Meet the Makers: Humberstone & Featherstone

Join Goulburn Regional Conservatorium Artistic Director Paul Scott-Williams in conversation with The Weight of Light composer James Humberstone and librettist Nigel Featherstone. Goulburn Regional Conservatorium commissioned The Weight of Light in early 2015 and this session will cover the genesis, development, and making of the work. A terrific opportunity to get right inside the composer-librettist working relationship.

NIGEL FEATHERSTONE

Goulburn-based Nigel Featherstone is an Australian writer of contemporary fiction. He is the author of 50 short stories that have been published in Australian literary journals such as Meanjin, Overland, and the Review of Australian Fiction. His critically acclaimed first novel, Remnants, was published in 2005 by Pandanus Books. His award-winning series of three novellas was published by Blemish Books between 2011 and 2014. His war novel, Bodies of Men, is forthcoming from Hachette Australia in 2019. Nigel was a Creative Fellow at UNSW Canberra / Australian Defence Force Academy, during which he explored different expressions of masculinity under military pressure. www.opentopublic.com.au

JAMES HUMBERSTONE

James Humberstone is Senior Lecturer and Program Director of Music Education at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, the University of Sydney. Well known for his music education advocacy, in 2016 Humberstone published the university’s first MOOC (Massively Open Online Course), The Place of Music in 21st Century Education, and his 2016 TEDxOxford talk The Science of Dubstep has been viewed over 200,000 times. Humberstone’s research output spans traditional written work and non-traditional works as a composer. Recent creative outputs include the Noise Husbandry installation in the Action Stations exhibition at the Australian National Maritime Museum, and cross-arts collaboration (orchestra-choir-hip-hop-cinematography) Odysseus : Live and The Weight of Light. www.composerhome.com/