Andrew Aronowicz used folklore as inspiration for his new music

BY MIRANDA ILCHEF

Composer Andrew Aronowicz and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra go way back.

Over a decade ago, Andrew was first selected to take part in the Cybec 21^st Century Young Composers’ Program. Since then, both the program and Andrew have changed. Cybec participants now have access to year-long residency with the MSO — and Andrew’s career has taken many diverse paths; from working in broadcasting to high-school teaching.

So it was something of a surprise for Andrew when, in 2026 and at the upper end of the age bracket, he was selected again to be a Cybec Young Composer in Residence.

Like most creative professionals, Andrew finds that at the end of the workday there can be very little time left for the actual creating part of the job, but this opportunity threw him a lifeline.

“For a lot of my career I haven’t had the opportunity to write much music, but with part-time teaching, I do have time,” Andrew says.

“To be able to have this chance to be supported to compose all this music for the amazing MSO, it’s a total privilege, and I’m very, very grateful.”

The MSO will premiere Andrew’s new composition The Erl-King on April 16, 17, and 18 at Hamer Hall as part of the program Mahler and Tchaikovsky. Upon hearing the piece’s name, one might presume this is a composition that riffs solely off Schubert’s Erlkönig. However, the inspiration for this work actually comes from a collection of short stories, The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter. These re-imaginings of folklore stories focus on the perspective of female protagonists.

“One of these stories absolutely gripped me: The Erl-King. It follows the basic premise of Goethe’s original ballad in that it’s about a forest spirit who preys on the young. But in Carter’s story, he’s not a goblin, but a man. And there’s no father and son galloping on horseback. Instead, Carter’s protagonist is a young woman being drawn into the forest by Erl-King’s call.”

For a decade, the story danced away in Andrew’s brain. He knew he had to set it to music, but hadn’t quite found the right opportunity — until now. At the outset, he had only vague impressions of what the piece could be, but once he knew he would have access to the full colours of the symphony orchestra, the piece began to crystallise. He used the narrative arc of Carter’s story to shape the piece’s structure.

He thinks of The Erl-King now as a tone poem (as in the Romantic musical genre), with lush orchestration to match the story’s scenery in the dense and mysterious forest.

“In many ways, writing this piece was very tangled and unclear, like the forest setting of the story. It was like I had to fight my way through it at times. But there’s nothing like a looming deadline when it comes to motivation, and eventually the way through this forest became clear.”

The piece includes a lot of musical symbolism and tone painting. Birdsong in particular features strongly in The Erl-King (in Carter’s story, the Erl-King keeps birds as his caged companions). Andrew has also taken elements of Schubert’s famous Lied and reimagined them into a new set of themes.

“At first, I avoided thinking about the Schubert artsong because I was afraid it wouldn’t have a place. But as I played around with the notes of his famous left-hand piano theme — the bit right at the beginning, in the bass — I discovered a whole range of ways those notes could work in the context of this piece, which had to be slower-paced and unfolds more slowly and mysteriously, and I think more darkly, like Carter’s story.”

For many composers, the opportunity to write for a full orchestra can be devastatingly rare. While the intimate closeness of chamber music can be interesting to explore, there are so many more timbral possibilities with all the instruments of the orchestra. Andrew is grateful for the opportunity to have the story’s looming forest symbolised by the overwhelming symphonic volume, an effect that wouldn’t have been possible with a smaller ensemble.

The Erl-King will be paired with Tchaikovsky’s Variations on a Rococo Theme for Flugelhorn and Mahler’s epic Symphony No. 1.

One of the three concerts will be in a ‘relaxed performance’ format. For this performance, lights will stay on during the concert, a visual story will be available for download, and there will be a relaxed attitude to movement and noise from the audience, meaning that this music will be accessible to more people.