Composers & WorksLisa Cheney

Dr. Lisa Cheney (she/her) is a classically trained composer of acoustic and acousmatic music, working on Turrbal lands in Brisbane, Australia. Her music communicates through varied styles, which often reflect a fascination with seeking the “dirty-beautiful” through exploration of shadows, impermanence, ambiguity, expression, poeticism, fragility, delicacy, resonant space, pacing, light and dark, and atmospheric soundscapes. Cheney's work has been described as 'atmospheres of unfathomable spaciousness' (Partial Durations), 'melodic slivers with plaintive intensity' (The Australian) and 'fantastic and frightening in its detail and colour' (Resonate). Her body of work incorporates orchestra, chamber, voice, acousmatic collaborations, arrangements and works for theatre and ballet.

Cheney has received several accolades, including grants from the Australia-Korea Foundation, the 2017 Art Music Fund, the Silver Harris and Jeff Peck Composition Prize, 2019 Dorian Le Gallienne Composition Award, and was a finalist for Instrumental Work of the Year at the 2018 Art Music Awards for her cello work When We Speak.

Her music has been performed in Australia, Europe, and the US. She has worked with leading performers and ensembles including The Southern Cross Soloists, The Australian Voices, Plexus, Syzygy, flautist Jonathan Henderson, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, and the Australian Ballet amongst others. Cheney completed her Master of Music at the Queensland Conservatorium of Music, and her PhD in Music Composition at the University of Melbourne under the guidance of Elliott Gyger and Linda Kouvaras.