Alexander Voltz

Voltz was born in Toowoomba, Queensland and grew up in Brisbane. He attended Brisbane Boys' College and later studied composition, history and writing at the University of Queensland.[5][6][7] He studied composition with Robert Davidson, Cathy Likhuta and Nicole Murphy, and received the mentorship of Brenton Broadstock and Brett Dean.[1][8][9]

Voltz has attributed his earliest opportunities and successes to the support of his family, in particular his father, the musician Bradley Voltz.[10][11] John Curro and the Queensland Youth Orchestras have also been noted as championing Voltz's early music.[12]

Voltz's music has been performed and supported by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Opera Queensland, Australian Youth Orchestra, Ensemble Offspring, Flinders Quartet and others.[1] He is twice a semi-finalist of the composition division of the Bartók World Competition.[13][14]

In 2021, Voltz independently produced his first opera, Edward and Richard: The True Story of the Princes in the Tower.[15][16] He was also commissioned as part of the Australian National Academy of Music's The ANAM Set, which he described as "a census of contemporary Australian art music".[17]

In 2022, Voltz directed The Queen's Platinum Jubilee Concert, Australia's largest musical tribute during the Platinum Jubilee of Elizabeth II.[18][19] He also served as Emerging Composer-in-Residence with Camerata – Queensland's Chamber Orchestra, was a recipient of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's Composer Commissioning Fund, and placed second in the Harlow Chorus' 2022 Young Composer Competition.[20][21][22][23]

In 2023, Voltz commenced as Music Editor of Quadrant.[24]

Voltz is a Spokesperson for the Australian Monarchist League.[25] In this capacity, he began writing for The Spectator Australia in 2022.[26] He is critical of Anthony Albanese and the Australian Government for appointing Matt Thistlethwaite as Australia's first-ever Assistant Minister for the Republic.[4][27][28] He was also critical of Lidia Thorpe when she failed to accurately swear her senatorial Oath of Allegiance and called Elizabeth II a "colonising queen".[29][30] Following the death of The Queen, he appeared across national Australian media outlets, presenting the League's perspectives.[31] Voltz has also written political pieces for Sky News Australia and Quadrant.[32][33]

Voltz is a member of the Liberal National Party of Queensland.[34] He has argued that the "concept of a republican Liberal is...oxymoronic" and that the party should reassert the values of Robert Menzies and "the primacy of the Crown".[35] He has written of Australia's colonisation and its benefits for Indigenous peoples.[36] He opposed the 2023 Australian Indigenous Voice referendum.[37]

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