Ian Cleworth
Ian Cleworth is an Australian percussionist, composer and teacher. After two decades as Principal Percussionist with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra he became full-time Artistic Director of Taikoz, the Sydney taiko ensemble he co-founded in 1997.
Ian Cleworth co-founded Taikoz with Riley Lee in 1997 and has been the ensemble’s Artistic Director ever since. In 2005 he joined the group full-time, after twenty years as Principal Percussionist with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and sixteen years with the percussion ensemble Synergy.
A performer, composer and teacher, he has through Taikoz collaborated with, and composed works for, the ensemble and artists as diverse as John Bell and the Bell Shakespeare Company, taiko great Eitetsu Hayashi, koto virtuosi Kazue Sawai and Satsuki Odamura, and choreographers Meryl Tankard and Anandavalli.
Ian Cleworth is featured on the following titles
Like a Bird
Odamura's first CD, made after she settled in Australia in 1989 and brought the koto into contemporary performance here. Her playing is dramatic and engaging, joining traditional and modern techniques with equal conviction.
Composer
Performing as Synergy Percussion
Marimbas lock and skins crackle as Synergy Percussion drives Edwards's Dragonfly Dance, Westlake's Kalabash and Malachite Glass, and Pratt's hocketing Fantasy. Australian percussion writing at full tilt.
Synergy With Samuels
This CD grew from a concert collaboration between Australia’s best-known percussion quartet and America’s finest vibraphonist, Dave Samuels. Together they cook up a storm.
Compositions by Ian Cleworth also appear on
Pearl of May
Satsuki Odamura and her Koto Ensemble return with new Australian works for koto by Sandy Evans and Ian Cleworth, and a solo bass-koto piece by Mark Isaacs. The title marks her thirtieth anniversary in Australia.
Ian Cleworth also appears on
Pratt's Alchemy
Percussion compositions by Daryl Pratt, one of Australia’s finest vibraphonists in classical and jazz settings, and a sought-after general percussionist.
Onomatopoeia
Long-awaited performances of Nigel Westlake’s most acclaimed chamber works, with outstanding Australian players. One of Tall Poppies’ most successful releases.
"Caeli enarrant..." IV & V
Georges Lentz, then a violinist in the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, had already won the Paul Lowin Award for Orchestral Composition for another work in this series. His music draws on astronomy and carries a vast sense of space.
Antarctica: The Film Music
Australia's first IMAX film, scored by Nigel Westlake with music that captures the awesome spaces of the ice and the delights of the local fauna. Soloists include David Pereira (cello), Dene Olding (violin), Timothy Kain (guitar) and Christine Douglas (soprano).
Ian Cleworth is a member of
Seymour Group
The Seymour Group was founded in 1976 by Peter Platt in the University of Sydney Music Department with the aim of performing works from the 19th and 20th century focussing on music by Australian composers.
Synergy Percussion
Marimbas lock and skins crackle as Synergy Percussion drives Edwards's Dragonfly Dance, Westlake's Kalabash and Malachite Glass, and Pratt's hocketing Fantasy. Australian percussion writing at full tilt.