CARTER-VARNEY, Glen

Glennis “Glen” Carter-Varney is an Australian composer, pianist and music educator, born on 12 May 1938. She studied piano with Waldemar Seidel and composition with John Ingram and Bernard de Oliveira at the University of Melbourne Conservatorium. She later continued her piano studies with Norah Newby at the Royal Academy of Music in London.

Carter-Varney served as Head of Contemporary Keyboard Studies and lecturer in piano at the Melba Memorial Conservatorium in Melbourne. She was also Music Director at The Scots School in Albury and taught music at Methodist Ladies’ College in Melbourne. Her career has included directing choirs and madrigal groups, producing musicals, performing as a solo pianist and working as a studio and recording musician.

She has written and published an extensive collection of piano music, much of it intended for students and recital performance. Her style combines classical piano writing with jazz, popular and contemporary influences. Her compositions include Summer Dreaming, Sonic Fantasy, Shades of Blue, Mean Machine, Blue Samba, Dancing Girl, Dragon Train, The Kingfisher, The Golden Gecko and Turtles. Several of her works have been included in Australian piano examination syllabuses.

Her collections include Kool Piano, Kool Shades of Blue, Kool Jazzy Tunes and The Artamidae, the last of which draws inspiration from Australian landscapes and wildlife. She has performed and conducted workshops in Australia and the United States and has recorded for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and commercial radio.