“one of Australia’s most versatile and prolific composers”
“an important voice in contemporary classical music”
“her creative vision reigns supreme ”
Photo by Nat Cartney@Rolling Media Productions
Dr Felicity Wilcox is an award-winning Australian composer, whose compositions are performed and broadcast in Australia and internationally. She has received commissions for many leading artists and ensembles, was composer and Assistant Music Director for the 2000 Paralympic Games in Sydney, and has composed the soundtracks for over 60 screen productions (as Felicity Fox). Her solo albums have received critical acclaim: her chamber opera Threading the Light (Move) received 5-stars from Fine Music Sydney, her collection of chamber works, Uncovered Ground (Move) received two 5-star reviews and was named ‘Pick of the week’ by music critics at the Sydney Morning Herald, and her soundtrack album for the ABC TV series, Afrika - Capetown to Cairo (BMG) was nominated for an ARIA Award.
In Australia, Felicity’s works have been selected for major arts festivals including: Sydney Festival, Vivid Sydney, Canberra International Music Festival, and Sydney Mardi Gras Festival; and performed in iconic venues such as Sydney Opera House, Melbourne Recital Centre, and Belvoir St Theatre. Internationally her music has been programmed by arts organisations such as: Bang on a Can Festival (NYC), Philadelphia Orchestra, New Music Network (USA), The Night With… (Scotland), TurnUP Festival (USA), Sadari Theatre (Seoul), Claire Merviel Productions (Paris), Pantopia Festival (Berlin), and Balderin Sali (Helsinki), and has featured in international film festivals including Venice, Paris, Toronto, Berlin, Tokyo and others. Her film music has been shortlisted for 3 AFI/AACTA Awards, an ARIA Award, and has won APRA/AGSC Screen Music Awards and the FIFREC Award (France) for Best Music for Film.
Felicity is an Adjunct Research Fellow at University of Technology Sydney, and the recipient of a prestigious Discovery Early Career Researcher Award from the Australian Government (2023-26), awarded to conduct research on contemporary opera, and to compose a new chamber opera titled Emergenc/y with acclaimed librettist Alana Valentine. She lives between Paris and unceded Darug Country in the Blue Mountains, NSW, Australia.
NEWS
PERFORMANCES of original works 2026
The below performances of Felicity’s music are confirmed for 2026!
Stay updated here as new ones are listed.
7 January 2026: Tambourin, People of This Place, performed by Ensemble Offspring at Peninsula Summer Music Festival Victoria, Australia.
25-28 April 2026: Call and (a) Response, performed by Ensemble Offspring at The Night With… Festival, Edinburgh, Cromarty, Aberdeen, Glasgow, Scotland.
16 May 2026: W.E.S.T. (Wilcox, Encarnaçao, Swanton Trio), with Lloyd Swanton and John Encarnacao, at 100clicksWest Festival, Wentworth Falls, NSW, Australia.
3-27 September 2026: Un Espoir, play by Wendy Beckett with original music by Felicity Wilcox, at La Scene Libre, Paris 10, France. Billeterie: https://le-theatrelibre.fr/event-pro/un-espoir-les-trois-reflets-dune-adoption/
10 October 2026: Ecologies Résonantes: An evening of music, field recordings and ecological listening with Anna McMichael & Felicity Wilcox, presented by Earthly Futures, Le Peleton Studio, Paris 4, France. Billeterie: https://events.humanitix.com/ecologies-resonantes
23 October 2026: Vivre Sa Vie- Composer’s Cut and EXIT, performed by Grupo Enigma in XIL La Rioja Contemporary Music Festival, Eliseo Pinedo Professional Music Conservatory, Logroño, Spain.
7 - 8 November: Gouttes d’un Sang Etranger, performed by Claire Gravelines (viola da gamba), Mary Osborn (saxophones), and Felicity Wilcox (spoken word). Presented by Les Semons Sauvages at Tupin et Semons and Sauvgard Chartruese at Sainte-Croix en Jarez, Rhône, France.
2 December 2026: Vivre Sa Vie- Composer’s Cut and EXIT, performed by Grupo Enigma in XVII Madrid Ensembles Festival, Sala Negra at Teatros del Canal, Madrid, Spain.
4 December 2026: Late Summertime Woman, performed by Felicity Wilcox (music/sound) and Nadja Haas (movement), Dock 11, Prenzlauerberg, Berlin, Germany.
W.E.S.T. improvisation extract with artwork by Grayson Cooke
european ARTIST RESIDENCies:
LA GÉNÉRALE, PARIS, APRIL 13-21 AND JUNE 15-19
From Nature to Aether is a new improvisation and recording project by Felicity Wilcox (piano) and Gwenaëlle Roulleau (electronics) that evokes a connection to nature—its elements, rhythms, and harmonies—and the forces that disrupt it, through turmoil, obsession, and distortion. Made possible with the generous support of La Générale. New album forthcoming in 2027.
Air le parc, Pampellone, 2-18 august 2026
Late Summertime Woman is a new cross-disciplinary collaboration between Felicity Wilcox (music/sound) and Berlin-based dancer and writer Nadja Haas (movement). Through sound, music, movement, and text, it explores the cycles of a woman’s life: from her birth as a glowing body of light, life, and fertility; to her daily work of holding and caring, carrying, needing, loving, and letting go; to her arrival at acceptance, peace, wonder and new beginnings in the late summer of life. Made possible with the generous support of Air le Parc.
World premiere performance: 4 December 2026 at Dock 11, Prenzlauerberg, Berlin.
creative australia funding secured for final development of emergenc/y
Emergenc/y development workshops February 2025 (filmed and recorded by UTS MediaLab).
Felicity’s opera Emergenc/y, currently in development with librettist Alana Valentine and a stellar team of creatives has just been awarded further funding under Creative Australia’s ‘Projects for Individuals’ grants. This generous award will cover the completion of the opera, and includes artist fees; workshops; a showing to industry at Phoenix Church in March 2027 to secure a production; and a professional recording.
On behalf of the project team, Felicity would like to acknowledge all the funders who have contributed to this project so far: the Australian Research Council, Creative Australia, and The Seaborn, Broughton & Walford Foundation and in-kind support received from: University of Technology Sydney, Fluxus Opera, and Phoenix Church.
Some past highlights:
Australian Academy of the Humanities, November 13-14, 2025
Felicity gave the opening keynote address for the annual AAH Conference taking place at University of Technology Sydney with ‘Reclaiming opera for women and gender minorities through process and practice’.
CINÉ-CONCERT AT UNIVERSITY EVRY PARIS-SACLAY
Tuesday 7 October, 12pm, 2025
Felicity presented some of her audiovisual work in a free public ciné-concert in Paris.
Vivre Sa Vie Composer's Cut - fixed video work [16’]
Snow Falling - fixed video work [4’30]
Isolation Suite -live performance: prepared piano, electronics, and video [30’]
People of This Place released for the 5th time on a new compilation album!
Jason Noble’s exciting new recording of Felicity’s bass clarinet work People of This Place was released in April 2024, on Red Earth Luminous Connections, a beautiful compilation recorded live at Pantopia Festival in Berlin during Ensemble Offspring’s 2023 European tour.
‘Unified by themes of nature, universal concepts through the shared language of instrumental chamber music by First Nations composers alongside western heavyweights.’
Dr Felicity wilcox and Dr Barrie Shannon publish report on women and minority genders in music
The Women and Minority Genders in Music report by Dr Felicity Wilcox and Dr Barrie Shannon presents new, primary data about the lived experience of over 200 music creators of diverse genders in Australia and Aotearoa/New Zealand. It provides a unique insight into present-day music creation from practitioners active across a wide spectrum of musical genres. Co-designed and co-authored by a female and gender diverse research team, the Women and Minority Genders in Music report offers an important snapshot of the ‘matrix of barriers’ that prevents access to equal representation and achievement for women and gender diverse music creators. This research was supported in-kind by music industry organisation, APRA AMCOS, and funded by the School of Communication, University of Technology Sydney.
Sound Fields
‘A balanced blend of mystical timbres’- Julie McErlain (Classic Melbourne)
Read all about the commission and composition process in Limelight.
Sound Fields is the 2021 Pythia Prize commission for Melbourne-based ensemble Rubiks Collective. The work is Wilcox’s response to art works by US painter Helen Frankenthaler, who is widely credited for playing a pivotal role in the transition from Abstract Expressionism to Color Field painting. Wilcox worked closely with the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation in New York City and with the members of Rubiks while making this piece, which is accompanied by projections of each luminiscent artwork.
WP Performance: 26 October 2022, Primrose Potter Salon, Melbourne Recital Centre.
On 10 May 2023 Rubiks launched the beautiful new video of Sound Fields (see left) made by Underground Media. Felicity was invited to a special event held for the 2021 Pythia Prize funders to discuss the making of her prize-winning work with Rubiks Artistic Directors, Tamara Kohler and Kaylie Melville, and cellist Gemme Kneale. The team is now seeking to secure a US premiere of the work in 2024.
