Bio
“Angela is an outstanding talent…my support in her future career is unreserved.”
- Baz Luhrmann, Director
“Australia”, “Moulin Rouge”, “Romeo & Juliet” & “Strictly Ballroom”
Angela Little is a composer, singer, orchestral arranger, songwriter & pianist. Her best-known work to date was on Baz Luhrmann’s film “Australia” for which she co-composed and scored Additional Music for the film, which led to Angela’s nomination for an AFI Award for Best Original Score in 2009.
Angela was also the co-writer and singer of the film’s love song, “By The Boab Tree”, which was the first song featured on the film’s end credits and was amongst 49 songs short-listed for an Academy Award for Best Original Song from a Motion Picture in 2009, as well as being nominated for a number of other national and international awards, including an APRA-AGSC Screen Music Award (AUS) and a Golden Satellite Award (USA).
Angela also co-wrote three other tracks and performed a special interpretation of “Waltzing Matilda” for the film’s soundtrack, as well as creating the orchestral arrangement for Elton John’s song “The Drover’s Ballad”, which also featured on the end credits of the film.
Before working on ‘Australia’, Angela was one of only four students nationwide selected to study for a Masters Degree in Screen Composition at the Australian Film, Television & Radio School (AFTRS) in 2007. Angela has composed and edited music for a wide array of other film, TV & theatre projects for clients including Southern Star, FOX 8, Nickleodeon, The Bell Shakespeare Company, Great Southern Land and AFTRS.
Recognising that a multi-faceted approach is vital to a successful career, Angela has also continued to develop her songwriting and singing talents with her own projects over the past three years. Drawing on film and literary influences to weave stories from her own life into a rich emotional tapestry that would speak to a contemporary audience, she created her solo project, “Ophelia of the Spirits”, releasing two independent EP’s, and enjoying substantial industry recognition. Angela was awarded a JB Seed Jump Grant in 2009 for her second EP, “The Secret Garden”, and her song “Shame” also became iTunes Single of the Week in March last year.
Angela’s latest project is the breathtaking concept album and new musical show, “Fire”. The vision was for an inter-arts project which would draw heavily on Angela’s experience as a film composer and combine different art-forms including music, sound design, visual projections, and traditional and contemporary dance into an exciting live show and recorded music project, which would be performed at music and arts festivals both around Australia and internationally. Musically, the project combines the aesthetic of epic film scoring with world music influences from Celtic culture, Asia and the Middle East. The live show encompasses the visually spectacular sight of taiko drummers (traditional Japanese festival drumming) as well as traditional sounds from other cultures such as the Indian tablas and Celtic low whistle. To date, the show has been performed at some of Australia’s most well-respected festivals and arts venues, including Port Fairy Folk Festival (VIC), a sold-out show at the Street Theatre in Canberra (ACT) and Woodford Folk Festival 2010-2011 (QLD).
During this time, Angela’s film career continues to blossom, with the release and screening at the Melbourne International Film Festival 2010 of feature film “The Clinic”, for which she co-composed the music. She has also composed the music for several short film projects throughout 2010, and has recently been commissioned to create the music for a new aerial theatre show which will premiere in Sydney, Australia later in 2011. She was also recently one of only two emerging composers Highly Commended in the category of Film & Television in the APRA Professional Development Awards (from a pool of over 2,000 awards entrants and 32 category finalists).
Having received an ArtStart Grant from the Australia Council for the Arts at the beginning of 2011, Angela has recently travelled to Los Angeles to undertake Scott Smalley’s film orchestration course, and will soon travel to the UK to undertake a mentorship with a film composer she greatly admires. She is looking forward to continuing to build on her burgeoning career as a composer and singer both in Australia and internationally over the coming year.
“[Angela’s] limpid vocal delivery is studied and articulate, often haunting…there are hints of Enya & Loreena McKennitt.”
- Michael Smith, Music Editor
Drum Media
