Anna Goldsworthy (born 9 June 1974) is an Australian writer, classical pianist and educator.
Life[]
Goldsworthy was born in Adelaide as the eldest daughter of the writer Peter Goldsworthy and Dr Helen Goldsworthy, and began studying the piano at the age of six. At the age of eleven, she was accepted into the Elder Conservatorium, studying with the distinguished pedagogue, Eleanora Sivan, to whom she attributes the fact that she is now a pianist. Anna completed her Bachelor of Music degree with Honours at the Elder Conservatorium, before acquiring a Master of Music degree at Texas Christian University, where she held the F. Howard and Mary D. Walsh Graduate Piano Scholarship, and studied with Tamás Ungár. In 2004, she graduated from the University of Melbourne with the degree Doctor of Musical Arts, under the supervision of Ronald Farren-Price, who has been an important mentor. Her thesis topic was Fanny Hensel and Virtuosity. Additionally, Goldsworthy has studied in Moscow with Lev Naumov, with the support of an Arts SA Emerging Artist Award, and in the Advanced Performance Program at the Australian National Academy of Music. She is now an educator at the Elder Conservatorium.
Musical career[]
Goldsworthy is an accomplished classical pianist. In 2009 she was a juror for Chamber Music Australia's Asia Pacific Chamber Music Competition.
In 2004, Goldsworthy completed a world tour performing in festivals and concert halls in Australia, Asia, Europe and North and South America. Highlights included appearances at the Teatro Colón for the Buenos Aires International Music Festival, at the Prince Yong Theatre in Beijing, for the Orchestra of Colours in Athens, and for the Festival Musicale delli Nazioni in Rome. In 2005, she performed the Clara Schumann concerto in the Masters Series of the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, and undertook a three-month residency at the Australia Council Studio at the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris. Goldsworthy was a teacher of piano at the University of Melbourne, and an Artist-in-Residence at Janet Clarke Hall.
Artistic Director of the Port Fairy Spring Music Festival[]
Goldsworthy was appointed in May 2009 as Artistic Director of the Port Fairy Spring Music Festival from 2010, succeeding Stephen McIntyre who retired at the conclusion of the Festival in October 2009. In announcing the appointment, Festival chairman Paul Clarkson said "Anna Goldsworthy is already well known to the festival's audiences as a highly regarded performer and presenter. The festival this year celebrates its 20th anniversary and I am sure Anna will bring exciting new perspectives to the programming as it enters its third decade." She held this position from 2010-2015.
Recordings and broadcasts[]
Goldsworthy's debut solo CD, Come With Us, was released by ABC Classics in January 2008. In March 2010 with her trio, Seraphim Trio, she recorded Schubert's Trout Quintet for ABC Classics. In July 2010 Goldsworthy recorded for ABC Classics the music that features in her book Piano Lessons.
Her two-part radio documentary on the Mendelssohn siblings Fanny and Felix, Art is not for women: only for girls, was broadcast on ABC Classic FM in 2004.
Chamber music[]
Alongside Goldsworthy's solo performances, she has received acclaim as a chamber musician. She is a founding member of the Seraphim Trio, which has performed throughout Asia and Europe, and appears regularly in Australia for Musica Viva. The trio studied chamber music with Hatto Beyerle at the Hochschule für Musik in Hanover, and was awarded the prize for the Leading Piano Trio in the 2001 National Chamber Music Competition. In 2007, the trio launched a national concert series.
Writing[]
Goldsworthy has published numerous essays on music and cultural issues, and writes regularly for The Monthly. She is on the Board of the Australian Book Review.
Memoirs[]
Her memoir Piano Lessons was released by Black Inc in September 2009. It was shortlisted in the 2010 New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards for Best Non Fiction and in the 2010 Australian Book Industry Awards in the categories of Best Non-Fiction and the Newcomer of the Year, which she won. The book was sold to St. Martin's Press in the US and the movie rights have been sold to Australian director Ana Kokkinos.
Welcome to Your New Life, also a memoir, was released by Black Inc in March 2013.
Plays[]
Goldworthy is credited alongside her father Peter Goldsworthy as writing the stage adaptation of Maestro which the State Theatre Company of South Australia performed in early 2009. Piano Lessons is being adapted by Goldsworthy as a stage presentation for the Queensland Music Festival in August 2011.
Bibliography[]
Books[]
- Goldsworthy, Anna (2014). Welcome to your new life. Collingwood, Vic.: Black Inc
Essays and reporting[]
Articles and essays published in The Monthly:
- "A Change is Gonna Come", February 2007, No. 20
- "The Beast of Beethoven", May 2007, No. 23
- "Do Androids Dream of Electric Pianos?", June 2007, No. 24
- "Ein Schwindel!", August 2007, No. 26
- "Like Love in a Marriage", September 2007, No. 27
- "Wunderbar", December 2007, January 2008, No. 30
- "Improvisations", March 2008, No. 32
Critical studies and reviews[]
- Review of Welcome to your new life.
Awards[]
Piano
- Arts SA Emerging Artist Award
- David Paul Landa Memorial Scholarship for Pianists
- Finalist 2010 Melbourne Prize
Writing
- Winner, 2010 Australian Book Industry Awards for Newcomer of the Year
- Shortlisted 2011 National Biography Award
- Shortlisted 2010 Australian Book Industry Awards for Best Non-Fiction
- Shortlisted 2010 NSW Premier's Literary Awards Douglas Stewart Prize for Non-Fiction
- Shortlisted Colin Roderick Award