Rate My Professor Miriama Young

Miriama Young is Associate Professor and Head of Composition at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music, Faculty of Fine Arts and Music, University of Melbourne. A dual-national New Zealand-Australian composer and sound artist with over 30 years of professional experience, she earned her Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Music with First Class Honours from Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. With a Fulbright Award, she pursued postgraduate studies at Princeton University, obtaining her Master of Fine Arts and PhD in Music Composition in 2007. Young's creative practice encompasses a wide range of forms, including vocal, instrumental, and orchestral concert works, film scores, interactive sound for dance, electro-acoustic and radiophonic pieces, and sound installations. Her compositions are grounded in themes of place, memory, ecology, and the pursuit of the mysterious and sublime, blending unique sound worlds from eclectic disciplines to create new sonic colours.

Young's scholarly contributions examine the intricate relationship between the human voice and recording technology. Her monograph, Singing the Body Electric: The Human Voice and Sound Technology (Routledge, 2015), was listed in the Times Higher Education Best Books 2015. Additional publications include chapters in the Oxford Handbook of Voice Studies and articles in Leonardo Music Journal and Contemporary Music Review. Her music has been commissioned and performed internationally by ensembles such as the Sydney Symphony Orchestra Fellows, Scottish Opera, Omega Ensemble, Syzygy Ensemble, NZTrio, Canberra Symphony Orchestra, So Percussion, New Millennium Ensemble, and artists including pianists Aura Go, Xenia Pestova, and Rolf Hind. Sound installations have featured at the Venice Biennale Architettura 2025 and Vivid Sydney 2013, while her film score for Speechless: The Polar Realm garnered awards at international film festivals. Albums include This Earthly Round (ABC Classics, 2023) and contributions to Strike: New Zealand Percussion Music (Rattle, 2001; New Zealand Classical Album of the Year). She has held artist residencies at Yaddo and MacDowell Colonies, represented New Zealand at the International World Music Days Festival, and her works are represented by SOUNZ and the Australian Music Centre. Broadcasts feature on NPR (USA), ABC (Australia), and Radio New Zealand.