Joe Wolfe: music page

I work mainly as a physicist, studying the acoustics of musical instruments and the voice. The magazine Australasian Science did a profile on me recently.

I am also a composer. This page exists to list some of my orchestral and chamber music, which may be downloaded as mp3 sound files or sheet music.

Being an orchestral and chamber music player myself, I try to write music with the performers as well as the audience in mind: after all, the players will hear it more often and in more detail than will the audience. So my music is intended to be interesting and fun to play. It is obviously influenced by my background as a jazz player.

New. My trumpet concerto was premiered by Anthony Heinrichs with the Woollahra Philharmonic Orchestra. The scientific chamber opera (Speech and music, effability and ineffability), which I was sure would only ever have one performance at its premiere at the International Conference on Music Perception and Cognition, was performed again this year, in revised version, at the International Conference on Cognitive Science.

Some orchestral and chamber music

Circle of Fourths is my most recent work. The principal theme is ... a circle of fourths. Recently performed in the Sydney Symphony Orchestra's Playerlink program.

Concerto for trumpet and orchestra was written for Anthony Heinrichs of the Sydney Symphony. It has had six performances so far.

The Stairway Suite is a collection of seven orchestral versions of the song 'Stairway to Heaven', each in the style of a different, well known composer.

Sydney Sketches is a symphonic tone poem. Four movements to evoke four locations during a summer's day in that city.

Conjunction: An interactive introduction to the orchestra is written for school choirs and orchestra. I think that it is a good educational work for school students, but its attraction for amateur orchestras is that it produces large audiences.

Anniversary Overture was written to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the University of New South Wales Orchestra.

Quartet for flute, alto saxophone, bassoon and 'cello is a suite of five movements written because there is not enough chamber music combining saxophone with other instruments. (Score and parts download in .pdf, soundfiles in .mp3.) This work has been arranged for saxophone quartet by Ellis Hendriksen.

Speech and music, effability and ineffability is a chamber opera, performed as a plenary session at the International Conference on Cognitive Science, held at Sydney in 2003. Although the debate was about as serious as one might expect from an opera, the issues discussed are scientifically interesting and the background paper from the proceedings is on the same site.

Parts and scores. This music is self published and is available from me or downloaded from this site. For amateur orchestras, the score and parts may be available for the cost of post and handling, though I usually ask users of my music to make a donation to a charity. Write to:
Joe Wolfe / J.Wolfe@unsw.edu.au, phone 61-2-9385 4954 (UT + 10, +11 Oct-Mar).

Music Acoustics home page

My scientific home page

A list of my educational sites

Music on the web

Keystave is a site from which one can download some public domain music.

Links to other composers' pages

Music Australia is a resource for Australian music.
The Australian Music Centre has a directory of composers.
David Stanhope is an Australian composer and conductor known to many who saw the Sydney Olympic opening ceremony.
Rimshot music is the site for the music of Australian composer Nigel Westlake, well known for his film and concert music.
Musica viva is a site with downloadable music from many composers.