Arrangements & commissions | Educator

Mark Simeon Ferguson, like most musicians, has his finger in many
pies. This part of the site features a full length bio and in future will provide links and information about some of the other projects he is involved with.

Mark Simeon Ferguson (Born 31/12/1969, Whyalla, SA)

Education
Composer, arranger and pianist Mark Simeon Ferguson was raised in country South Australia in a musical family; his mother plays the piano and his father is a singer/songwriter. He began piano lessons with his mother at the age of five then studied intermittently with local teachers. He moved to Adelaide in 1987, first studying at Brighton TAFE then the Elder Conservatorium, graduating with a BMus. (Hons) in 1993. After brief lessons with Alan Broadbent and Mike LeDonne in the US he returned to the Con and became the first Master of Music (Jazz Performance) graduate in 1999.

Performance
As well as the performances with Marmalade Circus, national tours for Musica Viva in Schools with Marmalade Jam and shows with Marmalade Trio, Mark has played with a number of leading musicians and singers, including Mark Murphy (US), Eugene “Hideaway” Bridges (US), Brenda Buffalino (US), Lillian Boutte (US), Scott Tinkler, James Morrison, Frank Bennett, Marina Prior, Julie Anthony, and supported artists such as Tuck and Patti (US), Martin Taylor (UK), Nina Simone (US) and Mike Stern (US).

Mark has worked as pianist for Adelaide identity Andy Seymour since 1996 and as Musical Director and backing vocalist since 2002. Projects include; “The Gospel Music Of Elvis Presley” performing in the Adelaide Cabaret Festival in 2003, 2005 and 2007, touring regionally for ARTSSA in 2007 and in the Victorian Arts Centre, also in 2007; “The King and I” Elvis tribute show; “Swingers and Crooners” at the Adelaide Festival Theatre; “The Art of Croon” and “Hot Buttered Soul”.

Mark has played piano for premier Latin Dance band TNT Latinoz since 2003 with performances at The Basement in Sydney in 2005, The Colombian Festival in Brisbane in 2006 and the Salsa Congress in Wellington NZ in 2007 and supports for Jose Feliciano and Angelique Kidjo.

He has performed with Women with Standards at the Adelaide Cabaret Festival 2005, in the Spiegeltent at the Adelaide Fringe 2006 and the Garden of Unearthly Delights at the Adelaide Fringe 2007 and appears on their current DVD.

He was Musical Director for The Fabulous Singlettes very last performances which were held in Port Moresby and The Adelaide Cabaret Festival in 2005.

He accompanied leading percussionist Nick Parnell in the Barossa Music Festival 2003 and for a live broadcast on ABCFM also in 2003.He toured Australia extensively with children's artist Peter Combe from 1993-1995.

He played keyboards for the 1996 season of Cats in Adelaide.

He appeared on ABC TV with Tubby Justice in 1989.

He was Band Director for the National Christian Youth Convention in 1995.

He was pianist for the Elder Park Carols by Candlelight in 1998, 1999 and 2003-2006.

He performed with vocal jazz ensemble Vo-cool at the Manly and Montselvaat Jazz festivals in 1992-3, sang with The Adelaide Connection in L.A., Hawaii and San Francisco in 1990 and in Tokyo and Osaka with the Outback Oz Onsemble in 1992.

Composition
Mark got a taste for composing at the age of eight after a few lessons with maverick educator Ian Knowles. At fourteen, an Independent Research project in composition at Clare High School (under the guidance of Chris Matters) reignited his interest in the art-form but it wasn't until he began leading his own bands around 1994 that he began taking composition seriously. In 1994 as band director for the National Christian Youth Convention 1995 he also began arranging.

Commissions
Mark's Marmalade bands (which began in 1997) have been the main outlet for his compositions but he has been involved in a number of other projects:

In 2007 he was commissioned to write two new compositions for the Mike Stewart Big Band.

In 2006 he was commissioned to arrange a ‘Gospel' version of Handel's Messiah for the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra with soloists including James Morrison, Doug Parkinson, Paulini and Trace Canini to be performed in December 2007.

In 2005 he was commissioned to arrange two of his compositions for the Marryatville High School Big Band for their performances at the IAJE in New York in 2006 with James Morrison.

In 2005 he began writing for online interactive music education site inthechair.com based on the works created for his Marryatville High School students.

In 2004 he began writing simple compositions which served as a basis for his improvisation teaching at Marryatville High School.

In 2004 he was commissioned to write for the event Quest for the Spirit in the Adelaide Fringe Festival.

In 2000, Mark co-ordinated, and was principal composer, arranger and pianist for the ARTSA-funded, 25-member Percussion Project which featured at the 2000 Glenelg Jazz Festival.

Teaching
Mark has worked hard at his role as an educator. He has been a lecturer at the Elder Conservatorium in Jazz Piano since 1992, Jazz Improvisation since 1993, Jazz History since 2002, Jazz Styles since 2003 and Jazz Workshop since 2005. He has also developed a strong affinity for teaching jazz improvisation at High School level, which he began at Marryatville High School in 2003. He has also worked as an accompanist/tutor at Concordia College, Woodville, Blackwood and Henley High Schools.

In 2006 he began co-directing the Uhuru Voices choir with his wife Susan. The choir was set up by Woodville High School with the Adelaide Secondary School of English as a musical outlet for the many new African refugees in the schools. Mark has written many compositions and arrangements for this ensemble.

Grants and Awards
Mark was a semi-finalist in the National Jazz Awards at the Wangaratta Jazz Festival in 1999.

Mark's debut album as a leader, Marmalade Trio, was recorded with a grant from the Helpmann Academy in 1999.

When he studied piano privately in the US with Alan Broadbent and Mike LeDonne in 1996, he received a PPCA grant to assist with travel costs.

Mark has won a number of awards including the Kingston College of TAFE  Award for Excellence (1987), the Northern Jazz and Swing Club Scholarship Award (1989) and first (2000, 1993), second (1998) and third (1992) prizes in the Jazz Coordinator Committee's Original Jazz Composition Competition.

Recordings

• As yet Untitled, Marmalade Circus EP, 2007
• …And Then There Were Ten, Marmalade Circus EP, 2005
• True Colours, Marmalade Fiesta CD, 2004
• Lost In Translation, Catherine Lambert CD, 2004
• Time In The Sun, Junior CD, 2004
• Euphoria and Light, Lindsay Buckland CD, 2004
• Tropical Fruit Chunks, Marmalade Circus CD, 2001
• Self-titled Marmalade Trio CD, 1999 (included on Qantas' inflight playlist in Nov 1999)
• Live, Tubby Justice, CD, 1999;
• Continental Garden, Tubby Justice, CD 1990
• Premonition, Ben Hughes, CD 1996
• Hey Diddle Diddle, The Cats and The Fiddle CD, 1996
• Life, Truth and Freedom, Free2B CD, 1995
• Quartets, Andy Sugg CD, 1992
• Gotcha, The Adelaide Connection CD, 1991 (as choir member).

Published works
Jazz content creator/composer for Interactive Music Education site www.inthechair.com

Three compositions used in ABC documentary Dale Chihuly:Masterworks In Glass (these works are now administered by ABC Publishing), 2000/2001.

Seven original compositions included in the SA Real Book, 1999

Arranger and co-composer for songbook Life, Truth and Freedom, 1995.