Brenton Broadstock

Brenton Broadstock was born in Melbourne, Australia in December 1952. He studied History, Politics and Music at Monash University, and later Composition and Theory with Donald Freund at the University of Memphis in the USA and with Peter Sculthorpe at the University of Sydney. The University of Melbourne awarded him the Doctor of Music degree in 1987. From 1982-2007 he was employed in the Faculty of Music, University of Melbourne where he was Professor of Music and Head of Composition. In January 2014, Brenton received an AM - Member of the Order of Australia - in the Australia Day Honours for “significant service to music as a composer, educator and mentor.”

Brenton’s music has been performed around the world and is available on over 60 commercial CDs. He has won numerous prizes for his orchestral music that has been performed by all of the Australian orchestras, the BBC Symphony, the Bavarian Radio Orchestra, the Helsingborgs Symfoniorkester, the Ulster Orchestra, the Tampere Philharmonic and many more. The Australian Youth Orchestra featured his ‘Festive Overture’ at the BBC Proms in 1994. Brenton has written 11 symphonies and in 1999 the Krasnoyarsk Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Andrew Wheeler, recorded five of his symphonies for the Etcetera Label.

His chamber music has been performed by the Australian Chamber Orchestra, HD Duo, Enso Quartet, Syzygy, Plexus Ensemble, Australia Ensemble, Michael Kieran Harvey, Lark Quartet, Seymour Group, Duo Contemporain, RompDuo and many more.

His extensive catalogue for brass band includes numerous works for Salvation Army ensembles, such as the Melbourne, International, and New York Staff Bands. Additionally, he has been commissioned by Prof. David King to write pieces like 'Winds of Change', 'Born To Battle', 'Metal on Metal', and 'Sunburnt Land', which have been performed by the YBS Band and National Australia Brass. Brenton is married to Catherine Broadstock, a brilliant pianist, accompanist and writer, and they live on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland.