Curious Noise
Music by Damien Ricketson
About Damien
The music of Sydney-based composer Damien Ricketson is characterised by colourful sound-worlds, novel forms and is often multisensory in nature. Damien was the co-founder and Co-Artistic Director of the new music organisation, Ensemble Offspring (1995-2015), and the Program Leader of Composition at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music (2015-2019). Major works have included the immersive show Sound Touch (2022), the experimental opera The Howling Girls (2018) and the hybrid music-dance production The Secret Noise (2014).
Visit the Australian Music Centre for artist profile, scores, collaborators and more.
Visit the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, University of Sydney for extended biography and academic work.
Media & acclaim
"Ricketson’s music is wild and imaginative."
"A really pleasurable kind of strange."
"I left the show covered in a light layer of sweat and a pain in my side. I still have the pain a week later, powerful stuff."
"I was suspended in that moment between being given an anaesthetic and falling asleep."
"One of the strangest and intriguing sonic and visceral experiences."
"Made me feel terrified, disconcerted and glad to be alive."
Look & listen
Look
Hectic Jacaranda performed by Vladimir Gorbach (guitar) and Lulu Liu (pipa)
Listen
Listen more
Galleries
Fractured Again – photos by Jamie Williams
The Secret Noise – photos by Heidrun Lohr
The works
Selected projects
Sound Touch
A multi-sensory show exploring vibration and the body
The Secret Noise
Hybrid music-dance work created with Ensemble Offspring. Directed by Carlos Gomes.
The Howling Girls
Opera co-created with director Adena Jacobs and premiered by Sydney Chamber Opera and Carriageworks (2018)
Hectic Resonance
Music for physically distant performers
Scores & Audio
Organisations
Sydney Conservatorium of Music
Since 2015, I have headed up Composition and Music Technology and the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, University of Sydney. Check out our extensive program of new music research and events.
Ensemble Offspring
In 1995 I co-founded Ensemble Offspring. 20-years later I stepped down as Co-Artistic Director. Now one of Australia's leading arts companies, check out their adventurous programs.
Background images from The Howling Girls. Photos by Zan Wimberley