BEACONSFIELD classical composer Mark Holdsworth wasn’t in Paris when cellist Krista Low played his composition The Crucible.

“I missed the world premier of my own piece… the first time my music reached outside Australia,” he says wistfully.

But you can’t be in two places at once and Holdsworth was in Glasgow for the world premier of his The Ashes of Time.

He’d been accepted for the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland’s composition summer school, under famed composer Sir James MacMillan: “Someone I really wanted to meet… he’s a legend.”

Winner of numerous awards at home Holdsworth’s compositions are gaining international interest, with commissions from the US and Holland.

• Beaconsfield composer Mark Holdsworth’s making his mark internationally.

And he was commissioned to write the score for Outline, which premiered at the Cannes short film corner this year, and was nominated for five WA screen awards, including best original music.

Holdsworth has also been accepted into a two-week program with the Australian Youth Orchestra, one of just four chosen nationally.

For that he’s planning on composing music conveying summer and winter, based around Gage Roads off Freo.

Much of Holdsworth’s works convey life’s big themes and The Ashes of Time is a response to the media saturation of death, war and tragedy.

“I just felt really disappointed that this is normalised and seems to be the only thing people want to read about.

“It makes it seem… the only things that are happening are tragic.”

“It doesn’t exactly send a positive message to our next generations, which is why I dedicated this musical response to my nephew,” the 26 year old says.

by JENNY D’ANGER