Boyer Lectures

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  • 4.4 (133)
  • SOCIETY & CULTURE
Boyer Lectures

In a series of four orations delivered by noted musicians, the 2024 Boyer Lectures will explore the state of classical music in Australia in the contemporary age. the anthology of four lectures will be delivered by Professor Anna Goldsworthy, Lyn Williams AM, founder and director of Gondwana Choirs, Iain Grandage, leading Australian composer and former Artistic Director of the Perth Festival and accomplished violist, conductor and composer, Aaron Wyatt. Since 1959, the ABC's Boyer Lectures have sparked conversations about critical ideas.

  1. 23/11/2024

    Lyn Williams: The Artistry of Children

    "Whilst our new Australian choral music began in a classical context, artistic collaborations have extended our musical realm to a point where it no longer fits this classification – it is simply choral music."  As the founder of Gondwana Choirs, Lyn Williams AM is particularly well placed to talk about the future of classical music. Her work with children over 30 years has created a whole new choral repertoire and a new standard for children’s choirs. In the final Boyer Lecture for 2024, she looks at different kinds of excellence, what accessibility really means, and the pathways that choral singing reveals to young musicians.

    29 min

  2. 16/11/2024

    Iain Grandage: Beyond the Boundaries

    Iain Grandage is a composer, a cellist, a pianist, a festival director, and a career collaborator.  In his Boyer Lecture, he asks whether classical music has been underestimated in its capacity to connect communities. His work with Indonesian Gamelan ensembles, Noongar elders, theatre companies and the late, great Jimmy Chi, provide waypoints on a long journey from childhood piano lessons to a mature acquisition of knowledge that only serves to reveal how much more understanding is still to seek.

    29 min

  3. 09/11/2024

    Aaron Wyatt: Our Shared Humanity

    “There is much to be gained by tapping into the tens of thousands of years of culture that we have available to us in this country. Exposing more people to it can only help to highlight our shared humanity, and to advance the cause of reconciliation.” Aaron Wyatt is a Noongar, Yamatji and Wongi musician: a conductor, composer, violist, educator and programmer. And as the Artistic Director of Ensemble Dutala, Australia’s first First Nations chamber ensemble, he’s working to rectify the conditions in the classical music industry that often see him being the only Indigenous person in an orchestra.  In their 2024 Boyer Lecture, Aaron traces the ways that classical music in Australia has attempted to fold in Indigenous ideas, music, and people – from the appropriative, to the naive, the collaborative, and the groundbreaking.  This lecture was written on Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Land and produced on Gadigal Land.

    29 min

  4. 02/11/2024

    Anna Goldsworthy: Kairos

    "There is a continuity to the inner experience of what it is to be human. And it is this inner experience that this music addresses directly." Professor Anna Goldsworthy is a pianist, an author, a festival director and the Director of the Elder Conservatorium at the University of Adelaide.  In her keynote Boyer Lecture for 2024, she traces how mentorship, music education, and opportunity have led her into a deep relationship with so-called classical music that reaches far beyond her career. Through the lens of her twenty six year collaboration with Helen Ayres and Tim Nankervis, the other two members of her Seraphim Trio, Anna talks about finding kairos: "the right, shared moment".

    31 min

  5. 11/11/2023

    Q&A with Professor Michelle Simmons

    What will a quantum computer look like? Will quantum computing supercharge AI? Can it save us from the climate crisis? Professor Michelle Simmons has the answers.

    34 min

  6. 11/11/2023

    04 | The Importance of Doubt

    Doubt is often seen as a something to be overcome — a failing, or even a sign of incompetence. But in her fourth and final lecture, Professor Michelle Simmons tells us why doubt is her greatest asset.

    29 min

  7. 04/11/2023

    03 | Imagination and Mindset

    In her third Boyer lecture, Professor Michelle Simmons maps how science has changed from 1927 to now — moving from the theoretical to the applicable.

    29 min

  8. 28/10/2023

    02 | The Quantum Promise

    In her second Boyer lecture, Professor Michelle Simmons details the international race underway to build the first error-corrected quantum computer.

    29 min
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4.4
out of 5
133 Ratings

About

In a series of four orations delivered by noted musicians, the 2024 Boyer Lectures will explore the state of classical music in Australia in the contemporary age. the anthology of four lectures will be delivered by Professor Anna Goldsworthy, Lyn Williams AM, founder and director of Gondwana Choirs, Iain Grandage, leading Australian composer and former Artistic Director of the Perth Festival and accomplished violist, conductor and composer, Aaron Wyatt. Since 1959, the ABC's Boyer Lectures have sparked conversations about critical ideas.

Information

  • Creator
    ABC listen
  • Years Active
    2006 - 2024
  • Episodes
    106
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 2025, Australian Broadcasting Corporation. All right reserved.
  • Show Website
    Boyer Lectures

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