Biography
Ian Whitney is a Sydney based composer, originally from Brisbane who is interested in fictional musical narratives. He was the 2020-2021 Layton Emerging Composer Fellow, one of the selected composers for the 2021 Australian National Academy of Music (ANAM) Set, and was selected for the 2023 Flinders Quartet Emerge program.

His work has been performed by the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, Victorian Opera, PLEXUS, Arcadia Winds, Highly Strung and Ensemble Françaix. Additionally, he has written significant solo works for violist Christopher Cartlidge and harpist Alice Giles AM.

He holds a Doctor of Musical Arts from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, under the supervision of Carl Vine AO, David Larkin, and Ian Maxwell. Previously, he studied at the Queensland Conservatorium with Gerard Brophy and Stephen Leek and whilst a student was awarded the inaugural Australian Youth Orchestra/National Institute of Dramatic Art Fellowship for theatre music. He was also twice selected for the Symphony Australia/Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra Composers’ School, and was also selected for the Victorian Opera Composer Development Program. Before returning to further study, Ian worked as a cultural bureaucrat at the Embassy of Australia, Washington DC and the Australia Council for the Arts.