2026 Composer Mentor

The music of composer Maria Grenfell has been described as “expansive, effusive and energetic”, “magic,” and “refreshingly groovy.”

Maria Grenfell was the winner of the Tasmanian State Award for Ten Suns Ablaze in 2013 and Spirals in 2018 at the Australian Art Music Awards. Maria’s orchestral music has been commissioned, performed or recorded by all the Australian and New Zealand major symphony orchestras, as well as the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra in the UK and the Seattle Philharmonic in the USA.

Her chamber music is played around the world. Born in Malaysia, she completed composition studies in Christchurch before undertaking further study in the USA. Based in Hobart, Maria works closely with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra as a mentor and composer. In 2013, she was a Visiting Professor at Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, Texas, and in 2019, she was Kerr Composer in Residence at Oberlin Conservatory. Maria’s first film score, for the documentary Quoll Farm (2021), was shortlisted for an Australian Screen Music Award, and her second documentary score, Living with Devils (2023), about the Tasmanian Devil, was performed live by the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra in 2024. Her CD release, River Mountain Sky, was rated Editor’s Choice by Limelight Magazine in 2024.

Maria is an Associate Professor at the University of Tasmania Conservatorium of Music. She is married to guitarist David Malone, and they have two children.