About

Antonio Tenace was born in Melbourne, Victoria and is a freelance Australian Composer of Italian descent (Sammarchesi). His diverse compositions fall naturally into the Third Stream idiom and imbue the elements of western classical music, jazz and popular styles, twentieth century music and any other disparate musical tradition. The evolution of his compositional style can be attributed to a synthesis of his eclectic musical interests, his previous professional experience as a keyboardist/arranger/musical director and his extensive music education.

Composition prizes include the 2009 APRA Composer Award for his orchestral work ‘Yesteryears‘ in the 3MBS-FM National Composer Awards, the 2006 Zavod Jazz/Classical Fusion Award for his saxophone quartet ‘Kontrapunkt’, and his music has also been featured on two Melbourne Composers’ League CD releases, Rear Vision and Celebrating Twenty Years. He is a member and former Treasurer (2008 – 2023) of the Melbourne Composers League, a member of APRA AMCOS and his music has been published by Gold Branch Music in the USA and Lyrebird Press Australia. Antonio’s compositions have widely been performed by renowned local and international artists including Michael Kieran Harvey, Barrie Webb, Peter Neville, Lachlan Davidson, Tony Hicks, Eugene UghettiAdam SimmonsDeborah Kayser, Isin Cakmakcioglu, Robert Schubert, Silo String Quartet and Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. His music has also been recorded and broadcast on ABC Classic FM, 3MBS Fine Music Melbourne and Radio Beethoven FM in Chile.

During his time in academia, Antonio studied composition with Brenton Broadstock and Andrián Pertout having also undertaken studies in conducting with John Hopkins at the University of Melbourne. In 2007, he was awarded a Master of Music (Composition) with first class honours which he completed on an Australian Postgraduate scholarship. In addition, he has been awarded a Bachelor of Music with Honours in 2003, and also holds a Bachelor of Music from La Trobe University which he completed in 2000 having majored in contemporary music and physics. In 2007, he also presented a conference paper based on his own composition ‘Out-Takes‘ at the Asia Pacific Composers League Festival held in Wellington New Zealand. As an educator, Antonio directed and conducted the New Audience Ensemble at the University of Melbourne focusing on the promotion and development of contemporary Australian music. He also lectured and tutored improvisation and music units for the University of New England, and previously developed a curriculum for an ear training and transcription program which he implemented at the Centre for Adult Education