DrAlex Chilvers

PhD, GradCertEdStd(HigherEd), BMus(Comp)(Hons), BIT(Hons), FHEA

Dr Alex Chilvers is a composer, teacher, and researcher specialising in music perception and intercultural engagement. His 2019 PhD thesis, “A Portfolio of Compositions in Response to a Study of the Aesthetic Function of Folklore in Modern Polish Music,” was completed under the supervision of Associate Professor Michael Smetanin and Dr Christopher Coady.

As a composer, Chilvers has collaborated with a range of artists in Australia and internationally. In 2015, he completed an artistic apprenticeship with the Polish composer Aleksander Lasoǹ at the Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music, Katowice, composing the folk-inspired work o Śląsku for Poland’s renowned New Music Orchestra (Orkiestra Muzyki Nowej). His works have been premiered domestically by Soundstream Collective, Luminescence Chamber Singers, Sideband, the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, and soloists including Stephanie McCallum and David Lockeridge.

Chilvers co-founded the Bark Tin Band with colleague Dr Lulu Liu and has recently collaborated closely with musicians such as harpsichordist Anthony Abouhamad and percussionist Pirashanna Thevarajah. The band's debut record Tang Suite, a multi-movement work inspired by Dunhuang pipa manuscripts and Tang-era cultural mobility, was commissioned by the ABC and released in 2026.