Composer Katy Abbott is forensically curious about what makes us tick. Her music explores our passions, fears and motivations using contemporary musical flavours in traditional musical settings. Musing on the concepts of connection, place and humour, Abbott’s compositions are performed, published and recorded around the world.
Abbott’s work has won numerous prestigious awards including a 2-year Australia Council of the Arts Fellowship (Music), Paul Lowin Prize (song-cycle), Boston Metro Opera ‘Gold Prize’ for Art Song and the Albert H. Maggs Prize for Composition.
Abbott has five solo albums of her work on ABC Classics and MOVE Records and her work is regularly programmed in festival, chamber and orchestral settings in Australia and overseas.
A central theme in Abbott’s work is 'connection', particularly in the triadic relationship between audience, performer, and composer. Although this theme exists throughout Abbott’s whole catalogue, her Hidden Thoughts™️ Series is where she is deliberately and overtly exploring connection in relation to self, each other and our world. Each Hidden Thoughts work looks at the macro (societal) human connection as well as the intimate (one-to-one connections within relationships, families, friendships and self) and she does this through stories and capturing the essence of the extraordinary in the ‘ordinary’.
Katy has been Senior Lecturer in Composition at Melbourne Conservatorium of Music, University of Melbourne for 10+ years and founded The Artists’ Mentor which supports mid-career and established artists across disciplines to build long-term, vibrant practices with impact and meaning.
