Performer to Composer: Ronan Apcar chats with Beth Roche
23 October, 2025
Beth Roche is a Sydney-based composer in her final year of a Bachelor of Music (composition) at the Sydney Conservatorium. An accomplished pianist and bass guitarist, Beth performs and writes in a variety of styles. In 2025, she was selected for the Australian Youth Orchestra’s composition programme where she worked under Jessica Wells to write a piece for chamber orchestra. Recently, Beth took part in the Ku-ring-gai Philharmonic Orchestra’s composer programme, and is currently writing for Ensemble Offspring's Hatched Academy and for an oboe quartet commission. Beth is also a passionate arranger, having arranged for community wind orchestra and for an upcoming pop artist.
After his time in Canberra and Melbourne, Ronan Apcar has returned to his hometown of Sydney to focus on various projects throughout 2025 including concert work, recording work, residencies, and collaborative work with other artists and organisations - plus being Ensemble Offspring’s 2025 Hatched Emerging Performer! Ronan interviewed Beth about her musical background, interests and current projects.
Beth Roche, 2025 Hatched Academy Composer
Ronan Apcar, 2025 Hatched Emerging Performer
Ronan: Do you have any formative experiences or early memories that you think shaped you into the composer/artist you are today?
Beth: I think one of my most important formative musical experiences was playing in wind and jazz bands throughout school. It really inspired my love for instrumental music, and it was special to be able to come together with such a large group of people to be a part of something bigger than myself.
Ronan: Do you have a dream collaboration? Maybe a performer you would love to write a piece for, or another artist (musical or not!) you’d love to collaborate with?
Beth: I would love to write for The Bang on a Can All-Stars.
Ronan: If you had to pick another artform or creative practice besides music, what would it be?
Beth: I’m not at all good with visual arts but I wish I knew how to animate. I love the work of early drawn-on-film animators like Harry Smith, Len Lye and Norman Mclaren- something about the abstract wash of bright colours, shapes and patterns really resonates with me.
Ronan: Performers often have some kind of ritual before they go on stage - do you have any rituals for when it’s time to compose?
Beth: To get into the headspace for composing I love to make English Breakfast tea and burn incense.
Ronan: What’s one of your most favourite sounds in the world - and one of your least favourites?
Beth: One of my favourite sounds is the sound of an orchestra tuning because it holds this magical pre-concert air of excitement and anticipation. My least favourite sound in the world is my alarm clock.
Ronan: What’s a recent composition or project you’re proud of and would like to share?
Beth: A recent composition that I’m proud of is the piece I wrote for the Australian Youth Orchestra camp earlier this year! It’s called Refraction, Reflection and it’s a musical imagining of light being refracted through a prism. If you’d like to listen, you can find it on YouTube!
Ronan: Tell us a bit about your composition to be premiered at Future Classics!
Beth: My piece for Future Classics is called Netherlandish Proverbs. It shares its title with a 1559 oil painting by Pieter Brugel the Elder that depicts literal illustrations of Dutch proverbs and idioms. From this painting, I took 4 proverbs and structured the piece as 4 connected vignettes based on each of these.
Ensemble Offspring’s 2025 Hatched Emerging Performer, pianist Ronan Apcar.
Beth’s new work Netherlandish Proverbs, composed through our Hatched Academy Composers program, will premiere at 3pm on 22 November 2025 at the Uzton Room, Sydney Opera House, performed by Ensemble Offspring as part of Future Classics.
