The Australian National University in Canberra has awarded music producer Mark Opitz the HC Coombs Creative Arts Fellowship for 2018.
Mark Opitz was the architect in the studio behind the sounds of Cold Chisel, Divinyls, INXS, Models and Jimmy Barnes.
He worked with AC/DC on ‘Powerage’, Cold Chisel on ‘East’, The Angels on ‘No Exit’, INXS on ‘Shabooh Shoobah’, Australian Crawl in ‘Semantics’, Hoodoo Gurus on ‘Blow Your Cool’ and the first Noiseworks album.
At the Australian National University, Mark says, “I’m at the point in my career where I’ve learnt a lot and I have a lot to pass on and the Coombs Fellowship is an amazing vehicle for this.
“I have plans for a performance piece of about 25 minutes long which I want to be very inclusive of all Australians and to have a large Indigenous element to it,” he said.
“My idea for an ANU-branded music recording techniques app is already underway with a few musical instruments, but I want to expand it to include classical and Indigenous instruments as well, and involve students the whole way.
“This wide-ranging app with video and written accompaniments will be photographed, filmed and produced here at the remarkable ANU recording studio with the plan to hopefully have it in the app store and create a digital presence for the ANU School of Music.”
According to the ANU, “The HC Coombs Fellowship was established in 1964 by the then ANU Pro-Vice Chancellor Dr HC “Nugget” Coombs. It allows artists in various areas of the creative arts to engage in a period of uninterrupted creative work in residence at the ANU.
“Previous ANU Coombs Fellows include Sidney Nolan, Arthur Boyd, Don Burrows, Don Banks, Arthur Cantrill, Judith Clingan, George Golla, George Dreyfus, Xavier Herbert, Christina Stead, Penny Tweedie and Clive Scollay, and Judith Wright”.
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Gavin Ryan reports with thanks to Australian-Charts.com
