Edward Fairlie composer

Edward Fairlie grew up in Geelong, Australia. Upon finishing high school he moved to Melbourne where he earned a Bachelor of Music Performance (Improvisation) on trumpet from The Victorian College of the Arts. In 2012 he received his Bachelor of Music Performance Honours (Composition) from the University of Melbourne.

As a performer he has toured and recorded playing trumpet, keyboard and singing with many prominent artists, including ARIA award winning singer/songwriter Julia Stone, and ARIA/ Grammy award winning artist Gotye. He is an occasional fifth member of a cappella vocal jazz group The Idea of North, and performed with them on their 2015/16 "Ballads By Candlelight" tour, as well as appearing on a track which he co-arranged on their latest album, Ballads. Edward can also be heard playing trumpet in the pit orchestra for the 2017 Melbourne production of Disney's Aladdin.

Other bands he currently performs with include 1960's inspired Bollywood group The Bombay Royale and indie rock group Canary.

Known as a composer/arranger of great versatility, he writes music for wind band, big band, orchestra, choir, brass band and chamber ensemble, and across a wide variety of genres. Edward has two published works for wind ensemble - Storm and Urge, published in the "Windependence" series for Boosey and Hawkes, and Death By Tango, which was the winner of the 2012 Australian Band and Orchestra Directors' Association Concert Band Competition Contest, and is published by Brolga Music.

Edward currently teaches trumpet and conducts jazz and wind ensembles at Eltham High School in Melbourne, and is a lecturer in the Interactive Composition stream at the University of Melbourne.