Tanya Sparke
TANYA SPARKE
Artist · Composer · Choral Director
Biography
Tanya Sparke is a Sydney-based visual artist, composer, singer, and choral director whose practice spans painting, drawing, sculpture, installation, and music. Born in Newcastle in 1962, she holds a Bachelor of Arts in Visual Arts from Newcastle University, a Post Graduate Diploma in Painting from Sydney College of the Arts, and a Bachelor of Music in Composition from Newcastle University — a triptych of training that has shaped a career of rare breadth and depth.
Over four decades, Tanya has performed and exhibited across Australia, led choirs from the Sydney Opera House to community halls, composed for film, and held residencies at Bundanon. As a vocalist she has performed with the Australian Art Orchestra, supported Tim and Neil Finn, and appeared on recordings for Jane Campion and the ABC. Her voice — described as "treasured, deep, intoxicating" by filmmaker Jane Campion — has remained a constant thread through a practice that refuses easy categorisation.
Her visual work engages with landscape, sacred geographies, mythology, and the spirit of place. In 2025 she won the Urunga Small Sculpture Prize and presented the solo exhibition Wild Cathedral at 60 Buckingham Street, Surry Hills. As Musical Director she has led MouthTrap Choir for multiple years, including a 2025 Vivid Festival performance with Nigella Lawson, and has directed choirs for Sydney City Council, Newtown High School of the Performing Arts, Carriageworks, the Museum of Contemporary Art, and beyond.
Her songs have been called some of the best written in this country — poetry set to music with a depth of heart and originality that defies the ordinary.
"Listening to her is a totally original experience. Treasured, deep, intoxicating."
— Jane Campion, filmmaker
"Of the vocal soloists, Sparke's gut-wrenching Camarillo pt 2 which ended the first half was a showstopper."
— Hilary Shrubb, Sydney Morning Herald
Education
2001 Bachelor of Music (Composition) — Newcastle University
1984 Post Graduate Diploma in Painting — Sydney College of the Arts
1980–83 Bachelor of Arts (Visual Arts) — Newcastle University
Selected Exhibitions & Visual Art
2025 Winner, Urunga Small Sculpture Prize — The Sea She Is to Me
2025 Wild Cathedral — Solo Exhibition, 60 Buckingham St, Surry Hills
2011 In and Out of Newcastle — Damien Minton Gallery, Redfern
2008 Birdship — Solo Exhibition, Damien Minton Gallery
Musical Direction & Choral Work
2017–24 Musical Director, MouthTrap Choir
2025 Vivid Festival Concert — MouthTrap Choir with Nigella Lawson
ongoing Musical Director, Sing City — Sydney City Council Choir
2016 Musical Director, Newtown High School of the Performing Arts — Elite & Year Choirs
2016/26 Musical Director, Another Roadside Attraction Choir — Belvoir St, with Catherine McClements & Luke Byrne
2005–12 Musical Director, Another Roadside Attraction (a cappella choir)
2014–12 The Singing Club — Museum of Contemporary Art
2012 Musical Director, Cicada Children's Choir
2011 Carriageworks Children's Festival — workshops and massed choirs
2008–12 Choral Consultant, Voices from the Vacant Lot Choir
1998 Musical/Artistic Director, A Choral Sea — Massed Choir, Sydney Town Hall
1997 Conductor, A Choral Sea — Sydney Town Hall
1986–96 Assistant Musical Director, Café of the Gate of Salvation
Performance & Live Work
ongoing Musician in Residence, Bundanon — July/August
ongoing Solo performance, Kinetic Jazz Festival, Sydney
ongoing Choirs at Legal Aid Sydney and City of Sydney Council
2005 Soloist, CD launch of Peter Dasent's Musical Encyclopaedia — The Basement, Sydney
2002 Soloist, Testimony – The Legend of Charlie Parker — Australian Art Orchestra, Sydney Opera House & Melbourne Concert Hall
1998 Support for Tim and Neil Finn — Metro, Sydney
2007/8 Various gigs, The Sound Lounge, Seymour Centre
Teaching & Workshops
2011/12 Singing Tutor, Playschool ABC
2006–10 Vocal Tutor & A Cappella Teacher, St Catherine's School for Girls, Waverley
1995–2006 Singing Tutor & A Cappella Teacher, St Catherine's School for Girls, Waverley
2012 Social Leadership Australia — choral workshops with The Benevolent Society, Catholic Care, St Georges Housing, The Smith Family
ongoing Workshops with Leadership Australia, Benevolent Society
1995–2001 A Cappella Teacher, various community groups, Australia-wide
Grants & Awards
2025 Winner, Urunga Small Sculpture Prize
2008 Australia Council Grant for Recording
1997 Australia Council Grant for Recording
Recording History
2008/10/22 2nd CD — Uncomfortable Little Adjectives
1999 Testimony – The Legend of Charlie Parker (Sandy Evans, ABC)
1998 Darkwood Road for Isobel (Tanya Sparke, for Jane Campion — Portrait of a Lady)
1998 Sacred Sound (Tim Finn, for Tim Finn and the Dalai Lama)
1997 Darkwood Road (Tanya Sparke)
1997 Demo for Chrysalis Music London with Nigel Grange (Sinead O'Connor)
1996 The Sweetest Sound (Tanya Sparke, for Jane Campion — Sweetie)
Make it stand out.