Announcement: Aaron Wyatt is our Artist in Residence
Speak Percussion are delighted to welcome Aaron Wyatt to the team as Artist in Residence. Aaron brings with him a wealth of experience and insight as a maker, interpreter and leader. Over the coming years, Aaron will be involved in a spectrum of activities including the creation of a major new work for Speak Percussion that he will both compose and perform in.
“We are thrilled to announce Aaron Wyatt as Artist in Residence with Speak Percussion. Aaron is an exceptional musician with skills spanning performance, composition, conducting and digital technologies. Aaron works at the forefront of contemporary Australian music and we look forward to the projects he will lead and the close artistic relationships we will foster together over the next few years.” – Eugene Ughetti, AD
Aaron is an accomplished violist who, before moving to Melbourne to take up an assistant lectureship at Monash, was a regular casual with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra and is also recognised as the first Australian First Nations person to conduct one of the major Symphony Orchestras in Australia. He has played in a wide variety of ensembles across many genres, and has toured internationally, including with the award winning Decibel New Music ensemble. Aaron is also the developer behind the Decibel ScorePlayer app, the group’s cutting edge, animated graphic notation software for the iPad.
He was nominated for a Helpmann Award for his role as musical director of the premiere season of Cat Hope’s new opera, Speechless, at the 2019 Perth International Arts Festival. Aaron has also recently taken on the role of director of Ensemble Dutala. The brainchild of Yorta Yorta soprano and composer Deborah Cheetham AO, the group aims to bring together Indigenous classical musicians from around the country. Most recently, he premiered Cheetham’s new work, Nanyubak, for viola and orchestra as a soloist with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.