James Ledger

Ledger’s interest in composition began at a young age, but it was not until much later in life that he began to put it into practice. He graduated in performance (French horn) from the Western Australian Conservatorium of Music in 1991 and then spent the next few years working in England as an arranger and music copyist on a variety of projects. He returned to Australia in 1997 to focus solely on composition.

His first orchestral work, Indian Pacific (1996), is regularly performed around Australia. He has won APRA Art Music Awards for his violin concerto Golden Years (2014) and orchestral work Chronicles (2010). In 2012 he collaborated with Australian songwriter Paul Kelly on Conversations with Ghosts, a song-cycle based on poems by Les Murray, W.B. Yeats, Judith Wright, Lord Alfred Tennyson and others. The resultant album won an ARIA award. 2019 saw the premiere of Thirteen Ways to Look at Birds, a new song-cycle by Ledger and Kelly which earned them their second ARIA award. In 2020 His Viola Concerto, premiered by Brett Dean and the West Australian Symphony Orchestra, won the APRA AMCOS Art Music Award in the "Work of the Year – Large Ensemble" category.

In addition to concert music, Ledger has composed soundtracks for several short films and documentaries for the ABC, SBS, and independent filmmakers.

Ledger has held residencies with the West Australian, Adelaide, and Christchurch Symphony Orchestras, the Australian National Academy of Music, and the Australian Festival of Chamber Music. He has received commissions from Australia’s leading ensembles including the Melbourne, Sydney and Tasmanian symphony orchestras, the Australian Chamber Orchestra and Australian String Quartet.

In 2020 he earned a Doctorate of Music from the University of Western Australia, where he currently lectures in composition.