STUART FISHER

guitarist

Stuart is a Melbourne-based ‘meta’ guitarist who is particularly concerned with performing new music on an ever widening range of plucked string instruments, including classical six and ten string guitar, electric and electric bass guitar, ukulele, sitar, banjo, and mandolin.

 Stuart graduated with First Class Honours from the Victorian College of the Arts (Melbourne University) with a Bachelor of Music Performance (Hon) in 2011. There, having studied under Aria Award winning guitarist Tonié Field for over 6 years, he developed expertise performing on classical and electric guitar. In 2014, Stuart participated as a fellow in the Bang on a Can Summer Festival at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, USA, where he was featured prominently playing electric guitar. He has been involved in the Australian premiere of guitar works by American composer Dusan Bogdanovic, performed in concerts at the 2009 Melbourne Guitar Festival with acclaimed guitarists Geoffrey Morris and Owen Tompson, various Melbourne Classical Guitar Society events and live on 3MBS radio. Stuart has also been involved in a large range of performance projects throughout Victoria, including collaborations with the new music ensemble Six Degrees, the Melbourne University New Music Studio Ensemble, dancers, filmmakers, composers and internationally recognized artists, such as shakuhachi player Andrew MacGregor and pianist Donna Coleman.

 Stuart is concerned with the development and expansion of the use of the guitar in contemporary music. To that end he has been closely involved in the commissioning of new works for the guitar and related instruments by local composers, and has made the exploration of contemporary music central to his life’s work. Currently, he is a Masters candidate at the University of Melbourne conducting research into the developing role of the electric guitar in contemporary chamber music.