Flederman were founded in 1978 at
Queensland Conservatorium of Music, Brisbane as a contemporary music duo by teachers
Simone de Haan on trombone and electronics and
Carl Vine on piano and electronics. In March 1979 they performed, "works by
Cage, Johnson,
Berio and others" at Cellblock Theatre,
East Sydney Technical College. By 1982 it had developed into an ensemble by adding Graeme Leak on percussion and auxiliary members Hector McDonald on horn and Daniel Mendelow on trumpet. For their North American tour, in January of the following year, de Haan, Leak and Vine were joined by Geoffrey Collins on flute. In 1984 they issued their album,
Australian Music, the five tracks were composed by Vine, Keith Humble,
Martin Wesley-Smith, Robert Douglas and
Graham Hair, respectively. In 1986 the line-up of Collins, Kelly and Vine were joined by Michael Askill on percussion, David Miller on piano and
David Pereira on cello. They recorded a four-track self-titled album at Broadwalk Studio, Sydney Opera House, which was issued in 1988 via MBS Records. The tracks were written by Hair, Wesley-Smith,
Roger Smalley and Vine, respectively. At the
ARIA Music Awards of 1989 they won
Best Classical Album and were nominated for
Best Independent Release. In the nine years of its existence Flederman commissioned and premiered 89 new works for the ensemble and its subsets, largely from emerging and established Australian composers but also from several important British and American ones. Most of these commissions were supported with funds from the then Music Board of the Australia Council. ==Members==