Between Two Worlds, with its implied dualities, alludes both to my Italian and Australian backgrounds and to my popular and art music experiences. The dissertation comprises of analyses of and critical commentary on a selection of compositions from instrumental through electroacoustic to musico-dramatic works. Further, Part I presents a précis of relevant background in order to locate the compositions within both Australian contemporary classical music and international settings, and Part I includes sections on analytical methodology and compositional technique. Compositions examined in Part II illustrate the salient features of compositional technique, specific influences and aesthetic concerns. Both instrumental works, Fra l’urlo e il tacere and Ridendo vado sul fiume, were written during the earlier period of the doctoral candidature. The discussion presents not only the seminal influences including the use of interval-class (ic) construction and music technologies but is also intended to guide the reader from solo and chamber instrumental writing through sound design and electronic soundscape composition towards the larger-scale, musico-dramatic works. Part III discusses the major contribution. It is concerned with three mixed-media musictheatre compositions that were created in the period 2000–08 and which explore crossdisciplinary relationships. Whilst maintaining a continuous development of style, the works are on a larger scale in all respects: involve national (The Last Child and Touch Wood) and international (Lontano Blu) production teams and a greater number of performers; are interdisciplinary, conceptually more complex and multilayered, and longer in duration; include extensive use of music technologies, multimedia and multichannel surround sound in performance; and use graphic/text/prose scores. By their very nature, these compositions involved significant collaborative endeavour not only with the key members of the creative teams, such as artistic directors, writers and set designers, but also the performers in general and musicians in particular. The collaborations included development of the conceptual structures of the works with the creative teams and ‘hands on’ interaction with the musicians in shaping the sound in real time through group-devised processes where appropriate.

Between Two Worlds, with its implied dualities, alludes both to my Italian and Australian backgrounds and to my popular and art music experiences. The dissertation comprises of analyses of and critical commentary on a selection of compositions from instrumental through electroacoustic to musico-dramatic works. Further, Part I presents a précis of relevant background in order to locate the compositions within both Australian contemporary classical music and international settings, and Part I includes sections on analytical methodology and compositional technique. Compositions examined in Part II illustrate the salient features of compositional technique, specific influences and aesthetic concerns. Both instrumental works, Fra l’urlo e il tacere and Ridendo vado sul fiume, were written during the earlier period of the doctoral candidature. The discussion presents not only the seminal influences including the use of interval-class (ic) construction and music technologies but is also intended to guide the reader from solo and chamber instrumental writing through sound design and electronic soundscape composition towards the larger-scale, musico-dramatic works. Part III discusses the major contribution. It is concerned with three mixed-media musictheatre compositions that were created in the period 2000–08 and which explore crossdisciplinary relationships. Whilst maintaining a continuous development of style, the works are on a larger scale in all respects: involve national (The Last Child and Touch Wood) and international (Lontano Blu) production teams and a greater number of performers; are interdisciplinary, conceptually more complex and multilayered, and longer in duration; include extensive use of music technologies, multimedia and multichannel surround sound in performance; and use graphic/text/prose scores. By their very nature, these compositions involved significant collaborative endeavour not only with the key members of the creative teams, such as artistic directors, writers and set designers, but also the performers in general and musicians in particular. The collaborations included development of the conceptual structures of the works with the creative teams and ‘hands on’ interaction with the musicians in shaping the sound in real time through group-devised processes where appropriate.

Letters from a Black Snake is a song cycle by living Australian composer, George Palmer. The cycle sets curated excerpts of text taken from letters written or dictated by Australia's most notorious bushranger (bandit) turned folk hero, Edward "Ned" Kelly (1854-1880), creating a cohesive narrative arc that establishes and explores Kelly's character through the precipitating events of his short life, exclusively in his own words. But what happens when the narrator doesn't tell the whole story? Framed as an expositional analysis of Letters from a Black Snake, this dissertation explores the importance of context on the interpretation and reception of this, and narrative song cycles generally, outlining potential approaches to performance, and proposing an expansion of Palmer's work.