Biography
Heath Brown is an Australian composer with a strong focus on collaborative projects.
His work ranges from film and TV to performing arts and installation. He has written scores for five feature films (Ancestry Road, The Comet Kids, Chocolate Strawberry Vanilla, 41 and El Monstro Del Mar!) and over 40 shorts, with his film work having been recognised throughout the world with a number of awards for original music composition, including the award for Best Original Score at the 2012 Maverick Movie Awards for his score to 41. He also composed the score for the multi-award winning web series Noirhouse (funded by Screen Australia, Screen Tasmania and the ABC) the ABC documentary series Bespoke, and the second season of the Shaun Micallef comedy series The Ex PM.
In 2015 Heath collaborated with Aly Rae Patmore in composing a performance-based musical element for Patricia Piccinini and Peter Hennessey's large scale installation The Shadow's Calling at Detached and presented as part of DarkMOFO 2015.
As producer, sound designer and performer, Heath is a member of the Radio Gothic collective, which produces original live-performance works inspired by the tradition of broadcast radio drama. Radio Gothic has produced three episodes, all of which have been presented as part of Dark MOFO.
Heath has written extensively for the theatre, notably for Terrapin Puppet Theatre (The Riddle of Washpool Gully, Red Racing Hood, Big Baby, The Waltzing Tree) and Tasmanian Theatre Co. (Sex With Strangers, Born From Animals, The Boy With the Longest Shadow, Poxed).
His work has appeared in a number of arts festivals including Ten Days on the Island (Babel) and DarkMOFO (The Geometry of Innocent Flesh on the Bone – a collaborative installation work with Oscar Ferreiro, Radio Gothic Eps 1 - 3) and The Tasmanian International Arts Festival (Radio Gothic - Episode 1: The Pit).
Heath has also written music for television and radio commercials, winning the 2012 Tasmanian Advertising Design Awards category of Best Original Music and the 2016 Diemen Award for Best Sound Design.
In 2021 his string quartet Magnet, Furnace was premiered at the Salamanca Arts Centre as part of the Winter Light Festival.
Heath holds a BA (Philosophy) and BMus (Composition) from The University of Tasmania, where he is now a profile member of staff teaching music theory and composition units.