PERCUSSION MARIMBA COMPOSITION
Australian percussionist and composer Steve Falk possesses a profound interest in music across all genres and cultures. He thrives on collaborating with artists from diverse backgrounds to create original pieces, often showcasing his mastery of the marimba.
Falk's musical journey has taken him across continents, performing alongside leading contemporary improvisers in Australia and Japan. His six-year residence in Tokyo from 2005 to 2011 enriched his musical palette and global perspective.
He has been commissioned by Museums Victoria to compose for the Federation Handbells, with his piece Welcome resonating at Melbourne's Federation Square, for the Light in Winter Festival, and during the unveiling of Inflatable Refugee, a poignant representation of the global refugee crisis. In 2009, at the Dance Triennale Tokyo, he performed Steve Reich's Drumming as part of the production La Vie Qui Bat by the Canadian dance company, O Vertigo. He co-founded the world music duo Duality with Andy Bevan, performing at Kyoto’s Kamigamo Shrine in 2010. Together, they collaborated with Shonosuke Okura and Slava Grigoryan as Four Winds for the OZAsia Festival at the Adelaide Festival Centre in 2011. In 2015, Steve co-founded Redwood Music with sound engineer Darren Hulcombe to create music for Aesop’s Taxonomy of Design short film series.
He appeared as a soloist with the Yamaha Wind Orchestra in 2022 and recorded Gary Wain's Marimba Concerto No. 2 in Hobart, as well as Bryony Mark's score for the Australian film Magic Beach with Peter Neville in 2024. He has performed with the Melbourne, Queensland, and Tasmanian Symphony Orchestras, Orchestra Victoria, and Orchestra Ensemble Kanazawa in Japan. He has also played in musical theatre productions such as Mamma Mia! and We Will Rock You and was musical director for Tap Dogs, touring New Zealand, Japan, China, Korea, and India.
Steve attended the Victorian College of the Arts Secondary School, Victorian College of The Arts, Queensland Conservatorium of Music, and Toho Gakuen College of Music in Tokyo, where he studied under the tutelage of Keiko Abe. Currently, He imparts his knowledge and passion for percussion as a faculty member at The University of Melbourne.
Instruments are not mere tools for Falk, they are extensions of his musical identity. He proudly chooses Yamaha percussion instruments, with his favoured YM6100 Marimba being a constant companion.