Australian Music Centre Goes Online

People can now enjoy Australian music via a new online website

Music lovers, festival programmers, teachers, students, and the creators and performers of original Australian music across the globe now have a new resource in Australian Music Centre Online at www.australianmusiccentre.com.au.

The website increases access to the Australian Music Centre’s ever-growing collection of works and information about Australian art music – including diverse genres from contemporary classical, improvisatory and jazz to experimental music and sound art.

The site is a result of more than five years of planning, development and work. It already incorporates over 21,000 works from the Centre’s collection – and there are many more to come. Biographies of 530 composers, improvisers and sound artists are included and there are some 30 guided tours of major works and themes in the history of Australian music.

Featured throughout the site at launch are over 2600 audio samples, including 35 integrated links to full length recordings hosted by the ABC’s Classic Amp website.

An advanced repertoire finder already includes more than 1200 score samples for teachers, students, orchestras and ensembles to try, with some available for download, and there is an online shop with over 10,000 items including CDs, books and education kits for sale.

Australian Music Centre’s magazine, Resonate, has been incorporated into the site, making nearly 300 news, reviews and feature articles available to all readers free for the first time.

Last but by no means least – Australian Music Centre Online includes a comprehensive national events calendar which already has over 320 listings in it, with links to information about people and works, and a click-through to buy tickets.

Perhaps the most outstanding feature of the site is the use of a unique cataloguing system which cross-references material to provide contextualised information in new ways. Visitors can quickly discover connections between creators, works, influences, products, performances, events, commentary and critical discourse to gain a much richer picture of the Australian music landscape than has been available before.

Australian Music Centre Online has been made possible with the generous support of the Australia Council for the Arts, the Australasian Performing Right Association and the assistance of partners, the National Library of Australia and ABC Classic FM.