Lee Bradshaw
Arranger and composer, Australia
Lee Bradshaw has consistently engaged with music as a medium to address significant historical, cultural and social issues. His compositions often emerge from moments of crisis and transformation, aiming to unite artistry with social, cultural and historical urgency.
For our Festival we get to hear his skills as an arranger. As well as his foray into the world of Beethoven symphonies, he has generously taken on the task of re-working Vivaldi’s Four Seasons to include guitar continuo rather than the usual harpsichord.
Lee Bradshaw’s opera Zarqa Al Yamama (2024) marked a historic milestone as the first-ever grand opera staged in Saudi Arabia. The opera’s narrative, explores themes of prophecy, ignored warnings and sacrifice, and resonates as a metaphor for contemporary societal change. His Requiem For Those Left Behind (2025) was the first Australian classical work to be premiered in Egypt. It seeks to address the bipartisan tragedy of civilian suffering in Gaza and Israel, offering a space for collective grief.
Four Rooms for string octet, premiered in October 2025 by Flinders Quartet and the Australian Youth Orchestra Chamber Players, addresses the crisis of youth suicide and the mental health struggles (especially) of creatives.
Memory and history resonate even more poignantly in his chamber opera Theresienstadt, currently in development. This builds on his 2025 piano quintet January 27, 1945 (2025) and forms a triptych of works with January 27, 1945 and the recently commissioned ‘Ma Ha’ish’ Variations, composed for German-Israeli ensemble Trio Delyria.
Lee is also working on a symphonic project Barefoot Through Hiroshima (2027), in collaboration with the Dresdner Sinfoniker. This multimedia work integrates a symphonic forces with traditional Japanese instruments and animated visuals to remind us of the ever-present threat of nuclear catastrophe.
Bradshaw’s range of collaborators testifies to his far-reaching impact including performances by Dame Sarah Connolly, Baiba Skride, Harriet Krijgh, Quartetto Energie Nove, the Flinders String Quartet, Orchestra Svizzera Italiana, Amira Medunjanin and Ivan Vukčević.
As The Standard (UK) observes, he is ‘a composer with an ear for both scale and intimacy, unafraid to take on historic subjects with contemporary resonance.’