Kym Alexandra Dillon is a composer, pianist and conductor based in Naarm and Geelong. Beginning her career as a jazz pianist, Kym’s lifelong passion for composition soon became her primary focus, with her work currently spanning multiple genres and areas of musical practice.

She completed a Bachelor of Music Performance Honours in composition at the Victorian College of the Arts, studying under such teachers as Anthony Lyons, Mark Pollard, John McCaughey, and Carl Vine. She was awarded the 'Beleura Sir George Tallis Award' from the 'Friends of the VCA' for her work in the course in 2009; and the 'Beleura John Tallis Award' in 2010. She composed and performed two original jazz works for the VCA Improvisation Series in 2009, for which her ensemble won the 'Athanaeum Prize’.

She has now returned to study, undertaking a Masters of Composition at Melbourne University under supervisors Elliott Gyger and Melody Eotvos. 

Kym has had original works commissioned by such groups as the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Astra Chamber Music Society, and Musica Viva; and her music has been performed in Canada, the U.K., North America, Canada, Romania and Italy. Her work is often inspired by reflections on the nature of imagination and creation — what it means to create and what our creative compulsion says about us.

Kym has frequently collaborated with the choreographer and artist Jude Walton, including performing solo piano compositions for her show Heide (2014) and Heide II (2015) at the Heide Museum of Contemporary art; conducting compositions for brass quartet for her show The Drill Hall Project (2017); and performing a collection of serial and improvised piano works for her show Nadja-Léona (2018).

2019 saw Kym collaborate with BK Opera to transform the intense orchestral score of Béla Bartók’s opera Bluebeard’s Castle into the radically different style of synthesiser-laden 80’s electronica, with her work on the project described by the review site whatdidshethink.com as ‘great genius’. In 2021 she was commissioned by the City of Greater Geelong to compose a work for the Sonus Ensemble which, in consultation with Wadawurrung woman Corrina Eccles, responded to iconic sites of the local area, a project which incorporated a variety of media and which was premiered at the Geelong Art Gallery.

As a pianist she often performs in her own chamber works, such as her Sonata for Piano (2019), and Sonata for Flute and Piano (2021), but also regularly in jazz/contemporary contexts. She also enjoys playing as an accompanist to vocalists, such as in 2015 where she performed on piano as part of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival show, Larry Paradiseo and the Fabulous Dame Farrar, or her accompanying such artists as Simon Gleeson and Natalie O’Donnell. She also regularly performs on piano with the Georgia Brooks Swingtet, a group that specialises in revitalising classic swing-era jazz tunes.

Kym is also a conductor for the charity Creativity Australia’s ‘With One Voice’ program, which seeks to connect people from different walks of life through community singing, a project which resonates with her passion for opening up the experience of creating music to absolutely everyone. A couple of other ‘satellite activities’ have included work as a copyist for the MSO and Melbourne Chamber Orchestra, and work as an occasional presenter of the Night Music program for ABC Classic.