An alumni of the Conservatorium High School, Rhys Little (b.1998) completed a Bachelor of Music (Composition) with first class Honours at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and was the recipient of a full scholarship.

 

Rhys has had the privilege of studying under many of Australia’s leading composers, including Liza Lim, Jack Symonds, Damien Ricketson, Gerard Brophy, Huw Belling, Sandy Evans and Trevor Pearce. Each of these mentors has had an inedible impact on his musical thinking—fostering a broad, deep and insatiable desire to improve his craft through learning, experience and a strong philosophical underpinning. 

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In 2024, Rhys organised, conducted and composed a program of entirely his own music for chamber orchestra, featuring the premieres of his Concerto for Piccolo Flight, and Chamber Symphony Visions.

 

As a founding member of the Konzertprojekt composer’s collective, Rhys has managed and performed in a multitude of diverse new music concerts including for VIVID Sydney in 2019

 

In 2020, Rhys participated in Ensemble Offspring’s Hatched Academy composer development program, where Five Kinds of Seeing was workshopped and recorded. Earlier that year, he underwent a prestigious month-long residency at Hill End, through Bathurst Regional Art Gallery’s Hill End Artist In Residence program. Exposed to desolate beauty of the former goldmining town, and driven by visions of draught and fire, he composed his Symphony No. 1, which received its partial premiere in July 2022 by the Modést Orchestra.

 

Rhys participated in Australian Youth Orchestra’s National Music Camp 2019 composition program, with tutor Melody Eötvös, resulting in Folded Sky. In 2020 he received an honourable mention in Hong Kong New Music Ensemble’s call for scores with Dream, overflowing and in 2018 was a finalist in the Australia Ensemble’s emerging composer fellowship. In 2017, he partook in Sydney Chamber Opera’s Composition Masterclass lead by Jack Symonds, workshopping O Mensch.

 

Notable performances include Folded Sky (2019) by the Australian Youth Orchestra and Ariel Zuckermann, Nocturnes (2018) by the Sydney Conservatorium Modern Music Ensemble and Daryl Pratt, my arrangement of Paul Mac’s Mesmerism (2020) by Sydney Conservatorium Wind Symphony and John Lynch, Five Kinds of Breathing (2018) by Rubus Trio, Rend and Threads of Many Sunsets (2019) by himself (euphonium) for Konzertprojekt’s VIVID Sydney 2019 Mini-festival Light Qualities. His performance of Eight Ghosts for Guzheng (chinese zither) was released as part of Konzertprojekt’s Unspoken online series, and Go was performed online by the Modést Orchestra string quartet for its Modést Moments series.  A Splinter of the Sun was premiered in December 2022 for a hospital charity concert.

 

As a performer, Rhys is Australia’s leading new-music Euphonium player. He has performed with many of Sydney’s leading ensembles, including with Ensemble Offspring in Sticky Notes  and Night Songs in 2022.

 

Major upcoming projects include a Piano Sonata Finding the Sea, and the full premiere of Symphony No. 1.