ANNE BOYD AT 75: A CELEBRATION THROUGH THE STRING QUARTET

Abstract

Anne Boyd (b. 1946) is one of Australia's most celebrated composers and educators. Her formal training began at the University of Sydney, where she worked with Peter Sculthorpe (1929–2014), who became a highly influential figure for her both musically and personally. Having completed her DPhil at the University of York in 1972 on a Commonwealth Scholarship, Boyd took up teaching posts in Sussex and Hong Kong, before returning to Sydney as Professor of Music, the first Australian and first woman to hold this position. Her music has been performed worldwide and draws on a synthesis of East-Asian and Western elements, with a clear focus on timbre and texture, invoking ideas of meditation, nature and ritual. This article presents a transcription of a virtual interview conducted with Boyd in February 2021 and uses the genre of the string quartet as a lens through which the composer elaborates and expands upon some of the key aspects of her musical approach and philosophy.