Listen to Katie’s original sound file submitted with her entry.
Listen to Katie’s final sound file recorded by the Australian Youth Orchestra.
Katie Bombardieri is a 19-year-old composer, undergoing a Bachelor of Music Education and Composition at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. Prior to commencing this degree, Katie completed a semester of a Bachelor of Music, specialising in Jazz Saxophone and Composition at The Australian National University.
Katie’s love of Jazz and Composition began in high school, where she was selected for The Arts Unit’s Stage Band and “Romeo & Juliet Reimagined” Composition Competition with Paul Rissmann in 2018. She is also a current member of the Young Women’s Jazz Orchestra, after having completed the associated workshops in 2017 and 2018. In 2018, Katie was highly commended for her Artology Fanfare entry.
Katie developed her love of music education through running primary school bands and tutorials with Engadine Music Centre and Bandemonium. She also runs private saxophone tutorials, in which she aims to incorporate elements of composition and improvisation, alongside instrumental technique and basic music theory. In her first semester of Music Education, Katie composed a children’s song, which is soon to be published in Dr James Humberstone’s eBook, “Melodies With Body Percussion – Sydney Conservatorium of Music Undergraduates”, a collection of Orff-Schulwerk based compositions and arrangements.
Composition Inspiration
When I write a new composition, I try to stick to a brief. Whether it’s a uni assignment, a submission for a competition, or a leisure piece, I try to set myself a brief to fulfil. Originally titled Fanfare for the Women, Achelois was born out of a musical cryptogram of the women who inspire me – my mother and my grandmothers. As my previous fanfare draft (https://soundcloud.com/katiebombardieri/the-ringmaster) spoke to a more traditional, masculine orchestration, I wanted to showcase more feminine instruments like the piccolo, marimba, and glockenspiel, and the unconventional use of alto saxophone in an orchestra. I avoided a heavy focus on brass and unpatched percussion – a characteristic of many fanfares, opting for as many unique and interesting instrumental parts for players throughout the orchestra as possible. For instance, the Bartok pizzicato in the strings, and call-and-response between various combinations of textures and voices. The recurring semiquaver descent in 7/16 symbolises the washing away of pain, as Achelois the Greek lunar goddess was regarded as a motherly source of comfort and healing.