A Ballarat composer whose songs have been lauded as “gems of 21st Century imagining” has launched a crowdfunding campaign to record 50 artsongs.
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Calvin Bowman, a former Ballarat grammar student, was the first Australian to graduate with a Master and Doctorate of Musical Arts from Yale University.
Dr Bowman’s compositions are influenced by English pastoralists and Bach.
His work has been praised by English violinist and conductor Sir Neville Marriner and American poet William Jay Smith, who said Dr Bowman’s work was “equal to that of Ned Rorem (American composer) ... magnificent and flawless”.
A Go Fund Me Campaign is nearly halfway to its $25,000 target.
“Artists generally do not find it easy to ask for help – but I have had to become proactive and have established a Go Fund Me campaign to raise $36,000 for the project to succeed,” Dr Bowman said.
Dr Bowman said encouragement in his early years – including the support he received at Ballarat Grammar – has been instrumental in his musical career.
As keyboardist he has premiered works by Philip Glass, Peter Sculthorpe, Ross Edwards, Richard Mills, Graeme Koehne and Andrew Schultz.
“There have been many people who have supported me and believed in my ability,” he said.
“From my early schooling at Ballarat Grammar I was encouraged to explore my talent as a musician and was lucky enough to have Bruce Keck as my organ teacher.
“It’s thanks to the encouragement of a couple of key people that I never gave up on what I believed I would one day achieve.”
Dr Bowman will collaborate with Perth soprano Sarah Macliver, Canberra tenor Paul McMahon, Sydney bass baritone Christopher Richardsom and pianist Ian Munro on what has been described as a product of a 20 year “creative flowering”. The recording will be engineering by international record producer and classical music specialist Phil Rowlands.
Visit: www.gofundme.com/calvin-bowman-artsong-recording.