David Chesworth (born 1958,

Stoke-on-Trent Stoke-on-Trent (often abbreviated to Stoke) is a city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Staffordshire, England. It has an estimated population of 259,965 as of 2022, making it the largest settlement in Staffordshire ...

, United Kingdom) is an

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

n-based interdisciplinary artist, composer and sound designer. Known for his conceptual, and at times,

minimalist In visual arts, music, and other media, minimalism is an art movement that began in the post-war era in western art. The movement is often interpreted as a reaction to abstract expressionism and modernism; it anticipated contemporary post-mi ...

music, he has worked solo, in post-punk groups (Essendon Airport, Whadya Want?), electronic music, contemporary ensembles and experimental performance. He has also created installation and video artworks with collaborator Sonia Leber, such as ''Zaum Tractor'' included in the 56th

Venice Biennale The Venice Biennale ( ; ) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy. There are two main components of the festival, known as the Art Biennale () and the Venice Biennale of Architecture, Architecture Biennale (), ...

(2015) and ''This Is Before We Disappear From View'' commissioned by

Sydney Biennale The Biennale of Sydney is an international festival of contemporary art, held every two years in Sydney, Australia. It is a large and well-attended contemporary visual arts event in the country. Alongside the Venice Biennale, Venice and São Pa ...

(2014).

Works

Chesworth's creative output includes music, sound art, video, installation and performance, often in collaboration with other artists. His compositions and installations have been exhibited and performed at

Ars Electronica Ars Electronica Linz GmbH is an Austrian cultural, educational and scientific institute active in the field of new media art, founded in Linz in 1979. It is based at the Ars Electronica Center (AEC), which houses the Museum of the Future, in t ...

Festival d'automne à Paris A festival is an event celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect or aspects of that community and its religion or cultures. It is often marked as a local or national holiday, mela, or eid. A festival constitutes ...

Edinburgh Festival __NOTOC__ This is a list of Arts festival, arts and cultural festivals regularly taking place in Edinburgh, Scotland. The city has become known for its festivals since the establishment in 1947 of the Edinburgh International Festival and the ...

, BAM's Next Wave Festival, Bang on a Can Marathon,

and the

. In 2012 he was artist in residence at the MONA Festival of Art and Music in Hobart which featured performances by the David Chesworth Ensemble and artworks made with collaborator Sonia Leber. Chesworth's artworks and music often explore their own framing and contextual ambiguity. ''

Grove Dictionary of Music ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' is an encyclopedic dictionary of music and musicians. Along with the German-language '' Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart'', it is one of the largest reference works on the history and th ...

'' writes:

Chesworth’s work focuses on the social in human experience, emphasizing shared cultural spaces – how music and sounds of diverse nature interact with cultural memory and performative contexts. The direct appeal of his musical surfaces, his collaborative working methods, and the implicit critique of traditional boundaries between genres, academic and popular subcultures, and art forms in his music and art can provoke audiences who adhere to musical styles and genres.

Early in his career Chesworth coordinated the

Clifton Hill Community Music Centre The Clifton Hill Community Music Centre (CHCMC), also known as the Organ Factory, was an artist-run music and performance art space in Clifton Hill, a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Located in a 19th-century factory used to construct ...

in Melbourne, a centre for experimental music, performance, film and video. He performed extensively in the late 1970s and early '80s as a solo performer and with post-punk group

Essendon Airport Essendon Fields Airport , colloquially known by its former name Essendon Airport, is a public airport serving scheduled commercial, corporate-jet, charter and general aviation flights. It is located next to the intersection of the Tullamarin ...

. Through Innocent Records, a label he co-founded with

Philip Brophy Philip Brophy, born in Reservoir, Melbourne 1959 is an Australian musician, composer, sound designer, filmmaker, writer, graphic designer, educator and academic. Music In 1977, Brophy formed the experimental group → ↑ → more often writt ...

, he released solo records that playfully deconstruct cultural tropes, including ''50 Synthesizer Greats'' and ''Layer on Layer'', and with the group Essendon Airport – ''Sonic Investigations of the Trivial'' and ''Palimpsest'', and Whadya Want? – ''Skippy Knows''. These have been reissued on CD and vinyl. Installations: Together with collaborator Sonia Leber, Chesworth has created a series of public art and gallery installations that 'exist significantly in the world of the imaginary'. Including ''5000 Calls'', a permanent 'sonic environment' for the surrounds of the

Sydney Olympic Stadium Stadium Australia, currently known as Accor Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is a multi-purpose stadium located in the suburb of Sydney Olympic Park, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The stadium, which is sometimes referred to as Sydney Ol ...

for the

2000 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 ...

. Other Leber and Chesworth projects include
We, The Masters
', a sound installation for Melbourne City Square, commissioned by Australian Centre for Contemporary Art (ACCA), ''We Are Printers Too'', a 'speculative and archaeological' video set in the former Age Newspaper building in Melbourne. They have created public domain installations in Ljubljana, Cardiff, and New Zealand. Leber and Chesworth were the 2007 recipients of the

Australian Centre for Contemporary Art The Australian Centre For Contemporary Art (ACCA) is a contemporary art gallery in Melbourne, Australia. The gallery is located on Sturt Street in the Melbourne Arts Precinct, in the inner suburb of Southbank, Victoria, Southbank. Designed by W ...

's Helen Macpherson Smith Commission, for which they created the major installation work ''Almost Always Everywhere Apparent''. Their recent major mid-career survey exhibition, ''Architecture Makes Us'' was exhibited at Centre for Contemporary Photography in Melbourne and has toured to several states including UNSW Galleries in Sydney. Chesworth and Leber collaborated with Simeon Nelson on ''Proximities'', a

2006 Commonwealth Games The 2006 Commonwealth Games, officially the XVIII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Melbourne 2006, were an International sport, international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth held in Melbourne ...

public sound-art commission for

William Barak William Barak ( March 1823 – 15 August 1903), named Beruk by his parents, the "last chief of the Yarra Yarra tribe", was the last traditional ngurungaeta (elder) of the Wurundjeri-willam clan, the pre-colonial inhabitants of present-day Melbo ...

Bridge in Melbourne and ''Oceanic Endless'' for Melbourne's

Cardinia Council The Shire of Cardinia is a local government area in Victoria, Australia, in the south-east of Melbourne between Western Port and the Yarra Ranges on the outskirts of Melbourne. It has an area of 1,283 square kilometres, and had a population of ...

in 2007. Experimental Performance: Chesworth's interest in exploring wider extra-musical contexts has led to his involvement with performance artworks and experimental opera. ''Insatiable'', was completed in 1986. Since then he has worked with Melbourne's

Chamber Made Opera Chamber Made, formerly known as Chamber Made Opera, is an Australian arts organisation based in Melbourne, creating work operating at the intersections of music, sound and contemporary performance. Formed in 1988 by theatre director and libretti ...

(''Recital'', ''The Two Executioners'' and ''Lacuna''), and with the

Melbourne International Arts Festival Melbourne International Arts Festival, formerly Spoleto Festival Melbourne – Festival of the Three Worlds, then Melbourne International Festival of the Arts, becoming commonly known as Melbourne Festival, was a major international arts festi ...

(''Cosmonaut'', commissioned by

Opera Australia Opera Australia is the principal opera company in Australia. Based in Sydney, New South Wales, its performance season at the Sydney Opera House accompanied by the Opera Australia Orchestra runs for approximately eight months of the year, with t ...

, and ''Sabat Jesus''). In 2010 Chesworth created the performance artwork ''Richter/Meinhof-Opera'' which was presented at Australian Centre for Contemporary Art for the 2010 Melbourne International Arts Festival and at the

Art Gallery of NSW The Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW), founded as the New South Wales Academy of Art in 1872 and known as the National Art Gallery of New South Wales between 1883 and 1958, is located in The Domain, Sydney, Australia. It is the most import ...

. The CD ''Wicked Voice'' containing material from various productions was released on ABC Classics. David Chesworth Ensemble: Chesworth is the artistic director of David Chesworth Ensemble. The ensemble has released four CDs, ''Exotica Suite'' (nominated for the

ARIA In music, an aria (, ; : , ; ''arias'' in common usage; diminutive form: arietta, ; : ariette; in English simply air (music), air) is a self-contained piece for one voice, with or without instrument (music), instrumental or orchestral accompan ...

Classical Release of the Year), ''Badlands'' (also released in the USA), ''Music To See Through'', and ''Vanishing Tekopia''. "Panopticon" from ''Music To See Through'' was awarded Instrumental Work of the Year at the APRA Classical Music Awards. The ensemble has given numerous performances including the Melbourne Festival, performances with

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds are a Rock music, rock band formed in Melbourne in 1983 by lead vocalist Nick Cave, multi-instrumentalist Mick Harvey and German guitarist-vocalist Blixa Bargeld. The band has featured international personnel throug ...

at the Forum in Melbourne. International appearances include BAM's Next Wave Festival, the Bang on a Can Marathon in New York, the

Kennedy Centre The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, commonly known as the Kennedy Center, is the national cultural center of the United States, located on the eastern bank of the Potomac River in Washington, D.C. Opened on September 8, ...

in Washington, and performances in Slovenia, France and the UK, where they appeared at the

Big Chill Festival The Big Chill was an annual festival of alternative, dance and chill-out music and comedy, held in the grounds of Eastnor Castle during early August. The 2011 line-up included The Chemical Brothers, Kanye West, Rodrigo Y Gabriela, Jessie J, Ro ...

Biography

He was born in Stoke-on-Trent, England. Chesworth's parents moved the family from Britain to Melbourne, Australia in the late 1960s. Chesworth studied at

La Trobe University La Trobe University is a public university, public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. Its main campus is located in the suburb of Bundoora, Victoria, Bundoora. The university was established in 1 ...

, including time with composers Jeff Pressing, Warren Burt and Graham Hair. He was awarded a doctorate in philosophy at

Monash University Monash University () is a public university, public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. Named after World War I general Sir John Monash, it was founded in 1958 and is the second oldest university in the ...

, for which he was awarded the Mollie Holeman Medal for research excellence. He was recently a Vice-Chancellor's Research Fellow at

RMIT University The Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (abbreviated as RMIT University) is a public research university located in the city of Melbourne in Victoria, Australia., section 4(b) Established in 1887 by Francis Ormond, it is the seventh-o ...

. He lives in Melbourne in partnership with Sonia Leber. They are directors of the company Wax Sound Media and have one daughter.

Discography

Albums * ''50 Synthesiser Greats!'' (as David Chesworth) * ''Layer on Layer'' (as David Chesworth) * ''Spiral Rebound'' (as David Chesworth) * ''No Particular Place'' (as David Chesworth) * ''Risky Business'' (as David Chesworth) * ''Wicked Voice'' (as David Chesworth) * ''The Unattended Serge 1978 / Five Evolutionary Things 1979'' (as David Chesworth) * ''Sonic Investigations of the Trivial'' (with

) * ''Palimpsest'' (with Essendon Airport) * ''Skippy Knows'' (with Whadya Want?) * ''Exotica Suite'' (with The David Chesworth Ensemble) * ''Badlands'' (with The David Chesworth Ensemble) * ''Music To See Through'' (with The David Chesworth Ensemble) * ''Vanishing Tekopia'' (with The David Chesworth Ensemble) EPs and Singles * ''Sonic Investigations of the Trivial'' (with Essendon Airport) * ''The Dave & Phil Duo'' (David Chesworth and

) * ''Talking To Cleopatra'' (with Essendon Airport) * ''Industry & Leisure'' (as David Chesworth)

Experimental Operatic works

*1986 ''Insatiable'': music & texts by Chesworth *1988 ''Recital'': music by Chesworth,

Puccini Giacomo Puccini (22 December 1858 29 November 1924) was an Italian composer known primarily for his operas. Regarded as the greatest and most successful proponent of Italian opera after Verdi, he was descended from a long line of composers, s ...

Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791) was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition and proficiency from an early age ...

et al., text by Douglas Horton and Helen Noonan, produced by

*1992 ''Lacuna'': music by Chesworth, text by Douglas Horton, produced by Chamber Made Opera *1994 ''The Two Executioners'': music by Chesworth, text by Douglas Horton, produced by Chamber Made Opera *2001 ''The Light Room'': opera devised with Company in Space *2004 ''Cosmonaut'': music by Chesworth, text by Tony MacGregor *2010 ''Richter/Meinhof-Opera'': music and text by Chesworth, after a libretto by Tony MacGregor.

Installation Artworks

Collaborations with Sonia Leber include * ''5000 Calls'' (2000 – ongoing)

* ''The Masters Voice'' (2001 – 2011) The Walk Civic, Canberra * ''The Persuaders'' (2003)

Australian Centre for the Moving Image ACMI, formerly the Australian Centre for the Moving Image, is Australia's national museum of screen culture including film, television, videogames, digital culture and art. ACMI was established in 2002 and is based at Federation Square in Melbo ...

, Melbourne * ''Proximities'' (2006 – ongoing) at the

Bridge, Melbourne * ''Almost Always Everywhere Apparent'' (2007) Helen Macpherson Smith Commission

, Melbourne * ''Space-Shifter'' (2009) Conical, Melbourne * ''We Are Printer's Too'' (2012) Melbourne Now,

National Gallery of Victoria The National Gallery of Victoria, popularly known as the NGV, is an art museum in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1861, it is Australia's oldest and list of most visited art museums in the world, most visited art mu ...

, Melbourne * ''This Is Before We Disappear From View'' (2014)

Biennale of Sydney The Biennale of Sydney is an international festival of contemporary art, held every two years in Sydney, Australia. It is a large and well-attended contemporary visual arts event in the country. Alongside the Venice and São Paulo biennales and ...

* ''Zaum Tractor'' (2013) 56th

Awards and nominations

Prix Ars Electronica The Prix Ars Electronica is one of the best known and longest running yearly prizes in the field of electronic and interactive art, computer animation, digital culture and music. It has been awarded since 1987 by Ars Electronica (Linz, Austria ...

. Honorable Mention awarded to ''Southgate'', Chesworth's score for the opening ceremony of Southgate, Melbourne, 1991. *

Churchill Fellowship Winston Churchill Memorial Trusts (WCMT) are three independent but related living memorials to Sir Winston Churchill, based in the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand. They exist for the purpose of administering Churchill Fellowships, a ...

. In 1997 Chesworth was awarded a travel fellowship to the US, France and UK to investigate new audio technologies. *

ATOM Awards The ATOM Awards are a group of awards offered to Australian and New Zealand "professionals, educators and students", honoring achievements in the making of film, television, multimedia, and from 2007 multi-modal productions. The Awards were esta ...

(Australian Teachers of Media). Chesworth's TV opera ''Insatiable'' won most innovative film. *

ARIA Award 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 Austra ...

s (Aust. Record Industry Assoc.). The David Chesworth Ensemble CD ''Exotica Suite'' was nominated for the 1994 Best Classical CD ARIA Award. *

Green Room Awards The Green Room Awards are Australian peer awards which recognise excellence in cabaret, dance, theatre companies, independent theatre, musical theatre, contemporary and experimental performance, and opera. The awards, which were established in ...

. Chesworth's music and sound design for the play ''

Life After George ''Life After George'' is a play by Australian playwright Hannie Rayson. The play concerns the current and two former wives of Peter George, a charismatic professor, who dies in a plane crash. It explores progressive Australian intellectual and po ...

'' received a 2000 Green Room award. *

The Age ''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria (Australia), Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Austral ...

Performing Arts Award. Awarded to Chesworth/Horton opera ''The Two Executioners'' *The Myer Group Arts Award. Awarded to the Chesworth/Horton opera ''Lacuna'' *Substation Contemporary Art Prize, winner 2016 ''One from Mosta Two From Zabbar'' *Gold Coast Art Prize, winner 2014 ''We Are Printers Too'' *Melbourne Prize for Urban Sculpture, finalist 2011 ''We, The Masters''

APRA Classical Music Awards

The APRA Classical Music Awards are presented annually by

Australasian Performing Right Association APRA AMCOS consists of Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) and Australasian Mechanical Copyright Owners Society (AMCOS), both copyright management organisations or copyright collectives which jointly represent over 100,000 songwri ...

(APRA) and

Australian Music Centre The Australian Music Centre (AMC), founded as Australia Music Centre in 1974 and known as Sounds Australian in the 1990s, is a national organisation promoting and supporting art music in Australia. It operates mainly as a service organisation, a ...

(AMC). , - , rowspan="3",

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

, , "Floating World" (David Chesworth) – David Chesworth Ensemble , , Instrumental Work of the Year , , , - , "Panopticon" (David Chesworth) – David Chesworth Ensemble , , Instrumental Work of the Year , , , - , "Wait a While" (David Chesworth) – David Chesworth Ensemble , , Instrumental Work of the Year , ,

References

External links

Official websiteDavid Chesworth's records and CDs on Bandcamp

Defining Moments: Clifton Hill Community Music Centre – ACCA (Australian Centre for Contemporary Art) Lecture SeriesListening To The Archive. Clifton Hill Community Music Centre - official archive site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chesworth, David 1958 births Living people APRA Award winners Australian male composers Australian composers Musicians from Stoke-on-Trent Australian artists La Trobe University alumni British emigrants to Australia