"What a thrill to have won the ANBOC composition prize! As a pianist who only occasionally plays viola, it's very rewarding to have a composition for string orchestra recognised in this way. Thank you so much, and I look forward to hearing it brought to life later this year."
Winner of the 2018 Matt Withers Composition Competition, Shepparton-based composer Wade Gregory is active across multiple styles. He has composed for orchestra, musical theatre, wind symphony, string quartet, brass quintet and solo piano, although his original passion is jazz. He has composed and arranged for 18-piece jazz orchestras such as Enthusiastic Musicians’ Orchestra, 10-piece ensemble West End Composer’s Collective, and is co-director and composes for the 15-piece Shepparton Jazz Orchestra.
In recent times Wade has focused on orchestral and theatrical music. He has composed works for Goulburn Valley Concert Orchestra, re-orchestrated over 20 musical theatre numbers for Shepparton Theatre Arts Group’s (STAG) 40th anniversary concert, and re-imagined 16 James Bond songs for a local jazz cabaret show. In 2016 he composed orchestral music for STAG’s world premiere of John Head’s new play “Dookie”; the following two years were consumed with writing, editing, and orchestrating “Dookie: The Musical” which had its sold-out premiere season in 2018. In the same year, Matt Withers and Acacia Quartet recorded his award-winning work Water Music for guitar and string quartet, which is frequently heard on ABC Classic FM. More recently Wade has had works premiered by Grainger Wind Symphony as part of their “Made in Australia” concerts, and was commissioned by Shepparton Art Museum to compose a choral work for its opening in 2021.
