COMPOSER PROFILE
JESSICA WELLS
Jessica Wells was born in Florida, USA in 1974 and migrated to Australia at the age of 11. She completed her Bachelor of Music degree in Composition at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music in 1996 and graduated with first class honours. This was followed by a Master’s Degree in Composition under Dr. Bozidar Kos completed in 1998. After teaching composition at the Conservatorium for four years, she spent time living in Antwerp, Belgium and then returned to Sydney in 2003.
She then completed a Masters in Screen Composition at the AFTRS (Australian Film, Television and Radio School) in 2005, and was awarded the Film Critic's Circle Award for "Best Display of Technical Excellence" for her work on eight short films
Jessica's compositions cross many genres in the classical, commercial and film music worlds. She has worked for some of Australia's best composers as an orchestrator, arranger and copyist."
A World Premiere at the Women in Music Festival
When Monica Curro asked Jessica to create a new film score for the Festival, Jessica headed to the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia.
The fabulously knowledgeable and helpful staff there helped her find an incredible old silent film, namely Neptune's Daughter starring swimmer, actress and women's advocate Annette Kellerman. Annette Kellerman is credited as being the first woman to appear nude in a film.
Jessica will bring new life to Neptune's Daughter, scoring her new piece for PLEXUS (violin, clarinet and piano) for performance in the Saturday night concert, and will also conduct two pieces in the Sunday night concert.
For a taste of Jessica's stunning music: scroll down and listen to the end credits of the 2005 short film Perdition.
MORE ABOUT JESSICA
"Jessica Wells' orchestral music and arrangements have been performed by many of the major Australian orchestras (SSO, MSO, TSO, WASO and QSO). She was commissioned to write two pieces for the Victorian Opera's "Seven Deadly Sins" project featuring seven singers and a full orchestra, which was acclaimed as a highlight of the year in Melbourne's art scene.
"Moon Fire" for Carillon and Electronic track was nominated for an Art Music Award in 2017 and was performed in Barcelona as part of the Carillon World Congress. Jessica was previously nominated for an Art Music Award for her orchestral work "Ainulindale" in 2001.
As a producer Jessica can bring out the best in orchestral recordings as well as smaller ensembles and jazz and contemporary musicians. She has has arranged and produced music for ABC Classics as well as many other individual artist's albums, including Divergence Jazz Orchestra's last album "Fake It Until You Make It" and the Wiggles "Meet the Orchestra" album. She has just been engaged to produce a new album for South American pianist and composer Daniel Rojas.
She also co-produces film recording sessions with composers, and is able to help them get the best performances and combinations of elements for delivery to the film mix. Most recently she produced the orchestral recordings of film soundtracks for Nigel Westlake's "Paper Planes" and "Ali's Wedding"."
Text in inverted commas courtesy of Jessica Wells website http://www.jessicawellscomposer.com.au/
To go back to the 2019 composer list click here.