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Antony Field

Antony has established himself as one of Australia's leadings performers and teachers on the classical guitar. Graduating from the Canberra School of Music with 1st Class Honours as 'Most Outstanding Graduate' for the Class of 1995, Antony achieved various accolades while studying including several first prizes in school-wide chamber music competitions and winning 2nd prize twice at the Darwin International Guitar Competition in 1993 and 1995. In 1996 Antony was awarded a 'Big Brother' scholarship to study in the UK which he used to receive tuition from Royal Northern College of Music?s Head of Guitar Gordon Crosskey and Manhattan School of Music Chairman of Guitar David Starobin.

Aged 22, Antony's debut CD 'Sunburst - Music of the Americas' was recorded for Walsingham Classics. This recording was nominated for an ARIA in 1997 and released internationally through Tower Records and is regularly broadcast on ABC Classic FM. In 1998 Antony took up his appointment as Head of Guitar at the Victorian College of the Arts and since then he has performed in a wide range of ensembles on the electric and classical guitars including multiple premiers of new works, many live appearances for national ABC radio and several recordings for ABC Classics and one for Naxos Records.

Antony has collaborated with many musicians on a multitude of projects. Some of these include:

  • 'Duo Australis' with Australian flautist Sally Walker (played with Gewandhaus Orchestra and Berlin Philharmonic Orchestras, Germany) who have been broadcast on ABC Classic FM and toured Germany in 2002.
  • 'Saffire' who toured Australia extensively and won the ARIA award for 'Best Classical Album 2003'.
  • 'The Raga Dolls Salon Orchestra' premiering new works by David Osborne and broadcasting live for ABC Classic FM. Their latest CD has recently been released by ABC Classics and features guitar with the salon orchestra.
  • Composer Mark Pollard transcribed 'Colouring in the Sky' for electric guitar and orchestra which received its premiere performance by Antony in 2007 at the 7th Darwin International Guitar Festival with the Darwin Symphony Orchestra conducted by Kevin Cameron.
  • The Melbourne Guitar Quartet (formerly a quartet of his own graduates) invited Antony to become a member in 2007.

As a soloist Antony has toured Slovakia, New Zealand and nearly every capital city in Australia.

In 2007 Antony received a highly competitive Australian Postgraduate Award to undertake the Masters in Performance (by research) course at the Victorian College of the Arts where he achieved the highest postgraduate mark at VCA Music for his 1st year recital. In the same year Antony performed Mark Pollard's 'Colouring in the Sky' for electric guitar and orchestra with the Victorian College of the Arts Symphony Orchestra conducted by David Kram. This transcription from baritone saxophone and orchestra to electric guitar and orchestra is an experimental work exploring the electric guitar's potential to overcome limitations inherent on the classical instrument. Anthony and Mark Pollard's work in this area is ground breaking. Their collaboration, which applies the classical approach to sound and touch on the electric instrument, has opened ears and minds to the boundless possibilities of the electric instrument. Contrary to that which most associate with the electric guitar, delicate touch, subtle phrase shape, colour, beauty and sustain of melodic singing line have been achieved by Antony through the careful refinement of the skill set necessary for the classical approach on the electric instrument. Antony has also played electric guitar premiering Australian composer Michael Smetanin's 'Gauguin' as part of Chamber Made's many opera performances.

Antony believes passionately in creating a strong future for the classical guitar in Australia and the guitar course at the Victorian College of the Arts reflects this. Through his passion and love of teaching, qualities of initiative, industriousness and long standing motivation and love of music are cultivated and instilled in his students. Through the nurturing of a supportive and collegial learning environment Antony has created a Guitar Department at the Victorian College of the Arts that is of a world class standard. His students are among the elite of Australian classical guitar players today and many are active professional players and competition prize winners on the scene in Australia.

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