David Page, Composer, Actor
At the age of 13 David's musical career began when he released two singles with Atlantic Records, home to artists such as Aretha Franklin, Otis Redding and Roberta Flack. In the 1980's he studied saxophone, voice, composition and song at the Centre for Aboriginal Studies in Music (CASM) at Adelaide University. In 1989 he moved to Sydney and teamed up with his brothers Russell and Stephen, where he first created music for dance, working with The Aboriginal and Islander Dance Theatre and Sydney Dance Company.
David's career became intricately linked with Bangarra Dance Theatre when he joined the company as resident composer in 1990. He composed scores for their major works: Praying Mantis Dreaming (1992); Ochres (1995); Ninni (1996); Fish (1997); Skin (2000); Corroboree (2001); Bush (2003), Unaipon/Clan (2004); Boomerang (2005); True Stories (2007) and Mathinna (2008). He performed with Bangarra at WOMAD concerts in Adelaide and Johannesburg in 1999. In 1997 David was invited by his brother Stephen to compose the musical work Alchemy for The Australian Ballet, which marked the beginnings of his collaboration with Stephen Francis. In 2000, they contributed music to the Opening Ceremonies of the Sydney Olympic Games and the Sydney Olympic Arts Festival and, in 2002, The Sydney Dreaming Festival. He contributed to the Indigenous section of the 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games Opening Ceremony. Other music collaborations for dance is "Amalgamate" for Bangarra and The Australian Ballet with Elena Kats Chernin in 2006. "The Sydney Harbour Bridge 75th Birthday Celebrations with Mathew Doyle in 2007.
David has also contributed music to television, composing for Heartland, Pride (part of the Seven Deadly Sins series) and Poison for ABC. He wrote the themes for Songlines, Living Black and Pioneers of Love for SBS. He has worked with film directors Pauline Clague, Rima Tamou and Wesley Enoch on short films such as Round Up, Passing Through, Grace and Saturday Night Sunday Morning. In 2007 he composed 5 of 13 short films such as "Nana", "Back Seat" and "Hush" for Bit Black Business series commissioned by the Australian Film Commission.
Since 1995, David has received four Deadly Sound Awards, an ARIA nomination for Heartland in 1996, Helpman Award nominations and was given the first Indigenous Artist Award for The Sidney Myer Foundation in 2000. A Green Room Award for Best New Australian Work for "Page 8" in 2006. David's music is represented by Sony Music ATV Publishing Australia.
As an actor David has performed in a number of Theatre productions since 1987 including: "Murras" by Eva Johnson; "Big Sister��? by Reg Livermore; and "The Sunshine Club", "Fountains Beyond" and "Cherry Pickers", all directed by Wesley Enoch. David performed "Page 8" a one man show, at Belvoir St Theatre and Brisbane Festival in 2004, followed by a national and International tour 2005 and 2006. His film credits include "Two Bob Mermaid" directed by Darlene Johnson, "Oscar and Lucinda" directed by Gillian Armstrong, "Green Bush" directed by Warwick Thornton and "To Hell And Back" directed by Richard Frankland 2007.
Biography sourced from http://www.bangarra.com.au/bios/creatives.html#david