Paul Grabowsky

Paul Atherstone Grabowsky is an Australian pianist and composer, founder of the Australian Art Orchestra.

Born in Lae, Papua New Guinea, Grabowsky is a pianist and composer of music for film, theatre and opera.

One group of these was based on songs of Édith Piaf ("Et les Affaires Piaf"), while a second group was based on songs from German UFA films from the 1920s to 1940s ("Es wird einmal ein Wunder").

His father Alistair had lived in Papua New Guinea with his wife Charlotte since the 1930s working on oil rigs, building roads, flying planes.

Grabowsky described his ancestry as "failed Polish aristocracy".

His grandfather was a legitimate Polish Count of the Grabowski noble family, a descendant of Jan Jerzy Grabowski from where he gets his title; his grandfather was exiled from Poland and lived in Scotland.

Immersing himself in jazz, Grabowsky left the conservatorium in 1978 to pursue musical studies at the Juilliard School in New York and then embarked on extensive travel in Europe.

1980 he worked in the Melbourne cabaret/comedy scene where he began his relationship with Steve Vizard and Robyn Archer.

He flew in 1980 to London where he travelled via Spain to Germany; he lived there in Munich until 1985.

He had been back in Australia for Christmas 1982 when, on the invitation of Red Symons, he co-composed his first film score, the first of many.

In Europe he played with many musicians including Chet Baker, Art Farmer and Johnny Griffin as well as influential European artists.

In 1983, Grabowsky formed the Paul Grabowsky Trio with Allan Browne and Gary Costello.

After his return to Australia in 1986, he played in various jazz ensembles.

Grabowsky produced Vince Jones' ARIA Award-winning album It All Ends Up In Tears.

In 1987, Grabowsky formed the Wizards of Oz with Saxophonist Dale Barlow, bassist Lloyd Swanton and drummer Tony Buck.

The duo recorded the album Six by Three, which was released in 1989 and won the trio an ARIA Music Award at the ARIA Music Awards of 1990.

Wizards of Oz recorded Soundtrack and won the ARIA Award for Best Jazz Album at the ARIA Music Awards of 1989.

During this time, he also wrote the score to the film The Last Days of Chez Nous and for television shows Phoenix, Janus and Fast Forward.

His older brother Michael took great interest in the young composer and later worked with Paul co-ordinating and producing many of his television and film scores in the 1990s.

Grabowsky grew up in Glen Waverley, Melbourne, Australia, and began piano lessons when he was five years old.

He studied the classical repertoire with Mack Jost, senior lecturer in piano at the Conservatorium of Music at the University of Melbourne from the age of seven until his university years.

He attended Wesley College and it was that school's jazz band which introduced him to the genre.

Grabowsky and the Groovematics were the innovative house band on the Seven Network TV show Tonight Live with Steve Vizard from February 1990 to November 1993.

This show was live five nights a week.

Grabowsky also continued to compose scores for feature films many of which won awards.

In 1990 he was commissioned to write several pieces for the Munich-based jazz/contemporary-music group Die Konferenz.

During the late 1990s, Grabowsky concentrated on writing music for film and television: Molokai: The Story of Father Damien (1999) and Innocence (2000) by Paul Cox, Siam Sunset by John Polson, the NBC mini-series Noah's Ark, the UK production Shiner.

Northern Rivers Performing Arts (NORPA) commissioned his first opera, The Mercenary with a (libretto by Janis Balodis).

He is married to Margot Salomon and in 1991 their first child was born; Isabella Grabowsky.

With the support from its artistic director Richard Wherrett, this led to the formation of the project Ringing the Bell Backwards at the Melbourne International Arts Festival and eventually to the Australian Art Orchestra in 1994.

That year, Grabowsky wrote a piano concerto for Michael Kieran Harvey.

Their son Guy Grabowsky was born in 1995..

In 1995, the Australian Art Orchestra toured Europe, and later India in 1996.

Grabowsky directed the Victorian Arts Centre's Summer Music programme.

Late that year he was commissioned to front the 14-part ABC TV series Access All Areas.

As Commissioning Editor for ABC Television Arts and Entertainment (1996–1998), he commissioned the documentary series Long Way to the Top.

In 2000, the project The Theft of Sita (a collaboration with Wayan Yudane) came to fruition; it combined jazz elements, Balinese gamelan music and puppetry.

The piece premiered in Adelaide, and has since toured worldwide.

In that year, Grabowsky was also involved in the writing music for the opening ceremonies of the Sydney Olympics and the Paralympics.

Since then, he has written the opera Love in the Age of Therapy (libretto by Joanna Murray-Smith) commissioned by Melbourne Festival and Sydney Festival, and the symphony Streets of Hurqalya (26 June 2002), commissioned by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.