The Australia Ensemble UNSW aims to foster greater engagement in and recognition of composition and chamber music activities at UNSW. Support from Emeritus Professor Roger Layton AM and Merrilyn Layton has facilitated a UNSW composition fellowship to again be offered valued at $10,000 for one year, for an Emerging Composer to write chamber music works as part of the Australia Ensemble’s artistic development program.
About the Fellowship
The winner will receive $10,000 to write one 8-10 minute chamber work for the Australia Ensemble UNSW across the course of a 12-month period, through a competitive selection process determined by UNSW. The Emerging Composer will also be eligible for mentoring sessions leading composers and members of the Australia Ensemble UNSW, and their work will feature in at least one public workshop.
Previous winners of the Prize include Alex Turley, Angus Davison, Nicole Murphy, Harry Sdraulig, Ian Whitney and Elizabeth Younan, who have spring-boarded from the program into Australia's largest concert halls and around the world.
The Layton Emerging Composer Fellowship is open to all Australian citizens and permanent residents, and still in an early career stage (defined as being within the first 7 years of creative practice).
Applications are now closed.
2025 Layton Fellow
Dr Natalie Nicolas is the 2025 Layton
Emerging Composer Fellow.
Dr Natalie Nicolas, Sydney composer, researcher, educator, holds a Master's and PhD from Sydney Conservatorium of Music on scholarship where she currently lectures. Her emotionally driven music aims at evoking calm and catharsis. This is exhibited in "We Won't Let You Down" for ACO Collective, which was featured on an ARIA nominated album in 2019.
Nicolas has composed for esteemed orchestras and ensembles like the TSO, SSO, CSO, winning ASQ Andrew Ford National Composers Forum (2013) and Harold and Gwenneth Harris Endowment for Medical Humanities Harris Award (2019/20). She has won competitions like the Flinders Quartet Composition (2017, 2019) and MSO Cybec 21st Century Australian Composers’ Program (2021). Her works have featured globally, collaborating with Grammy award-winning piano duo, ZOFO. Recent premieres include "Sydney Dreaming" at Sydney Opera House with Omega Ensemble and "By the Tide of the Moon" by Flinders Quartet. Nicolas is releasing a new album with the Hush Foundation in 2024.
Get in touch with us online, by phone or in person.