Australian composer mentors music students
Professor Mary Finsterer Photo: Dean Golja
An internationally renowned orchestral composer is helping to build of a robust musical culture at Monash University.
A thirty-year music industry veteran, Vice-Chancellor’s Professorial Fellow to the Sir Zelman Cowen School of Music, Mary Finsterer delivered her first series of classes in March this year and returned last week to continue her program.
Professor Finsterer says she hopes to be a mentor for the students through teaching into the various streams of performance, composition and musicology.
“By gaining access to musical disciplines outside their experience, students will broaden their appreciation of style and aesthetic, and be encouraged to engage with musicians from diverse backgrounds and experiences,” Professor Finsterer said.
At the heart of her work as a composer is a strong devotion to research.
“Research means different things to different people. To me it essentially means that through historical investigation and analysis, I continue to inform my creative practice. As mentors and teachers, learning and research go hand-in-hand,” Professor Finsterer said.
Professor Finsterer believes that a strong artistic practice comes from establishing a solid foundation in traditional musical concepts from which to build a personal style in creative practice.
“How history informs us, and how tradition informs us, helps to forge insight and direction,” Professor Finsterer said.
"Aknowledging the efforts and contributions of those from the past can assist us in finding pathways through contemporary issues, as we respond to our present-day circumstances through cultural expression. In this way, we begin to see ourselves as part of an on-going tradition,” Professor Finsterer said.
Central to her research is the application of her creative work across inter-disciplinary contexts. Her experience in this area is diverse, ranging from concert music to scores for narrative feature film.
In 2006 Professor Finsterer was awarded a Churchill Fellowship to further her inter-disciplinary research in the USA. She has also composed, directed and produced several multi-media projects for international festivals including the Zagreb Biennale, Ars Musica in Belgium and the George Pompidou Centre in Paris.
“Being a composer that works across the industry means that you must also be prepared to step into the role of director and producer: it’s not just about the actual music,” Professor Finsterer said.
Professor Finsterer is full of enthusiasm in her new role at Monash University as a professorial fellow.
"This is a golden opportunity. Under the direction of Vice-Chancellor Professor Ed Byrne, Monash is I believe, undergoing something of a Renaissance across the university. There are so many staff members at Monash who are at the top of their field and I am excited to be a part of it."
Having a role in building heritage is not something Professor Finsterer takes lightly.
“It is both an honour and a responsibility to present and future generations. Advancing the profile of Monash as a university of innovation is completely in tune with the accomplishments and brilliance of the great man whose name it bears," Professor Finsterer said.
"First and foremost, this is my inspiration in furthering the reputation of a great institution and community, one that celebrates excellence and courage both in Australia and internationally."
Professor Finsterer’s current projects at Monash University include a commissioned work for the Monash ensemble The Monash Art Ensemble, which will be performed at a concert on 14 August. In collaboration with the University’s Film and TV Studies Program, there will be a screening on 21 August of the film South Solitary, for which Professor Finsterer wrote the score, and there will also be a showing of photographer Dean Golja’s multimedia work Landmass with music by Professor Finsterer and performances by Professor Paul Grabowsky and The Monash Art Ensemble’s violinist Erkki Veltheim in 2014.