Blake Selmes

As a musician, Blake is a prolific composer, performer and educator. Having trained as an entertainer in Sydney, Blake has worked as a magician for children’s theatre festivals, corporate events, in pubs and on Television (Channel 9). Blake brings his skills as a children’s performer (theatre, puppetry, magic, clowning, musicianship), into his music curriculums, pedagogy and teaching style, to ensure that the love of music is fostered at a very early age. Blake has worked as an Early Childhood Music Specialist for the Hume Conservatorium since 2017, having taken his brand of edu-tainment to over 400 young musicians in pre-schools and daycare centres across the LGA. In addition to his work in the district, Blake has delivered early childhood sessions in Sydney and Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea.

In addition to his music and education work, Blake is the current Artistic Director of the locally and internationally recognised Lieder Theatre Company.

In the world of theatre, Blake grew up performing in Shakespeare festivals at Glen Street Theatre in Sydney (in association with Bell Shakespeare). During this time he made a name for himself as a regular street performer (magician / clown), becoming a mainstay among the Manly Corso and Circular Quay busking circuit at 12 years of age. He went on to be awarded the Contribution To Performing Artsrecognition by Mater Maria in 2011. In 2013, Blake developed a season of performances for the Moresby Arts Theatre in Papua New Guinea, producing and starring in seasons of Shakespeare, as well as designing and directing adaptations of new works.

With Goulburn Mulwaree Library’s renowned Mighty Playwrights Program, Blake has directed 18 short plays, along with lighting design, set design and construction, composing music, and editing the documentary, Mighty Playwrights 2020 and the program’s filmed performances. In Collaboration with Andy Picker and Greg Angus, Blake co-developed and served as a mentor for Hume Conservatorium’s partner program, Mighty Tunesmiths in 2022. Blake and the Mighty Playwrights Executive Team received the 2020 Australia Day Event of the Year Award and the Southern Tablelands Arts President’s Award for Creative Merit.

Performing in over 30 Lieder productions, Blake’s most recent credits include the roles of Winston in George Orwell’s 1984, followed by a series of world premieres, namely as Edward Abell in The Interesting Mrs Abell and Jarvis in the perambulatory outdoor performance of Journey Through Country. Blake also performed as an on-stage A/V technician for the grant-funded piece,  Prophecy for which he also created a suite of video projections and practical special effects. His film of the show was accepted and screened internationally at an online theatre festival by Association Internationale du Théâtre Amateur in Paris, France.  Blake’s directorial debut with the Lieder was Pavel Kohout’s Fire in the Basement in 2019.

More recently, in 2021, as an executive and production team member, Blake performed in and created a suite of audio/visual elements for ReEntrance, the grand opening performance of the new Goulburn Performing Arts Centre, for whom he has also worked as a casual back-of house technician.

Blake is also a freelance graphic designer, sculptor and film producer with his visual arts company, Limepot Design.