Coffs composer wins orchestral recording project

BOAMBEE East composer and performer, Robert Smallwood, Coffs Harbour Music Society’s Vice President, has been named one of 10 recipients of the Australian Music Centre’s 2026 MOMENTUM Plus orchestral recording project.

The award recipients will each record an orchestral piece of music in Sydney – something that is not accessible to many composers.

Now in its second year, MOMENTUM Plus is intended to support Australian composers to record large-scale orchestral works, enabling exclusive ownership and utilisation to connect with audiences and unlock potential performance opportunities.

As part of the 2026 project, Mr Smallwood will have his music professionally recorded at Trackdown Studios in Sydney in October this year.

Mr Smallwood is thrilled and grateful to have his orchestral work selected for a professional recording.

“The opportunity to get orchestral works played and recorded is limited,” he told News Of The Area.

“This will create a professional standard orchestral recording of my music.

“It can then be broadcast or streamed and provides a high-quality sample of my work to present to other potential performers.”

Mr Smallwood is part-way through a plan to compose three short orchestral works this year.

He is designing them as celebratory works that are suitable as opening works for an orchestral concert.

The key themes are joy, renewal and celebration – particularly the celebration of significant past events.

“I wanted to create a sound that feels fresh, modern and forward-looking while also having a sense of the familiar,” he said.

For aspiring composers, it is often possible to get performances of works for solo performers or small ensembles, but much more difficult to get performances of orchestral work, he told NOTA.

“And yet the standard classical symphony orchestra remains central to the development and output of most composers,” Mr Smallwood said.

The competition calls for composers to submit a short work of no more than five minutes’ duration and for a specific combination of orchestral instruments.

“Since leaving full-time work in 2023, my goal has been to re-engage with music again,” Mr Smallwood said.

“This includes the Coffs Harbour Music Society, conducting Sing Australia and Eleventh-Hour Choir and a return to composing again.

“I have met with the conductor and producer and am confident they will produce a great result.

“I am looking forward to hearing my newest composition come to life in a few weeks.”

The orchestra remains an important medium for contemporary music, yet is fundamentally inaccessible to composers beyond traditional and highly competitive pathways.

AMC’s MOMENTUM Plus seeks to bridge industry gaps so that orchestral works can more easily be heard beyond their premiere performance, and artists have full control of recorded works to further advance their creative portfolio.

As a 2025 MOMENTUM Plus composer said, “There is simply no substitute for the sound of an orchestra, and the chance to get to work with one is so rare, so precious”.

MOMENTUM Plus is assisted by the Australian Government through Music Australia and Creative Australia, its principal arts investment and advisory body, and is supported by Trackdown Studios.

By Andrea FERRARI