Music Educator and Composer receives 2008 Classical Music Award

Mr Mark Pollard, Acting Head of Music at VCA, has received the 2008 Classical Music Victorian State Award for his contribution to the advancement of Australian music in Victoria over the past 27 years as a musician, composer and educator.

Mark is also Head of Practical Composition at the VCA. His compositional output has explored many genres and he has worked with many artists including filmmakers, actors, directors, choreographers, dancers and curators of community activities.

His work as an educator spans two decades and he has contributed to curriculum development and promotion of composition as a lecturer, external adviser and committee member at both state and national levels.

Mark’s eclectic compositional style draws upon improvisation, jazz, pop and the indigenous music styles of Southeast Asia. He has broadcast and performed widely in Australia. Internationally his work has been included at many major festivals including the Warsaw Festival, the Tokyo Nova Festival, the Liverpool Festival and the Under Capricorn Festival (USA). Site-specific elements feature in many of his collaborative works.

Over the past 25 years Mark has been a finalist in many major competitions and has won numerous awards and prizes for his works, including an inaugural Jacobena Angliss Music Award, the National-Canberra Orchestral Competition, and a fellowship for the National Orchestral Composers' School. In 1992 he received the Albert H Maggs Composition Award and the following year the Spivokofsky Composition Prize. He has received over 30 Australia Council new work grants.

The Classical Music Awards were established to honour and celebrate dedicated supporters of Australian music. They also recognise outstanding contributions by individuals and organisations. The award winners are selected by a panel of industry peers who receive nominations from members of the Australian Music Centre and/or the Australasian Performing Rights Association (APRA). The award categories cover composition, performance, music education and regional music.