Created as part of a Cultural Strategic Partnership with the City of Adelaide, these compositions are framed in concert with works spanning chamber music’s rich history.
All four composers place text and song at the heart of their composition. Despite this common thread, the four works offer diverse thematic explorations and innovative compositional approaches, allowing the audience to experience the unique musical and cultural perspective of its composer.
As Anne Cawrse ‘Perspectives’ composer describes, “The joy of setting text to music is that you’re never beginning in silence. The sounds of the words, the meaning of the text, the poetic form, the juxtaposition of contrasting poems within a song cycle – all of these things help inform the music I write. For me, there must be a connection between music and lyrics. With the right text, the job of the composer is to listen hard to the words and simply find the music within.”
The four ‘Perspectives’ premieres will be presented across two evening concerts on 10 and 11 May. Audience members are warmly invited to attend pre-concert talks each evening and secondary school students are invited to an open rehearsal.
Concert 1: Stars, Atoms, and Strange Songs
Friday 10th of May
Featuring new works by composers Glyn Lehmann and Anne Cawrse
The songs of Samuel Barber and Ned Rorem depict vignettes of human experience before Glyn Lehmann’s new composition, ‘As The Universe Expands’, contemplates our unfolding human lives within the vast and ever-expanding universe.
After the interval, diverse artistic voices of women composers and poets provide new perspectives. In ‘She Who Knows Strange Songs’, Anne Cawrse transforms the words of four female poets chosen for their honest and non-stereotypical perspectives on who a woman might be before the concert concludes with the unique compositional voices of Lili Boulanger and South Australia’s Miriam Hyde.
Concert 2: Carrying the Song
Saturday 11th of May
Featuring new works by composers Jodie O’Regan and Nathan May (with Julian Ferraretto)
South Australia resonates with both the ancient songs of this land and new melodies carried across the seas. In this concert, a Baroque string quartet is transformed when it becomes the medium for Arabana songwriter Nathan May’s exploration of his connection to Country. Jodie O’Regan’s evocative ‘Night Whales: Cana Cludhmor’ draws on Irish heritage as she tells the story of whaling in the Fleurieu. In presenting these new works alongside chamber music from Germany, Italy and the British Isles, this concert celebrates our ancient land, our migrant history, and new perspectives for South Australian chamber music.
Experience the power of music to shape and redefine our understanding of the world around us.
