Ron Nagorcka

Ron Nagorcka (born 1948) composes in his hand-built solar-powered studio in a remote forest in Tasmania (the island state off Australia’s south coast) where the natural world provides him with much of his inspiration. He has been exploring both music and nature since his childhood on an Australian sheep farm and studied music – including pipe organ, harpsichord, and composition – at the University of Melbourne and the University of California, San Diego. In the 1970s he was a prominent and influential figure in Melbourne as an innovative composer, teacher, keyboard performer and improviser with electronics. He was also one of the first non-indigenous musicians to master the didjeridu and pioneered its use in classical composition.

After moving to Tasmania in 1987, his unique and distinctive rhythmic and harmonic style soon gained him a popular local following, and since the late1990s, his audience has greatly expanded, with successful concerts in Japan, Rome, London, New York, Los Angeles, Sweden and Norway in recent years.

Albums

Song of the Central Tree

Release Date: March 11, 2016
Catalog Number: RR7924

21st Century

Chamber

Electroacoustic

Trumpet

Voice

On his debut release on Ravello Records, SONG OF THE CENTRAL TREE, enigmatic Australian composer Ron Nagorcka presents an eclectic collection of his chamber and electroacoustic works that highlight his affinity and aptitude for creating complex and asymmetrical rhythmic patterns, utilizing just intonation, and, in a number of works, reflecting the Australian landscape. Nagorcka’s intricate cross-rhythms, use of the didjeridu and microtonal melodies reflect the influence of Australian indigenous culture, while the theory behind the rich contrapuntal and harmonic textures he achieves using microtones has roots in ancient Greece and Asia as well as medieval and renaissance Europe.

Discover