Liza Lim is one of Australia's most acclaimed composers on the international stage. Her works have not only inaugurated iconic international concert halls, but she has also launched a program aimed at nurturing the next generation of female composers in Australia. Recently, she also secured over AUD 3 million in funding to explore the intersection of climate science and art.
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03-10, 2025Lim's music explores themes ranging from cross-cultural connections to ecology, often drawing inspiration from her cultural heritage, combining Western classical traditions with Asian instruments and influences. Stephen Adams, a long-time curator for ABC Classic and a composer himself, believes that her ability to blend East and West is subtle and sophisticated.
"It's quite different from the musical exoticism practiced by many earlier Australian composers," Adams stated. With over 30 years of composing experience, Lim has created a substantial body of work for orchestras, chamber ensembles, opera singers, and soloists.
Lim grew up in Brunei, in northern Borneo. "I came to boarding school in Australia when I was 11, and the world of music opened up to me," she said. "At school, we were encouraged to perform, improvise, and compose." Her music teachers introduced her to prominent experimental composers of the 1960s, such as John Cage and Yoko Ono.
Through listening to the radio, Lim became familiar with Australian composers such as Sarah Hopkins, Moya Henderson, and Anne Boyd, while also gaining a glimpse into the international music scene from the United States and Europe. In the late 1980s, when Lim was growing up, Melbourne's thriving experimental art scene helped her find her own voice. During this time, Lim met her most important collaborator – the ELISION Ensemble, led by guitarist Daryl Buckley, who is also Lim's life partner. Much of Lim's music has been written specifically for the ensemble, and she has toured internationally with them.
Lim believes that her international connections have helped her sustain her career and succeed as a composer. In an industry known to be challenging, Lim attributes her success as a classical music composer to her international connections. "Having multiple backgrounds really gave me a kind of freedom," Lim said. In 1989, Radio Bremen in Germany commissioned Lim to write a piece called "Voodoo Child," and the score was selected by the renowned European publisher Ricordi.
Adams explained, "Being published by Ricordi made Lim more visible to orchestras and conductors in Europe." More commissions followed. Lim's music has been performed at major festivals in Berlin, Venice, Paris, Salzburg, and elsewhere. Lim stated that being able to draw on multiple music scenes in different countries has enabled her to continue working as a composer. A highlight of her career was writing music for the Los Angeles Philharmonic for the opening of the iconic Walt Disney Concert Hall in 2004.
The concert hall, designed by Frank Gehry, is renowned for its acoustics. Lim's music celebrated the concert hall's exhilarating architecture. Among Lim's favorite memories is the performance of her second opera, "Moon Spirit Feasting," in Tokyo. Based on Chinese street theater traditions, the opera explores different versions of a significant figure in Asian culture – the legendary Moon Spirit.
Lim said, "The opera resonated completely differently in front of an Asian audience who understood the characters and the story." One of Lim's greatest contributions to Australian music is her mentorship of a program at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music aimed at nurturing a new generation of female composers. The program, called "Composing Women," is a six-year initiative designed to achieve equality and diversity in the Australian classical music scene through quotas, mentorship, and partnerships with music organizations.
Lim was guided by multiple reports released by the University of Sydney and APRA-AMCOS in 2017, which found that women's participation in the Australian music industry had a ceiling of about 20%. The "Composing Women" program was specifically open to female graduate students to increase participation and break this ceiling. To achieve better gender equality, the program has paved the way for women to compose music for symphony orchestras, opera companies, and major events.
These opportunities are more difficult to obtain as individual composers. Lim said, "I absolutely believe that quotas are a way to shape the world we want." Percussionist and current lecturer Bree van Reyk was one of Lim's first students in 2017. After being accepted into the program, she worked closely with Lim. Van Reyk said, "From the very beginning, Lim created a very warm and safe environment through the 'Composing Women' program."
Lim decided to discontinue the program in 2022, noting that all courses at the Conservatorium of Music now expect gender equality. "Many graduates of the program have now obtained permanent positions at universities," Lim said. She added that this indicates that the changes she helped oversee have been integrated into the core structure of the institution. While the "Composing Women" program has achieved successful change at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, Lim has always been committed to creating opportunities for fairness. She said, "We can't just fight for justice for one group and ignore other groups."
Internationally renowned cellist Nicolas Altstaedt contacted Lim after hearing her work played on French radio in 2023 and invited her to compose a cello concerto. Lim said that the request from "this extraordinary musician" felt incredible. In the following months, Lim familiarized herself with Altstaedt's playing style. "I really try to listen and capture each musician's relationship with their instrument and allow them to express that in the music." This included asking Altstaedt to play the cello with two different bows, as he plays both historical and modern cellos.
Altstaedt has commissioned music from a dozen composers, but Lim's cello concerto "struck a nerve." Altstaedt said, "A lot was happening in my life, and she knew nothing about it. The score has an autobiographical quality. The stars aligned, which is why I have such a strong connection with 'A Sutured World.'" The concerto explores the process of using silk thread to suture wounds and commemorate scars.
Altstaedt will give the Australian premiere in Melbourne this week and will be broadcast live on ABC Classic on International Women's Day. He described the process of collaborating with a living composer as "delightful and thrilling."
Humanity's place in nature is a recurring theme in Lim's music. One of her early breakthrough works was "The Garden Of Earthly Desires." In 2016, Lim created "How Forests Think," reflecting on the work of anthropologist Eduardo Kohn. The piece attempts to convey the interconnectedness of forest beings through creative instrumental techniques.
In 2024, Lim received AUD 3.74 million in funding from the Australian Research Council to develop methods of communicating the urgency of climate science and its impact on our society through music. The funding is being used to develop a five-year project comprising environmental researchers and composers, particularly Indigenous knowledge holders. Lim said, "Art is a missing link in the global movement for multi-species justice."
The project, which recently launched, is exploring the question: "How are human worlds and destinies connected to the health and functioning of the natural world?" Joining Lim's team are Yuwaalaraay writer and composer Nardi Simpson, Yuin composer Brenda Gifford, composer Kate Milligan, and interdisciplinary artist and researcher Vic McEwan. Lim stated, "For me, the only way forward is to say that every action we take and every decision we make is not just for ourselves, but also for the planet."
