About me
Composer
Cassie To’s (b.1994) music is about producing emotional connections. Her sound is refined but textured, with each composition carefully crafted to appeal to the rawest elements of humanity – emotion, memory and feeling. That way her songs are neither esoteric nor inaccessible instead they engage with a wide audience, whether pop orientated or academic and classically trained.
Her education at Sydney’s Conservatorium of Music (Bachelor of Music, Honours in Composition) combined with her musical influences has given her the passion and expertise to compose across different styles and genres. Her recent work blends classical technique with contemporary composition, blending symphonic phrases with experimental and environmental soundscapes. In 2015 her originality and innovation were recognized by Australia’s preeminent new music group Ensemble Offspring who chose To as a composer for the ensemble’s 20th anniversary Future Retro Concert (2015).
Cassie To’s adaptability and creativity has seen her write scores for film, advertisements television series and documentaries, as well as collaborations with pop and indie artists. Her portfolio includes work for Tropfest, feature films, ABC, SBS, Netflix and Amazon. She has also composed for the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra as part of their Cybec 21st Century Composer program and the West Australian Symphony Orchestra.
Cassie is a devoted environmentalist and her passion for conservation and telling stories through nature is rippled through her work. Her 2015, Ensemble Offspring composition Avialae exposes the extreme habitat loss of Australia’s native birds. The wistful, poignant and sometimes frenetic song harmoniously weaves the sounds of five endangered birds in an out of To’s composition, as if they were in conversation with one another.She has since been commissioned by the London Choral group Crouch End Festival Chorus to compose a piece for Orchestra and Choir that incorporates audio recordings of the Great Barrier Reef (due for performance in late 2022)
Qualifications
Bachelor of Music in Composition (Honors)
Associate Artist with the Australian Music Centre
Associate in Music Diploma (AmusA)- Piano Perforamnce
