Dancing with Somebody is a musical celebration of the life, music and persona of diva sensation Whitney Houston, one of my favourite pop artists. Embedded subtly within the work’s thematic language are fragments of her hit tunes The Greatest Love of All and I Wanna Dance With Somebody. This string quartet explores Whitney’s rise to stardom and glamour, her superstar talent and prowess, as well as her gradual decline from grace, her struggle with drugs and her eventual, tragic death. The overriding musical character of Dancing with Somebody is ironically jovial and buoyant. Despite this, the work juxtaposes light-hearted music with moments of eerie grotesqueness, culminating in an intense ‘dance macabre’ with allusions to heavy metal and dub-step. These musical juxtapositions might be considered as a reflection of society’s flippant, hedonistic obsession with tabloid scandal and rumour, overshadowing the celebrity’s raw talent, potential and humanity. Ultimately, Dancing with Somebody expresses my admiration of Whitney’s unforgettable voice, her enchanting persona, and the lasting impact of her legacy on millions of people around the world. I Dance Myself to Sleep explores the general idea of sleep, but more specifically it relates to a perplexing recurring dream that involves the central ‘female companion’ characters from some of my favourite childhood movies like Superman, the Indiana Jones films and the Star Wars saga. Representing this is a repeated, romantic melody – a ‘love theme’ written at the age of twelve (photographed on back page of this booklet) in homage to the enchanting love themes in film scores by John Williams, Jerry Goldsmith and Max Steiner. However, this recurring dream developed over several years, becoming less whimsical and naive, allegorically suggesting a loss of innocence. This is represented musically in my work by the juxtaposition of sweeping romanticism and haunting musical gestures. The simple melody is played in contexts made bittersweet by complex jazz-based harmonic language that shrouds and taints the unadorned melody. I Dance Myself to Sleep was written for pianist Sally Whitwell and later adapted for orchestra for a commission from the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. Gorilla is the musical score to an award-winning short film from director Tim Marshall. Gorilla is a story about life's unanswered questions. On a weekend away, a newly formed couple are forced to face the unknowns in their lives when a mysterious woman arrives at their secluded campsite. The score accompanies a powerful scene featuring unusual, ritualistic dancing.