James Hazel is a composer, artist, and researcher currently based on Gadigal Country/So-called Sydney.
Hazel’s work treats the ear as a site of radical sociological imagination. Moving across video, text, language, voice, poetics, and sound, his work explores how precarious score-based and listening forms can render the classed, hauntological, and temporal conditions of late capitalism in/audible.
James is the founder of POOR OPERA, a project that creates pre(care)ious operas, facilitates community workshops, produces publications, and builds support networks for working- and under-class artists.
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Hazel's work has been exhibited, presented, and/or performed: at various art spaces and institutions, nationally and internationally including Stegi Radio; HAIR ARI; Seventh Gallery; The Ethics Centre; CASHMERE Radio; Kings Artist-Run; PACT Centre; Speak Percussion; Mutant Radio (Georgia); Liquid Architcture; Museum of Contemporary Art; Brand X; Metro Arts; Firstdraft; Performance Space/Carriageworks; March Dance; Collingwood Yards Arts; ABC Radio National; Pinnacles Gallery; CEMENTA; Crawl Space Radio/Bus Projects; Maitland Regional Art Gallery; VIVID; Global Week in Seoul; Bundanon Trust; Metroarts; Sydney Conservatorium of Music; The Ethics Centre; The Lockup Gallery; Sydney Fringe Festival; National Young Writers Festival; Crawl Space; DLUX Media Arts; Gaudeamus/Screendive Festival; Sydenham International; World Acoustic Ecology Forum; The University of Helsinki; Gosford Regional Gallery; Australian Music Centre; Limelight Magazine; Backstage Music; Seventh Gallery; The West Australian Ballet; and Critical Path.
James’s compositions have been performed at various international festivals and venues, including HighSCORE in Pavia, Italy, Gaudeamus/Screendive in the Netherlands, Arts Incubator in Seoul, Impulse New Music Festival, and Charlotte New Music in North Carolina. James’ music has been played by leading ensembles such as Ensemble Offspring in Sydney, Gondwana Choirs; Ensemble Mise-en in New York, and individuals such as Grammy-nominated violist Diana Wade, and saxophonist Sam Gill. Hazel has also composed music for renowned dance practitioners such as Dancemakers Collective, International Video Dance Festival of Burgundy, The West Australian Ballet, Form Dance Projects, Sydney Dance Company, Kristina Chan, Omer Backley-Astrachan, James O’ Hara, and Rhiannon Newton.
James’ writing and research has been published with: Acoustic Ecology Review; ABC Radio National; Limelight Magazine; Deleuzine (UK); Firstdraft Gallery; Carriageworks Journal; ADSR ZINE: Australian Humanities Review; Resonate Journal; DISCLAIMER/LIQUID ARCHITECTURE; Resonate Journal; and Act: Zeitschrift für Musik & Performance (peer-reviewed).
In recognition of his contributions to the experimental sound community, James received the APRA AMCOS Art Music Awards (Experimental category) in 2022 alongside Elia Bosshard for their work with ADSR ZINE. In 2021, he was selected as an ABC Top 5 Researcher (Arts), a program supported by The University of Melbourne and Creative Australia. In 2023, he was one of four composers nationally shortlisted for the APRA AMCOS Professional Development Awards (Classical/Experimental). In 2024, James’s work underclass(auto)theology was selected as a finalist in the Incinerator Art Award: Art for Social Change, where it received an Honourable Mention from the judges.
From 2023–2024, James was an artist-in-residence at Cité Internationale des Arts, during which he composed new music for West Australian Ballet.
In 2026, he was selected to participate in the Bespoke Artists Program with Speak Percussion.
As the co-founder of Danger/Dancer (with Sonya Holowell) ADSR ZINE, (under)scoring the commons, Hazel has collaborated with and/or comissioned many artists. Additionally, Hazel conducts sound and performance oriented workshop programs and community organizing initiatives, working closely with CLASS ACTIONS COLLECTIVE - co-founded with Gadigal/Bidgigal/Yuin Elder Aunty Rhonda Dixon Grovenor and Kaz Therese. James’ recent focus has aimed to curate spaces for the innovative practices of intersectional working-class artists from social-housing contexts to be heard .
James’s work has been supported through Creative Australia, City of Sydney, Create NSW, and City of Melbourne.