Mara is a composer and curator based in Eora / Sydney. She plays the viola and collaborates with her laptop to create live performances and recorded pieces for film, dance, and gallery spaces. Informed by interactions and perspectives within environments, her work questions the coexistence and understanding between those who inhabit them.
In 2019 she graduated from RMIT with a Bachelor of Design (Digital Media) and went on to attend LungA School (Seyðisfjörður, Iceland) in early 2020. She has been commissioned by SIGNAL, Avantwhatever Festival, Constellations Podcast, Open House, and Mpavillion. Mara currently works with the Powerhouse Museum as an audio producer and researcher.
I acknowledge the Gadigal of the Eora Nation as the traditional owners of the land that I live and work on today. I pay my respect to their elders past and present and recognise that sovereignty has never been ceded.
upcoming
2024 Residency DESA Residency, Ubud, IDN
2025 Residency VICC Composer in Residency Program, Visby, SE
curatorial
ongoing Temporary Position with Zoe Baumgartner
2023 Building the Palace, BLINDSIDE, Naarm Melbourne
[Exhibition Review by Eleanor McCooey]
2022 Gathering Geographies, Darren Knight Gallery, Sydney
2021 Cycles, Sheffer Gallery, Sydney
film score
2024 The Calcified Ear (dir. Veronica Charmont)
2024 To Become A Lion (dir. David Ma)
2023 FROM THE FLASH (dir. Olivia Costa)
2023 Now You See Me — Sharks and Rays (dir. Alice Wesley-Smith)
2022 How To Build A Forest (dir. Jenn Tran)
2021 The Formation of a Cloud (dir. Jenn Tran)
2021 White's Seahorse (dir. Alice Wesley-Smith)
2020 The Weather Diaries (dir. Kathy Drayton)
2019 Specular (dir. Veronica Charmont)
2019 Bunset Soulevard (dir. Veronica Charmont)
2018 Sensual Healing (dir. Amaya Lang)
2016 Parastas (dir. Marie-Stella McKinney) (Nominated for Best Composer at SFSFF)
dance score
2021 Remember what you heard when you weren't even listening — Arini Byng
2019 Of Space and Time — Angela Valdez
2018 Breathe — Angela Valdez
sound design
2024 Pre-Show Announcement for Phoenix Central Park
2024 A Living Instrument, short documentary (dir. Hyun Lee)
2023 Amali, short documentary (dir. Ruby Harris)
2023 Double Parallax, Exhibition, Meng-Yu Yan and Anna May Kirk, Mosman Art Gallery
2023 Blue Corridor, Sarah and Sebastion Campaign
2023 Future Fashion, Exhibition, Powerhouse Museum
2023 Powerhouse Museum Sonic Identity
2023 Aria, Sarah and Sebastion Campaign
2023 Latitudes: Sometimes To One Hundred; 151E; Window (dir. Subversus)
2022 Culinary Archive Podcast (Powerhouse Museum)
2022 Oscillations: Omar Musa — Radiesthesia, Podcast (Powerhouse Museum)
2021 A Stretch of the Imagination — Jack Hibberd, Theatre (dir. Andrew Signor)
scores
2022 Movements performed by Ensemble Apex at Darren Knight Gallery
2021 Sing With Your Friends Over Zoom (via Temporary Position)
2021 attempting to stretch — for solo viola
2021 pulling moods — for solo viola
2021 heavy drone building — for viola, clarinet, and tape
2021 duet — for solo viola in the Villa Alba Museum
releases
2023 How To Build A Forest (OST)
2021 The Formation of a Cloud (OST - Music Company)
2021 Akin, with Land Systems (LP - Spirit Level)
2020 Stretching (Music Company – Vector Fields Vol. 2 Compilation)
2020 Feeling (Fluxx – Fluxx Vol. I Compilation)
2019 Slow Dance (EP)
2019 Live at Wylie's Baths – Alaska Orchestra (Live EP)
2017 Missing (LP)
2017 People (1974) ft. Frank (Single)
2017 Shift (Spirit Level – Kindred Spirits: Piano Day compilation)
2016 Liquid (LP)
2016 Exhaustion/Destruction (Single)
2014 Get Lost in the Night (LP)
browser-based installations
2021 Murmurs — HyperLocal, PACT
2020 Promised Files
2020 i can still hear the strong winds outside — AvantWhatever Festival
2020 LungA Sound Archive
publications
2022 Building the Palace (Curatorial Essay), Building the Palace, self-published — Audio Version
2022 Earthly Elements Through Our Bodies (Curatorial Essay), Gathering Geographies, self-published
2021 Journals — #1 #2 #3 — Bogong Centre For Sound Culture
2021 Floating Apart - Symbiotic Poems
2021 Infinite Rebirth / Immortality, No No No Mag No.1, No More Poetry
2020 Resting Between - Symbiotic Poems, Seyðisfjörður, Iceland
2020 First Gesture
2017 Pioneering Women of Electronic Sound Volume 1, self-published
2017 The Guide to Composers and Koalas Volume 2, self-published
2017 Liquid (lyrics from the album), self-published
2016 The Guide to Composers and Koalas Volumes 1, self-published
selected performances
2023 Strata Festival with Chris Abrahams, Phoenix Central Park
2022 De–Choiring: a workshop for new approaches to scoring, Temporary Position, Phoenix Central Park
2022 Art After Dark, The Cutaway, Sydney Bienalle
2021 Make It Up Club Online, Youtube / Melbourne
2021 Mono-Poly, Liquid Architecture, Collingwood Yards, Melbourne
2020 MERGE: Duet with the Villa Alba Museum, Melbourne
2018 / 2020 Ambient 1: Music For Airports. written by Brian Eno. Performed by Alaska Orchestra – VividLive / Digital Season, Sydney Opera House (viola, synthesiser, electronics, and vocals)
2018 – 2020 Alaska Orchestra Live Performances (viola, electronics, vocals, synthesiser, harmonium)
2014 – 2020 Lupa J live band (viola, electronics and vocals),
2017 – 2019 Improvised performances with Tilde Joy (viola and electronics)
2019 Candy live band (viola, bass guitar, keyboard)
2017 – 2018 Braille Face live band (viola)
2017 – 2019 The Overheads live band (viola, keyboard, guitar)
residencies
2023 Studio Kura, Itoshima (JP)
2023 Bundanon, NSW — With Temporary Position, supported by Cement Fondu
2021 Bogong Centre for Sound Culture, VIC
2021 Church St Studios, Sydney
remixes
2019 To Be Found – The Overheads
2018 Dearest Friend – Hemm
2016 Numb – Lupa J
mixes
2024 Pure Space FM
2020 At Home (At Home), Music Company
2020 .wav Artefacts E5 on SkyLab Radio
interviews / press
2024 Out of the Box with Kate Saap, FBi Radio
2022 Mara Schwerdtfeger's world of sound, The Music Show with Andrew Ford, ABC
2022 InScape 013: Nostalgic Listening w/ Mara Schwerdtfeger - Daniel George, OpenLab (106.4FM), Ibiza
2020 Working with Sound, Australian Audio Guide
2019 Interview on Double Bounce, Triple R, Naarm (Melbourne)
2017 Spirit Level Loves