Soprano and composer Deborah Cheetham Fraillon ao (Yorta Yorta/Yuin) is a respected human rights advocate and recognised thought leader on the importance of cultural authority in the Art Music space. Throughout a long and distinguished career, Deborah has championed the voice and visibility of classically trained Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island musicians through her achievements as a composer and performer, and as artistic director of Australia’s national First Nations Opera Company Short Black Opera (est. 2009) and Dhungala Children’s Choir (est. 2008). In 2019, Deborah established the One Day in January project designed to develop and nurture First Nations orchestral musicians and from this emerged the Ensemble Dutala chamber ensemble.
Deborah’s landmark compositions include Australia’s first Indigenous opera Pecan Summer (2010), Eumeralla, a war requiem for peace (2018), Parrwang Lifts the Sky (2020) and Woven Song (2018–2025). Her major commissions include works for the Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide and Hawaiʻi symphony orchestras; the Flinders, Goldner, Australian and WASO string quartets; Chineke! Orchestra (UK); Rubiks Collective; Melbourne Ensemble; Plexus Collective; Sydney Philharmonia Choirs; Victorian Opera; the Australian Ballet; the MPavilion Project and the ABC.
Deborah’s significant awards include Australian Women in Music Lifetime Achievement Awards (2022), Don Banks Music Award (2023), JC Williamson Lifetime Achievement Award (2021), Sir Bernard Heinze Memorial Award for service to music, and the Red Ochre Award for Lifetime Achievement for artistic excellence (2025). She holds an Honorary Doctorate from the University of South Australia (2018). In 2014 she was appointed as an Officer of the Order of Australia. In 2022 she was named a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities (FAHA). In 2021 she began a five-year appointment as MSO First Nations Creative Chair and in 2023 was appointed the inaugural Elizabeth Todd Chair of Vocal Studies at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.
