Mark John McEncroe

Worldwide

Mark John McEncroe is an Australian composer whose oeuvre encompasses solo piano, orchestral, chamber, and ballet music. Born in Sydney, he developed a broad artistic perspective informed both by formal musical training and by early professional experience within the international classical music industry.

He undertook piano studies in Sydney with Will Scarlet and Valerie Fawcett before turning his primary creative focus toward composition. He studied composition and music theory with the distinguished Australian composer and pedagogue Margaret Brandman, and later pursued advanced compositional and orchestration studies with Mark J. Saliba. This collaboration has developed into a long-standing artistic partnership, particularly significant in the realization of McEncroe’s orchestral works.

McEncroe has composed an extensive body of work, including eighteen albums of piano and orchestral music. While the piano occupies a central position in his compositional process, orchestral writing forms a substantial and increasingly prominent part of his catalogue. Many of his orchestral scores have been realized from piano originals in collaboration with Mark J. Saliba, resulting in large-scale symphonic suites and tone poems.

His piano works have been recorded by pianists such as Van-Anh Nguyen, John Martin, Helen Kennedy, and Japanese-American pianist Yoko Hagino. His orchestral music has been recorded by leading ensembles including the Janáček Philharmonic Orchestra, the Sydney Scoring Orchestra, the Budapest Symphony Orchestra, the Zagreb Festival Orchestra, the Bratislava Symphony Orchestra, the Zagreb Sinfonietta, and the Bratislava Symphonic Winds, under the direction of conductors Anthony Armore, David Hernando Rico, Nayden Todorov, Michael Adelson, Miran Vaupotić, and others.

McEncroe’s music is released internationally by PARMA Recordings (USA) on its Navona label, with recent releases appearing on the Australian label Modern Classical X.

His works have been performed widely throughout Europe by orchestras including the Janáček Philharmonic Orchestra, the Zagreb Philharmonic, and the Ruse Philharmonic. In February 2020, two orchestrated piano works were performed at Carnegie Hall in New York. Additional performances have been given by the Budapest Symphony Orchestra and the Vienna Royal Orchestra.

In August 2022, his ballet Odon, co-composed with Mark J. Saliba, received its world premiere at the State Opera Stara Zagora in Bulgaria. Set in a medieval context, the work marked a significant expansion of McEncroe’s compositional activity into large-scale theatrical form.

All of McEncroe’s compositions to date are published by Wirripang. His recordings are available internationally through major physical and digital distributors and on leading streaming platforms.

Live

Selected Discography

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