Jesse Budel
Jesse Budel (b. 1991) is a composer-performer, sound artist, curator and arts entrepreneur based in Adelaide, South Australia. His works are for diverse media and spaces, ranging from acoustic concert instrumentation through to installation works, and have been performed by the Australian String Quartet (AUS), Elder Conservatorium Wind Orchestra (SA) and Corvus Ensemble (Alaska, USA). He has been an artist-in-residence at Adelaide City Library (SA) and Arts Letters and Numbers (Upstate NY, USA).
Artist Profile
Jesse is currently a PhD candidate in Music Composition at Elder Conservatorium of Music (with an Australian Postgraduate Award). Previously, he graduated with a Bachelor of Music (Composition) with First Class Honours, studying with Graeme Koehne, David Harris and Charles Bodman Rae, also receiving numerous Director’s Awards for ‘outstanding achievement as a composer and a high level of commitment in the promotion and performance of new music’.
His current research is focussed on adapting the innovative field of soundscape ecology to compositional process, producing creative works responding South Australian ecosystems and soundscapes. He has presented on his research at the 2016 Australasian Computer Music Conference (Brisbane), 2016 Musicological Society of Australia Conference (Adelaide) and 2017 Toronto International Electroacoustic Symposium.
In the wider community, he is an ongoing contributor to the arts and cultural, and youth sectors, being recognised for his efforts as Young Citizen of the Year at the Murray Bridge 2012 Australia Day Awards, and SA Regional Awards Murraylands-Riverlands Youth Award in 2013. He also continues to have an active involvement in musical theatre, with credits with Murray Bridge Players and Singers including Horton in Seussical (2011), Zeke in High School Musical (2013), Tony in West Side Story and acting and directing in Harold Pinter’s Victoria Station (2014), and Rapunzel’s Prince in Into The Woods (2016). Additionally, he musically directed the South Australian premiere of Jane Eyre (2013) with In Christ’s Company, and MaCabaret (2016) with Maniacal Arts Company.
Jesse was awarded a JUMP National Mentorship Scholarship through Carclew Youth Arts in 2012, working with Gabriella Smart and Soundstream: Adelaide New Music Collective & Festival on professional development in artistic direction and curation. He additionally founded and was artistic director of the Menagerie Ensemble, which ran from 2011-13 featuring concerts of works by established and emerging composers in regional areas.
In 2017, Jesse undertook an extensive professional development tour of the US and Canada in his research area of ecological music and sound art, supported by a Carclew Fellowship, Helpmann Academy Grant and Rural City of Murray Bridge Small Wins Grant.
Check out some of Jesse’s work below: