Award-winning Australian composer Liza Lim has been appointed as the Sydney Conservatorium of Music’s inaugural Sculthorpe Chair of Australian Music. The new position was made possible by a generous bequest from iconic Australian composer Peter Sculthorpe, who died in 2014.

Liza LimLiza Lim. Photo © Astrid Ackermann

“I’m incredibly honoured to be appointed to the Sculthorpe Chair at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music,” Lim said. “I’m inspired by Peter Sculthorpe’s generosity and vision and of course, his iconic legacy as an Australian composer who looked to Asia and Indigenous Australia for new points of orientation.”

“The position brings wonderful opportunities to advance and champion Australian music, linking our composers and performers at the Conservatorium to the wider community though projects that are collaborative, interdisciplinary and speak to our times,” she said.

Lim, who also heads up the Composing Women program at the Conservatorium, will begin the five-year position – which includes academic teaching, research and advocacy roles – in mid-November.

“In appointing Professor Lim, we will have visionary leadership that achieves the aims of the Chair exceedingly well,” said the Conservatorium’s Head of School and Dean, Professor Anna Reid. “Professor Lim’s compositional...