• Mark Holdsworth started writing a wedding celebration but following a tragedy it has become a requiem. Photo by Matthew Dwyer

WHAT started as a joyous wedding composition for a woman he’d called “aunty” turned into a requiem following the violent death of White Gum Valley local Joan Hendry last December.

“She was a close family friend,” Mark Holdsworth says. “I was supposed to be writing wedding music but it ended up a lament.”

The Echoing Dream is one of a number of compositions by the Beaconsfield local to be performed at the University of WA in a concert titled On Love & Death.

“It sounds dark…but it explores the two themes from different angles–and both are essential parts of human life.”
The 25-year-old has been on a stellar rise since studying composition at UWA, capping his studies with UWA’s prestigious Dorothy Ransom award last year.

His award-winning composition Odyssey earned him a guernsey to the Tasmania Symphony Orchestra’s composer school early this year.

“I was invited to apply…and was lucky to be one of only four chosen from Australia and New Zealand. I played Odyssey, which is proving to be a popular piece.” Now finishing his honours, Holdsworth is also writing the musical score for Outline, a FTIWA short film directed by Cody Cameron-Brown.

“This is a proper job,” he says. “It’s nice to actually get paid to do it.”

On Love & Death is a free concert at the Callaway Music Auditorium, UWA, November 6 from 7pm.

by JENNY D’ANGER