The Talent 2026 Season 1 Composer Special Episode

Edith is a young trans composer from Eastern Melbourne, studying her first year of Classical Composition at university. Throughout secondary school, she was trained in jazz and tutored in jazz composition by her teachers. Through her school, she was afforded opportunities to perform her jazz compositions at the Melbourne Recital Centre, Hamer Hall, Generations in Jazz at Mt. Gambier, and even at the Paris Cat with the Daryl McKenzie Jazz Orchestra as the featured young artist, where she played her big band chart 'Magical Thinking'. More recently, her piece was selected to be played at the Making Waves Virtual Schools Victoria Concert at the Recital Centre, a portion of which you will hear shortly. Her work focuses on themes of nature, gender dysphoria, and sapphic or generally queer sexuality. What she seeks in her work is to illuminate the beauty that is inherent to everything, and the fallible nature of perception. 

Featured Compositions:

1. My Only World - live performance
2. No Birds do Scream

A composer, improviser, harpist and dancer, Su Min loves exploring the relationship between sound and movement. She collaborates with dancers to write music for choreographies, and releases dance films of her dancing to music from her albums. As a harpist, she loves finding new sound colours on the harp while integrating her love for dance by translating movement into musical ideas. She has written new works for Monash Percussion Studio and Nicole Canham that explore the harp combined with various instruments. Her composition, “Chasing Shadows”, was commissioned and premiered by Syzygy Ensemble in 2023, and described as an “entrancing new work” by Limelight. Su Min’s awards include winning the 2024 Allan Zavod Performers’ Award, 2024 ANZCA Composition Scholarship, and a 2025 Green Room Nomination for Outstanding Sound Design in Independent Theatre, amongst others. 

Featured Compositions:

1. Wrapped Around
2. Split Focus 

Photo Credit: Lisa Baker

Anusha Yellapragada is an early-career composer with a practice grounded heavily in music for art-music, screen media, and multi-disciplinary collaboration. She is a Bespoke Artist with Speak Percussion, and has had work featured on both the Australian Art Music Playlist and the 1,000 Curious Ears playlist (Wasteland) curated by Cameron Lam. She has crafted music for chamber ensembles, games, film, dance, and theatre. Her work has been performed by Syzygy Ensemble, WHACKollective, Ellipsis Trio, and Monash University Percussion Ensemble. 

Featured Compositions:

1. Spring - performed live by ellipsis trio
2. Excerpt from Azure Dream

Photo Credit: Darren Gill