Elena Kats-Chernin
Elena Davidovna Kats-Chernin AO (born 4 November 1957) is an Uzbek-born Australian composer and pianist, best known for her ballet Wild Swans.She wrote three silent film soundtracks for a co-production between German/French TV channels ZDF/ARTE: Victor Sjöström's Körkarlen (The Phantom Carriage, 1921), Billy Wilder and Robert Siodmak's People on Sunday (Menschen am Sonntag, 1930), and G. W. Pabst's The Devious Path (Abwege, 1928).She has won numerous music composition prizes in Australia, and her pieces are regularly broadcast on ABC Classic FM radio.Kats-Chernin has written a number of ragtime pieces for piano; one of these, "Russian Rag", was used in two different instrumental ensemble arrangements, as the theme of Late Night Live until 2010.The Sidney Myer Performing Arts Awards commenced in 1984 and recognise outstanding achievements in dance, drama, comedy, music, opera, circus and puppetry.