Composer, producer and artist Thalia Skopellos, who performs as Ellatronix, is the recipient of the 2024 NATSIMO (National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Music Office) Screen Composer Intensive.
Skopellos is an electronic music producer, sound composer and entrepreneur with Aboriginal, Greek, Filipino, Chinese and South Sea Islander heritage.
She will participate in a three-month program in Sydney, focusing on the fundamental aspects of composing for the screen within production environments. This will include access to a composing area at Church Street Studios where she will develop a new soundtrack for a short film under the mentorship of renowned screen composer Ken Francis. She will also collaborate on the arrangement with Jessica Wells from Jigsaw Music.
The intensive is funded by APRA AMCOS with support from the Australian Guild of Screen Composers, Church Street Studios, Jigsaw Music and Trackdown Studios.
Skopellos holds a Bachelor of Music (Composition & Music Production) and a Diploma of Interactive Media (Film and Video). She is the founder of Soulset Studios and a filmmaker and co-founder at Beyond Summerland Entertainment.
In January 2024 she undertook a two-week placement with Soundfirm and Blackfella Films, and in 2023 composed the soundtrack for the opening drone show of the Fremantle Biennale First Lights – Kooranup festival. She won silver in composition for a short animation at the AEFF Awards in 2022 and was nominated for the Prague Music Video Awards last year.
NATSIMO education and special projects manage Nathaniel Andrew congratulated Skopellos on her selection.
“A multi-award-winning artist, Thalia brings an extensive wealth of knowledge in music composition, production, screen music and other areas of the music industry,” he said. “The NATSIMO team eagerly anticipates supporting Thalia on this exciting journey and is looking forward to experiencing her innovative works at the program’s conclusion.”
Skopellos said she was “excited, humbled and very grateful” to be selected for the intensive, and looked forward to being mentored by Francis and Wells.
“As an independent artist, I wouldn’t normally have access to this education, recording facilities and session musicians. I’m looking forward to the challenge of taking an idea to score and seeing it come to life in a recording studio with musicians,” she siad.
“I hope that this will be the beginning of creating lasting and meaningful connections in the industry and will provide a platform for me to learn and grow as an artist and entrepreneur and to showcase my craft and skills as a composer,” said Thalia.
This is the third year of the intensive, with previous recipients including Rhyan Clapham (DOBBY) and Amanda Davis (Dyagula).