Graeme Koehne

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Graeme Koehne (born 1956 in Adelaide, South Australia) is a composer. He studied with Richard Meale in Adelaide, Louis Andriessen and Jacob Druckman at Yale University while on the Harkness Fellowship, and privately with Virgil Thomson in New York. Since 1986 he has lectured in composition at Elder Conservatorium of Music, University of Adelaide.

Koehne is best known for his orchestral and ballet scores, which are characterised by direct communicative style and embrace of triadic tonality. His orchestral trilogy Unchained Melody, Powerhouse, and Elevator Music makes allusions to Hollywood film score traditions, cartoon music, popular Latin music and other dance forms. He cites influences from "much-maligned and misunderstood" work by composers Les Baxter, Nelson Riddle, Henry Mancini and John Barry.

[edit] References

W. Bebbington, (ed.), The Oxford companion to Australian music. Oxford University. Press, Melbourne, 1997, pp. 324-325.
L. Williams, 'Emerging Australian Composers'. The Musical Times, Vol. 129, No. 1749. (Nov., 1988), pp. 591-594.