Bruce Rowland
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Kenneth Bruce Rowland AM (born 9 May 1942 in Melbourne) is an Australian composer.
Biography
[edit]Rowland received his education at Caulfield Grammar School in his hometown. He learned piano and was a keyboard player for Australian music groups and singers. He played drums on Shawn Phillips's Second Contribution album, published in 1970.
Rowland is best known for having composed the soundtrack to the 1982 film The Man from Snowy River and its 1988 sequel The Man from Snowy River II (which has the United States title of Return to Snowy River, and the United Kingdom title of The Untamed). Both films were based on Banjo Paterson's poem The Man from Snowy River.[1]
His other film scores include Now and Forever (1983), Phar Lap (1983), Bushfire Moon (1987), Cheetah (1989), Weekend with Kate (1990), Gross Misconduct (1993), Andre (1994), Lightning Jack (1994), Zeus and Roxanne (1997) and the TV movie Tidal Wave: No Escape (1997). He also composed the score for the TV miniseries All the Rivers Run (1983) and its sequel (1990). Rowland composed the music to the Oscar-nominated animated short film The Mysterious Geographic Explorations of Jasper Morello (2005).
Some of his early work was in television, where he was musical director for ATV0's The Go!! Show, Fredd Bear's Breakfast-A-Go-Go and the Magic Circle Club, then Adventure Island for the ABC.
He composed a special Olympics version of the main theme of The Man from Snowy River for the Opening Ceremony of the 2000 Summer Olympics, as well as conducting the orchestra for the performance.[1] He also composed special arrangements of some of his music for the 2002 musical theatre production "The Man from Snowy River: Arena Spectacular", which twice toured Australian capital cities. The original cast album of the show won the ARIA Award for Best Cast / Show Album. Rowland also composed new music for "The Australian Outback Arena Show" on Queensland's Gold Coast.[2]
The Man From Snowy River soundtrack has featured four times in ABC Classic FM's annual Classic 100 Countdown, peaking at 18 in the 2025 'Piano' countdown. This made it the highest-ranking entry by an Australian composer.
NBC Sports uses music from The Man from Snowy River soundtrack for their coverage of The Players Championship.
Discography
[edit]Charting albums
[edit]| Title | Album details | Peak chart positions |
|---|---|---|
| AUS [3] | ||
| Piano by Request |
|
51 |
Honours and awards
[edit]In the 2025 King's Birthday Honours, Rowland was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia, for significant service to music as a composer, arranger and conductor.[4]
Awards won by Bruce Rowland:[5]
1982
- Won the AFI Award for Best Score for The Man from Snowy River
1983
- Won the AFI Award for Best Score for Phar Lap
- Won the Penguin Award for Best Score for All the Rivers Run
1984
- Won the Australasian Performing Right Association Award for Best Score for The Man from Snowy River
1985
- Won the AFI Award for Best Score for Rebel
- Won the Australasian Performing Right Association Award for Best Score for The Man from Snowy River
- Won the Australasian Performing Right Association Award for Best Score for Phar Lap
1989
- Won the Australasian Performing Right Association Award for Best Score for The Man from Snowy River (Return to Snowy River)
2005
- Won the Australasian Performing Right Association Award for Best Score for The Mysterious Geographic Explorations of Jasper Morello
- Awarded the APRA/AGSC 'International Achievement Award'
ARIA Music Awards
[edit]The ARIA Music Awards is an annual awards ceremony held by the Australian Recording Industry Association. They commenced in 1987.
| Year | Nominee / work | Award | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1989 | The Man from Snowy River II | Best Original Soundtrack, Cast or Show Album | Nominated | [6] |
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ a b "Bruce Rowland - Australian composer, arranger and conductor". Bruce Rowland. Retrieved 23 June 2025.
- ^ "And the winners are..." — The Sydney Morning Herald (published 2002-10-16) (accessdate 2007-09-14)
- ^ Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. p. 260. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
- ^ "Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in the General Division" (PDF). Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia. 9 June 2025. p. 113. Retrieved 9 June 2025.
- ^ Bruce Rowland Awards Archived September 18, 2007, at the Wayback Machine — Bruce Rowland's official website
- ^ ARIA Award previous winners. "History Best Original Soundtrack, Cast or Show Album". Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA). Retrieved 12 July 2022.
External links
[edit]- Bruce Rowland Official Website
- Bruce Rowland at IMDb
- Bruce Rowland Interview NAMM Oral History Library (2017)
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Artists | |
| Other | |
- APRA Award winners
- Australian film score composers
- Australian male film score composers
- The Man from Snowy River
- People educated at Caulfield Grammar School
- Living people
- 1942 births
- Varèse Sarabande Records artists
- Musicians from Melbourne
- Members of the Order of Australia
- Best Original Music Score AACTA Award winners