MAGEAU, M Forensis
oboe, clarinet, horn and bassoon

American-born composer, Mary Mageau, arrived in Australia in 1974 as a guest lecturer. Since her marriage to architect Ken White, Mary has lived in Queensland and now holds Australian/American citizenship. She studied composition at DePaul University in Chicago, gaining a B.Mus. with Honours and graduated Pi Kappa Lambda from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, with a M.Mus. In 1970 Mary participated in the Berkshire Music Center’s Composer Fellowship Programme at Tanglewood.

Composing in a large number of genres, her catalogue includes works for symphony and string orchestra, chorus, ballet, theatre, solo instruments, various chamber ensembles and voice. Mary is also the recipient of many international awards. These include: the Louis Moreau Gottschalk International Composer’s Competition (silver medal), ASCAP Standard Awards granted annually since 1981 and a prize in the 1994 Alienor Harpsichord Concerto Competition for Composers. In 1990, her Triple Concerto was highly commended by the Vienna Modern Masters First Recording Award and was released in VMM’s ‘Music From Six Continents’ CD Series.

Mary has received commissions from Musica Viva and the ABC Concert Department as well as six Australia Council Composer Commission Grants. In 1996, An Early Autumn’s Dreaming (a commission from the Queensland Philharmonic), was released on a video entitled, Music, A European Experience, performed by the SBS-TV Youth Orchestra. In addition, Mary has worked with many international soloists, chamber ensembles and orchestras. Among them are American violinist Janet Packer and harpsichordists Audley Green and Igor Kipnis, together with Australia’s Camerata of St Johns, the Darling Downs Piano Trio, Perihelion and the Southern Cross Soloists. Through Musica Viva’s commissioning programme, Italy’s Trio di Milano and Hungary’s Auer String Quartet have programmed and performed Mary’s chamber music. During her early years in the United States, Mary’s career as an orchestral composer was launched by the Minnesota Orchestra. Her long association with the Vienna Modern Master’s Recording Company also provided an opportunity to work with the Slovak and Polish Radio Symphony Orchestras as well as the Queensland Symphony Orchestra, - by recording her concertos for release on the VMM label.