The Emperor’s New Score
25th March 2025
Quillette.
In a recent article for the New York Times titled “Why Composers Want to Write Operas for Children,” Jeffrey Arlo Brown profiles a group of contemporary composers who have found an unexpected refuge in children’s opera after years of working within the constraints of academic modernism. The composers describe the experience as “liberating,” but not for the reason you might expect.
In 1995, I received a commission to write a new work for the Australian National Academy of Music. So, I composed a small string piece called Diesque, which was neoclassical in style, melodic and structured. But when I arrived at the National Academy, I was summoned to a meeting with the Australian composer Larry Sitsky. He did not hide his reservations. “I don’t like what you’ve done or approve of it,” he said, “but I will defend to the death your right to write music like this.” A week later, the director of the National Academy, Trevor Green, sat in on a rehearsal. He went white, stood up, and walked out. Shortly after, I was informed that my piece would not be performed. When I confronted Green about this decision, he gave me a response I have never forgotten: “The audience cannot be allowed to hear this music. It will set the cause of modern music back a decade.”
By the late 20th century, audiences outside conservatories were weeping to John Williams’s Schindler’s List theme, thrilling to the melodies of The Lion King, and filling Broadway theatres for Les Misérables and Phantom of the Opera. But inside conservatories, contemporary classical music had become a severe and esoteric form, financed exclusively by taxpayers and performed for diminishing audiences.