- published: 28 Oct 2011
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Burkhard von Dallwitz (born 1959) is a German-born composer based in Melbourne, Australia. He was born near Frankfurt and began ten years of classical piano training at the age of eight. By thirteen he was writing songs and music, and from fifteen, Burkhard wrote, arranged and performed for various musical groups.
In 1979 Burkhard fulfilled his dream of travelling to Australia. There he studied music at Melbourne’s Latrobe University. He majored with Honours in Composition, and studied Advanced Composition under the tutelage of Professor Keith Humble. Since 1984, Burkhard has worked as a composer for feature films, television and commercials.
In 1996 he released his first CD recording of original instrumental works called Worlds Apart.
He won two Screen Music Awards from the Australian Guild of Screen Composers (1993 & 1996), and was also nominated in 1998 & 2000.
In 1999, Burkhard and Philip Glass were awarded the Golden Globe for Best Original Score in a Motion Picture for The Truman Show. The score also won The Chicago Film Critics’ Award and the ASCAP Film and Television Award, and the soundtrack reached number two on the Billboard chart.
Philip Glass (born January 31, 1937) is an American composer. One of the highest profile composers writing "classical" music today, he is often said to be one of the most influential composers of the late 20th century. His music is also often controversially described as minimalist, along with the work of the other "major minimalists" La Monte Young, Terry Riley and Steve Reich.
He has lately distanced himself from the "minimalist" label, describing himself instead as a composer of "music with repetitive structures." Though his early mature music shares much with what is normally called "minimalist", he has since evolved stylistically. Currently, he describes himself as a "Classicist", pointing out that he is trained in harmony and counterpoint and studied such composers as Franz Schubert, Johann Sebastian Bach and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart with Nadia Boulanger.
Glass is a prolific composer: he has written works for the musical group which he founded, the Philip Glass Ensemble (with which he still performs on keyboards), as well as operas, musical theatre works, ten symphonies, eleven concertos, solo works, chamber music including string quartets and instrumental sonatas, and film scores. Three of his film scores have been nominated for Academy Awards.