stations, ABC-FM and 2MBS-FM – the latter has aired two documentaries on his music, Wilcher and the French Connection and Wilcher's World.[7][8] He has had an active public speaking career, and is an elected life member of Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) and a board member of the Australian Music Teacher Magazine, for which he has written articles on Chopin, Brahms, Ravel, and music education.[4]

In 2011, on learning of the death of Benjamin Daniel Breedlove who was an American YouTuber from Texas, Wilcher wrote a piece of music for string quartet titled "Remembered On Waking". The piece was performed and recorded by the Linden Quartet on Wilcher's album Heaven-Haven, published by Wirripang.[27]

Heaven-Haven was released in 2014.[28] The music was performed by the Linden String Quartet. During production of the CD, Wilcher saw press reports about the fatal attack of 18-year-old Sydney resident Thomas Kelly;[29] Wilcher was unable to separate the sorrow he felt for Kelly and his family from the sentiment he was trying to convey through his music. He eventually dedicated the project to Kelly and announced that proceeds from the album would benefit the Thomas Kelly Youth Foundation.[28] Wilcher's 2017 album, The Voice of Love, is dedicated to Rosemary Eather, the host of the Australian children's television show, Good Morning!!! and friend to the composer and featured solo piano and piano and cello pieces. The performers were Jeanell Carrigan (piano) and Minah Choe (cello).[30] For the 2019 release of Spellbound, they were joined by Goetz Richter (violin). Pieces for various combinations of piano, violin and cello appear on the disc, with Wilcher's demanding Four Scherzi as a framing device.[31] Brennan Keats, head of Wirripang publishing, contributed some insightful thoughts about Wilcher in the liner notes: "Phillip Wilcher is a man 'spellbound' by a profound spirituality that he rationalises with a natural philosophy that transcends most who live in the superficial world that confronts us today. There is a depth in him expressed by gentleness, kindness and demonstrated by the great love he exudes. All this is tempered by discipline, precision, delicacy and firmness of touch that only the truest, yet finest of musicians can expound. Of all the discs that he has produced, this is the most aptly named, in that it summarises a composer, musician and writer of integrity, and one of those rare beings who rises above all he encounters and yet remains very much one of us."[31]

In 2017, soprano, Ayse Goknur Shanal premiered two songs written for her by Wilcher at the Sydney Opera House, “In the Nape of a Dream” and “Spirit Song”, which was specifically written at the request of Goknur Shanal for inclusion in her 'Songs for Refugees' concert. “The idea for this concert was a seed I have been watering since September 2015 when I saw the image of the Syrian toddler with the tiny jeans shorts and red t-shirt washed up on the Turkish shores. It broke me,” Goknur Shanal revealed. Together with cellist Kenichi Mizushima and pianist Harry Collins, this monumental evening, was organised by the grassroots network, Mums 4 Refugees, with the proceeds being donated to the charitable law firm, Human Rights for All, which represents refugee cases, on pro bono basis. "The concert include[d] works by, Massenet, Puccini, Giordano, as well as the world premiere of Spirit, written by Australian composer, Phillip Wilcher." (Sydney Opera House press release).[32]

More recently, Wilcher has published a number of books, including an autobiography, titled 'Thinking Allowed'.[10] He has written a full-scale piano recital for the virtuoso pianist Simon Tedeschi, and his music has attracted the attention of, and been performed by pianists overseas, notably Gerhard Eckle, Eduardo Fernandez, Lemuel Grave, Adam Jackson, and Emanuel Rimoldi.

Simon Tedeschi said of Wilcher's work: 'Phillip Wilcher's music dreamily evokes another time, another place. It has a searching quality that conjures up images of the great Romantic composers. Phillip wrote a recital for me, which I hope to present soon. Included in that are the ‘Etudes Tedeschi’ which have all the flavour and technical imagination of similar great works in the piano repertoire. I am proud to watch the evolution of this musician and composer who I count as a great personal friend.

Other musicians who have performed and recorded Wilcher’s works include John Martin (piano), Rachel Tolmie (oboist), Marina Marsden (violinst), Justine Marsden (violist), Elizabeth Neville (cellist), Emily Long (violinist), Melissa Doecke (flautist), Martin Cooke (singer), Neil Fissenden (flautist), David Wickham (pianist), Minah Choe (cellist).[11]