Kenneth Bruce Rowland (born 9 May 1942 in

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

) is an Australian composer.

Biography

Rowland composed the soundtrack for the 1982 movie '' The Man from Snowy River'', as well as the soundtrack for its 1988 sequel '' The Man from Snowy River II'' (which has the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

title of ''Return to Snowy River'', and the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

title of ''The Untamed''). Both films were based on

Banjo Paterson Andrew Barton "Banjo" Paterson, (17 February 18645 February 1941) was an Australian bush poet, journalist and author, widely considered one of the greatest writers of Australia's colonial period. Born in rural New South Wales, Paterson worke ...

's poem The Man from Snowy River.Bruce Rowland official website
/ref> His other film scores include '' Now and Forever'' (1983), ''

Phar Lap Phar Lap (4 October 1926 – 5 April 1932) was a New Zealand-born champion Australian Thoroughbred horse racing, racehorse. Achieving great success during his distinguished career, his initial underdog status gave people hope during the ear ...

'' (1983), '' Bushfire Moon'' (1987), ''

Cheetah The cheetah (''Acinonyx jubatus'') is a large Felidae, cat and the Fastest animals, fastest land animal. It has a tawny to creamy white or pale buff fur that is marked with evenly spaced, solid black spots. The head is small and rounded, wit ...

'' (1989), '' Weekend with Kate'' (1990), '' Gross Misconduct'' (1993), '' Andre'' (1994), '' Lightning Jack'' (1994), '' Zeus and Roxanne'' (1997) and the TV movie '' Tidal Wave: No Escape'' (1997). He also composed the score for the popular TV series '' All the Rivers Run'' (1983/1990). He composed a special Olympics version of the main theme of ''The Man from Snowy River Suite'', as well as conducting the orchestra, for the Opening Ceremony of the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, officially branded as Sydney 2000, and also known as the Games of the New Millennium, were an international multi-sport event held from 15 September to 1 October ...

which were held in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

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. He also composed special arrangements of some of his music for the 2002 musical theatre production "'' The Man from Snowy River: Arena Spectacular''", which twice toured Australian capital cities. The

original cast album A cast recording is a recording of a stage musical that is intended to document the songs as they were performed in the show and experienced by the audience. An original cast recording or OCR, as the name implies, features the voices of the sho ...

of the show won the ARIA Award for Best Cast / Show Album). Rowland also composed new music for "The Australian Outback Arena Show" on Queensland's Gold Coast. Rowland composed the music to the Oscar nominated animation '' The Mysterious Geographic Explorations of Jasper Morello'' (2005).

NBC Sports NBC Sports is an American programming division for NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, that is responsible for sports broadcasts on their broadcast network NBC, the Cable television, cable channels NBC owns, and on Peacock (streaming service) ...

also uses some of the music from '' The Man from Snowy River'' soundtrack for their coverage of

The Players Championship The Players Championship (commonly known as simply The Players, stylized by the PGA Tour as THE PLAYERS Championship) is an annual golf tournament on the PGA Tour. Originally known as the Tournament Players Championship, it began in 1974. The ...

. Some of his early work was in television, where he was musical director for ATV0's ''

The Go!! Show ''The Go!! Show'' (also known simply as ''Go!!'') was an Australian popular music television series which was produced before a live audience and aired on Network Ten ATV-0, Melbourne, from August 1964 to August 1967, running one hour three nig ...

'', '' Fredd Bear's Breakfast-A-Go-Go'' and the '' Magic Circle Club'', then '' Adventure Island'' for the ABC. Rowland received his education at

Caulfield Grammar School Caulfield Grammar School is a private, co-educational, Anglican, International Baccalaureate, day and boarding school, located in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1881 as a boys' school, Caulfield Grammar began admitting girls exactly ...

in his hometown. He learned piano and was a keyboard player for Australian music groups, and singers. He played drums on

Shawn Phillips Shawn Phillips (born February 3, 1943) is an American singer-songwriter and musician, primarily influential in the 1960s and 1970s. His work is rooted in folk rock but straddles other genres, including jazz fusion and funk. Phillips has reco ...

's Second Contribution album, published in 1970.

Discography

Charting albums

Honours and awards

In the 2025 King's Birthday Honours, Rowland was appointed a

Member of the Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an Australian honours and awards system, Australian honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Monarch ...

, for significant service to music as a composer, arranger and conductor. Awards won by Bruce Rowland:Bruce Rowland Awards
— Bruce Rowland's official website 1982 * Won the AFI Award for Best Score for '' The Man from Snowy River'' 1983 * Won the AFI Award for Best Score for ''

'' * Won the Penguin Award for Best Score for '' All the Rivers Run'' 1984 * Won the Australasian Performing Right Association Award for Best Score for '' The Man from Snowy River'' 1985 * Won the AFI Award for Best Score for '' Rebel'' * Won the Australasian Performing Right Association Award for Best Score for '' The Man from Snowy River'' * Won the Australasian Performing Right Association Award for Best Score for ''

'' 1989 * Won the Australasian Performing Right Association Award for Best Score for '' The Man from Snowy River'' ('' Return to Snowy River'') 2005 * Won the Australasian Performing Right Association Award for Best Score for '' The Mysterious Geographic Explorations of Jasper Morello'' * Awarded the APRA/AGSC 'International Achievement Award'

ARIA Music Awards

The

ARIA Music Awards The Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards (commonly known informally as ARIA Music Awards, ARIA Awards, or simply the ARIAs) is an annual series of awards nights celebrating the Australian music industry, put on by the Austr ...

is an annual awards ceremony held by the

Australian Recording Industry Association The Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) is a trade association representing the Australian recording industry which was established in the 1970s by six major record companies, EMI, Festival Records (Australia), Festival, Sony Music ...

. They commenced in 1987. ! , - ,

1989 1989 was a turning point in political history with the "Revolutions of 1989" which ended communism in Eastern Bloc of Europe, starting in Poland and Hungary, with experiments in power-sharing coming to a head with the opening of the Berlin W ...

, ''The Man from Snowy River II'' , Best Original Soundtrack, Cast or Show Album , , ARIA Award previous winners. , -

References

External links

Bruce Rowland Official Website
*
Bruce Rowland Interview
NAMM Oral History Library (2017) {{DEFAULTSORT:Rowland, Bruce APRA Award winners Australian film score composers Australian male film score composers The Man from Snowy River People educated at Caulfield Grammar School Living people 1942 births Varèse Sarabande Records artists Musicians from Melbourne Members of the Order of Australia