Melody Eotvos

Melody Eötvös (1984) is a Bloomington IN-based Australian composer whose work draws on both multi-media and traditional instrumental contexts, as well substantial extra-musical references to a broad range of philosophical topics and late 19th Century literature.

She has studied with a variety of composers across the globe, including Gerardo Dirié (Australia), Simon Bainbridge (UK), Claude Baker (US) and has studied electronic music with Jeffrey Hass, John Gibson, and Alicyn Warren.  Melody has been the recipient of various awards including the 3MBS National Composers Award (Australia 2009), an APRA PDA (Australia 2009), and the Soundstream National Composer Award (2012).  She has had her music performed by ensembles/orchestras such as the London Sinfonietta, BBC Singers, Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, and the Australian String Quartet, and has participated in several electronic music festivals including SEAMUS 2011 (US), ACMC 2012 (Australia), and ICMC 2011 (New Zealand).  Current projects include a commission from Music Viva Australia (Sydney), an Australia Council Grant to compose a new piano sonata for Bernadette Harvey (Sydney), and composer fellow for the Intimacy of Creativity 2014, Hong Kong. Melody holds a Doctor of Music (2014) from Indiana University Jacobs School of Music and a Master of Music (2008) from the Royal Academy of Music, London UK.

Beetles, Dragons, & Dreamers:
This piece draws its inspiration from the concept of four Mythological or Ancient ‘relics’ that, over the ages, have been carried forward into the present time with their meaning gradually transformed or altered to represent something more modern but still commonly encountered in our western culture.

Draconian Measures makes reference to Draco (600BCE), the first legislator of Ancient Rome who was known for instituting particularly harsh, cruel and unforgiving laws.

Lilith, Begone is primarily conceived of as a lullaby.  The word ‘lullaby’ originated from the Jewish ‘Lilith-Abi’ which translates as ‘Lilith, begone’.   In particular versions of Jewish folklore Lilith was known as Adam’s first wife and she was molded, by God, out of the same dust as Adam (whereas Eve is said to have been made from one of Adams ribs).  Because if this she saw herself as Adam’s equal and did not respond well to his desire to rule over her.  Eventually she left Adam and the Garden of Eden.  However, she was pursued by three angels.  They demanded she return to the Garden and upon refusing she vowed to forever steal the souls of little children as vengeance on Adam’s suppressive treatment of her.  The angels would not agree to this and so Lilith made the condition that if the mother of the child hung an amulet above the baby as it slept in its cradle, Lilith would pass over that child.

The Inanimate Spider is inspired by the Native American Dreamcatcher.  The native word used for this object is actually the inanimate form of the word ‘spider’, inanimate here being an additional inflectional category when expressing person or gender combinations in language (i.e. proximate/obviate, singular/plural, animate/inanimate).

The final movement is based on the concept of the Trojan Horse which, today, is the term used for a computer virus that is secretly embedded in another file which you might, unknowingly, download on to your computer or device.