Anne Cawrse, Brenda Gifford and Anna Laverty have been announced as the recipients of the 2022 Prelude Composers Residencies. The residencies offer year-long residencies in historic buildings in NSW, SA and WA, as well as a stipend to cover living costs, in order to support the creation of works and the honing of the composer’s craft.

The Prelude program, administered by the the Peggy Glanville-Hicks Trust, is guided by a sentiment expressed by Glanville-Hicks: “It is apparent that leisure and silence are absolute prerequisites for composers if they are to engage fully the many forms of awareness involved in creative activity.” Glanville-Hicks bequeathed her terrace house in Sydney’s Paddington as a home for composers, and since 1994 it has hosted 27 different Australian composers for long-term residencies.

In 2016 the program was expanded with the addition of Gallop House in Dalkeith, Perth (owned by the National Trust of WA) and North Adelaide Baptist Church (owned by the National Trust of SA). Prelude is open to Australian composers in all musical genres and practices, with the three successful applicants chosen by an independent panel.

This year’s recipients are three female composers operating in a wide and varied range...