Michael Bakrnčev, 2023
Photo credit, Julian Dolman
Short Biography
Multi-award-winning composer Michael Bakrnčev (pronounced bah-KARN-chev) is one of Australia’s most highly-driven and successful young professionals in that field.
Within a decade of composing, his music had already been performed in Australia, Western and Eastern Europe including Austria, Germany, the Netherlands, Scotland, Serbia, Macedonia, Belarus, Spain and Ukraine, and in the USA and Canada.
Performers have included the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, the Macedonian Philharmonic, the Sydney Contemporary Orchestra, the Australian Youth Orchestra, the Queensland Conservatorium Symphony Orchestra, the Melbourne Metropolitan Sinfonietta, the Zelman
Memorial Symphony Orchestra, and some of Australia’s best community orchestras, as well as prominent ensembles, chamber groups and soloists.
Michael’s many awards include the Music Teachers’ Association of Queensland (MTAQ) Composition Competition (2011), the June Fox Patron Award (2011), selection from a short-list for the Vox Novus Fifteen Minutes of Fame (New York City, 2011), the Adolph Spivakovsky Scholarship for the
Composition of Music (2011), the A G Francis Prize for Composition (2012), the Alan Lane Award for Composition (2012), the Silver Harris and Jeff Peck Award (Composition) (2012), and the Chamber Music Australia: New Works Award (2015).
His academic qualifications in composition include a Bachelor of Music (Honours 1st Class), Queensland Conservatorium of Music – Griffith University, and a Master of Music (Honours 1st Class), Melbourne Conservatorium of Music – University of Melbourne.
Michael is a member of the Australian Music Centre, the national organisation through which he is promoted and his music is made available internationally.
Complete Biography
Multi-award-winning composer Michael Bakrnčev (pronounced bah-KARN-chev) is one of Australia’s most highly-driven and successful young professionals in that field. Born and raised in Melbourne, Victoria, in a Macedonian family, his music is strongly influenced by both cultures.
Within his first decade of composing, Michael’s music had already been performed in Australia, Western and Eastern Europe including Austria, Germany, the Netherlands, Scotland, Serbia, Macedonia, Belarus, Spain and Ukraine, and in the USA and Canada.
Performers included the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, the Queensland Symphony Orchestra, the Macedonian Philharmonic Orchestra, the Sydney Contemporary Orchestra, the Australian Youth Orchestra, the Queensland Conservatorium Symphony Orchestra, the Melbourne Metropolitan Sinfonietta, the Zelman Memorial Symphony Orchestra, and some of Australia’s best community orchestras, as well as prominent ensembles and soloists like the Southern Cross Soloists, the Freiburg Percussion Ensemble, the Syzygy Ensemble, the Barega Saxophone Quartet, The Song Company, pianists Roberto Prosseda, Marcel Worms, Alex Raineri, Hoang Pham, Royal Concertgebouw Principal Trumpet soloist, Miroslav Petkov, Trami Nguyen, and other musicians and ensembles.
Michael’s list of awards includes the Music Teachers’ Association of Queensland (MTAQ) Composition Competition (2011), the June Fox Patron Award (2011), the Adolph Spivakovsky Scholarship for the Composition of Music (2011), the A G Francis Prize for Composition (2012), the Alan Lane Award for Composition (2012), the Silver Harris and Jeff Peck Award (Composition) (2012), selected from a shortlist for the Vox Novus Fifteen Minutes of Fame (New York City, 2012), and the Chamber Music Australia: New Works Award (2015). In 2018 he was chosen as the young composer to represent Australia at the 35th Asian Composers League Festival in Taiwan.
Works in progress include a Suite for solo piano (Naarm Haikus), a Brass Trio for Michael H. Dixon (Sydney MicroFest, 2023), a new work for Macedonia’s Aura Trio (flute, bassoon and piano), and a song cycle for Queensland PhD candidate, Nick Kirkup with a text based on “The Hotel Hyperion” by Australian science fiction poet, Lisa Gorton.
In the foreseeable future, Michael hopes to write large scale works including a symphonies, concertos, tone poems, ballets, opera, string quartets, song cycles, and other forms. Writing music that would appeal to children and families also attracts him.
Michael’s instrument was the clarinet, and his interest in composition began while he was at secondary school. Composition then became the focus of his tertiary education and he gained the degree of Bachelor of Music (Honours 1st Class), Queensland Conservatorium of Music – Griffith University where he studied with Gerard Brophy.
After receiving a prestigious Australian Postgraduate Award (APA), he completed a Master of Music (Honours 1st Class) degree at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music with Elliott Gyger as his teacher. Other mentors have included Mary Finsterer, Soni Petrovski, Sun-Ju Song, Paul Stanhope, and Julian Yu. He acknowledges Australian composer Anthony Pateras as having highly influenced his style.
His music has been recorded for in-house broadcast by ABC Classic FM and for commercial release on Barega Saxophone Quartet’s own label, the DARE CD Project, ABC Classic label, and others.
Works can be heard online at SoundCloud, Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Music, YouTube, and Broken 8 Records.
Michael is a member of the Australian Music Centre, the national organisation through which he is promoted and his music is made available internationally.
Mini Biography
Composer Michael Bakrnčev (bah-KARN-chev) is a multi-award-winning young professional in Australia. In a decade, his music has been performed in Australia, Europe, and North America by various orchestras and ensembles, including the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, the Freiburg Percussion Ensemble, and Royal Concertgebouw Principal Trumpet soloist, Miroslav Petkov.
He has received numerous awards, including the Music Teachers’ Association of Queensland Composition Competition (2011), the Adolph Spivakovsky Scholarship for Composition (2011), and the Chamber Music Australia: New Works Award (2015). Michael holds a Bachelor of Music (Honours 1st Class) from the Queensland Conservatorium of Music and a Master of Music (Honours 1st Class) from the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music. He is a member of the Australian Music Centre.
Stephen Baggaley — current to February 2023
Pronounce Bakrnčev
Michael Bakrnčev - Composer 