Matthew Lorenzon

I see journalism and academic writing as intertwined practices that use different methods to critique, document and argue the value of the arts. I started writing for RealTime during my Masters studies in Literature at the University of Melbourne in 2011 and continued throughout my doctoral studies in Musicology at the Australian National University. Regretting the slim written record of Australian music, in 2013 I founded the Partial Durations blog with support from RealTime.

I have lectured locally and internationally as a musicologist and have run intensive workshops on contemporary music journalism in Australia and Germany. In 2015 I founded the Melbourne Music Analysis Summer School to provide a space for high-level music analysis in Australia. I am currently an Adjunct Junior Research Associate at Monash University and work at the Federal Office of the Australian Music Examinations Board.

The question is not so much why I write about music as why I write about music in Australia. I like to think of Australia as one big cultural centre like New York or Berlin, but spread over seven and a half million square miles. Under such circumstances journalism becomes an essential bridge between our atomised musical communities. We also need to be aware of how Australian music fits into global cultural conversations and is heard within them. To this end I am to edit RealTime’s contemporary music news page, including a calendar of international live streams. I hope that this will help antipodean musicians feel a little more connected to musical events around the world, as well as open a window onto our own musical culture.