Damien Ricketson grew up in the coastal city of Wollongong where he performed in the world-folk ensemble ‘Sea Gypsies’. After completing a Bachelor of Music at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music he continued his studies at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague with renowned Dutch composer Louis Andriessen. For a number of years, Damien lived and worked in The Netherlands and Poland and completed IRCAM’s computer music course in Paris. Damien completed his doctorate in composition at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music where he also teaches.

Damien is the Artistic Director of Ensemble Offspring, a unique Sydney-based arts company dedicated to innovative new music. Much of Damien's music has been written for Ensemble Offspring and received critical recognition through their performances. His works have also been performed by many national and international soloists, ensembles and orchestras including MusikFabrik, soloist Peter Hörr (Germany), Ensemble Plus Minus (UK/Belgium), Crash Ensemble (Ireland), the Orfeuz Chamber Orchestra (Poland), 175 East & Stroma (New Zealand), Drumming Grupo de Percussão (Portugal), pianist Naomi Edemariam (Canada), the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, the Sydney Alpha Ensemble, Libra Ensemble, the Grainger Quartet, pianist Zubin Kanga and the Sydney Conservatorium Orchestra (Australia).

Damien’s works have received numerous awards. His string quartet So We Begin Afresh (commissioned by Father Arthur Bridge for the Grainger Quartet) received the NSW State Award for the ‘Best Composition by an Australian Composer’ at the 2008 AMC/APRA Classical Music Awards. He also received the international Lady Panufnik Prize (Poland) for Chinese Whisper, a Marienberg Spring Award for an ‘Oustanding Australian composition’ Ptolemy’s Onion - a work which was subsequently chosen for the Gaudeamus International Music Week - and was selected by ABC Classic FM to represent Australian music at the Paris International Rostrum with his work Lamina.

Damien has been an artist-in-residence at the Banff Centre, Canada, the Bundanon Estate (Shoalhaven), the University of Wollongong and the Peggy Glanville-Hicks House (Sydney).

Damien has received commissions from the Warsaw Autumn International Festival of Contemporary Music, the Transit Festival (Belgium), The Song Company, the Australian Chamber Orchestra, Symphony Australia, ABC Classic FM and the Portugese-based Drumming Grupo de Percussão.

Recent works include So We Begin Afresh (Grainger Quartet), No More Than Liquid (Synergy Percussion & Ensemble Offspring), Same Steps (Ensemble Plus-Minus) and In God's Esperanto (Ensemble Offspring / The Song Company). Damien recently co-authored Stepping Stones, an educational resource published by the Australian Music Centre.


Press quotes:

“Exquisite, created a sense of erotic longing… full of delicious treats for the ears and eyes.” RealTime, Oct-Nov 2003. No.63

“Ricketson has a reputation for intelligent and inventive music-making and this work was no exception [No More Than Liquid]” Harriet Cunningham, Sydney Morning Herald 07/08/07

"the work on the program I'd most like to hear again ... and again. [In God's Esperanto]" Graeme Skinner, Sydney Morning Herald, 30/09/08

“The most sophisticated work on the program [Chinese Whisper]", Ruch Muzyczny, Jan 2003 [Translated from the Polish by Anna Maslowiec]

"The sound is floating, fractured and sometimes acerbically painful and dissonant, as though filaments of the sonic fabric were being pulled apart and blown to the winds." Peter McCallum, Sydney Morning Herald.

“Ricketson's free-form piece Porfyrius' Shuffle showed the composer's ear for mobile textural subtlety” Peter McCallum, Sydney Morning Herald, 27/07/2007

“The most impressive works were by Australian Damien Ricketson … imaginative writing” The Sunday Tribune, Dublin 24/06/01

"It is also exciting to hear the music of the youthful Ricketson more than holding its own among highly regarded international composers…” Sydney Morning Herald 28/05/03

“… generated the sense that his music was going somewhere, offering prominence and daring.” The Sun Herald, 17/09/05