Jackson Sweeney

Jackson Sweeney (born in Melbourne, Australia, 1992) is a young, versatile Australian composer who writes in a contemporary classical style which combines elements of jazz, neo-romanticism and postmodernism, developed into a heavily chromatic harmonic language.
Career
Sweeney's major success as a young composer came with the chamber work Delusional Mind which won the secondary category of the prestigious Sibelius Music Young Composers Award (Australia) in 2008. The work, composed for bass clarinet, vibraphone, violin and cello, was described by the notable Australian composer Damien Ricketson as "a very sophisticated work for someone so young, incorporting an excellent sense of pacing, drama and textural variation" .
Sweeney continues to compose a wide range of music for various ensembles in his home city of Melbourne, where he lives with his family. His works have been performed both locally and overseas. Delusional Mind also enjoyed a national broadcast on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's Classical FM.
Music
Much of Sweeney's music is characterised by a strong emphasis on rhythmic drive and displacement, combining chromatic harmony with a distinctive melodic vein which he finds in highly influential composers including Stravinsky, Shostakovich, Francaix, Dutilleux, Penderecki, and Robert Simpson.
Sweeney's three finest serious works come from a creative period of three months in 2008 - the aforementioned Delusional Mind, a piano trio titled Dyssomnia and a second book of exotic dances for saxophone and piano - Demented Dances: Book II. The three works are contrasting in character and style. Delusional Mind is a dark, dramatic work in a three part form, with a central allegro framed by two outer slow sections. Dyssomnia is a meditative work in one movement, profoundly reflective in character, and inspired by sleep. In contrast, the Demented Dances: Book II is a lively suite of four exotic dances characterised by jazzy syncopations and rapidly changing time signatures.
Sweeney has also composed a variety of other chamber works, including a wind quartet suite to be premiered in America later this year. He has written pieces for choir, as well as a symphony (subsequently withdrawn).
Works
Works with Opus Number
* Opus 1: Descent into Madness (2007) for flute, clarinet, vibraphone, violin and cello.
* Opus 2: Study Symphony (2007) for orchestra (Originally Symphony No. 1, later retitled)
* Opus 3: Demented Dances: Book I (2007) for alto saxophone and piano
* Opus 4: A Short and Jocular Suite (2008) for wind quartet
* Opus 5: Dyssomnia (2008) for violin, cello and piano
* Opus 6: Three Pieces for Music Homework (2008)
* Opus 7: Demented Dances: Book II (2008) for alto saxophone and piano
* Opus 8: Delusional Mind (2008) for bass clarinet, vibraphone, violin and cello
* Opus 9: Adagio (2009) for string quartet
Other Works without Opus Number
* Waltz (2007) for trumpet, alto saxophone and piano
* Perpetuum Irritatium (2008) for trumpet, alto saxophone and piano
* Symphony No. 2 (2008) for orchestra, abandoned
* Grunticulous Groontiferies: Fishfluxum You! (2008) for mixed voices
* Welcome to the Morning Giant Pelican (2009) for trumpet, alto saxophone and piano

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