Biography
Nigel Westlake is an Australian composer, conductor and musician. He studied the clarinet with his father, Donald Westlake, principal clarinettist with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, and left school early to pursue a performing career. He toured as a freelance clarinettist, bass clarinettist and saxophonist with orchestras, ballet companies and ensembles, later becoming a resident member of the Australia Ensemble from 1987 to 1992. He was appointed composer-in-residence for ABC Radio National in 1984 and studied composition and bass clarinet in the Netherlands.
Westlake is best known for his film scores, including Babe (1995), for which he won APRA and Film Critics Circle of Australia awards, its sequel Babe: Pig in the City (1998), Miss Potter (2006), Paper Planes (2014), Ali's Wedding (2017) and Blueback (2022). He has also scored several IMAX documentaries, such as Antarctica (1991), and numerous television projects. His concert works have received commissions from major Australian orchestras, and he has conducted the New York Philharmonic.
