Living Poems of the Sea
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Saturday, 3 May 2025
1:00 pm
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National Film and Sound Archive
McCoy Cct, Acton ACT 2601
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General Admission $40,
Concession $40
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In Association with
This event is part of MOSSO: music in motion
“Living Poems of the Sea is a meditation on the enthralling world of dolphins and whales in music, sound, words and images.
Acclaimed flautist Sally Walker was inspired to create Living Poems through her experiences of playing her flute to enraptured dolphins and her friendship with dolphin researcher Dr Olivia De Bergerac. Sally plays music accompanying videos and images of human-dolphin interactions over decades, and narrates a story illustrating the importance of dolphins, whales and their complex relationship with humans.
With stirring words and music by composer Lyle Chan, and special appearances of music by Christopher Sainsbury and Miguel del Aguila, Living Poems is a work of art that asks a fundamental question: how are we meant to relate to these remarkable creatures?
Performances at 1pm and repeated at 3:25pm.
PROGRAM
Living Poems of the Sea (70 min) WORLD PREMIERE
ARTISTS
Sally Walker – solo flute, lead creative
Lyle Chan – lead composer
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
**An automatic discount of 15 per cent applies when purchasing three or more MOSSO tickets in a single transaction.
**Note for Pass Holders – Festival passes automatically include entry to the 2pm-6pm ticketed events.
Credits – Portrait of Sally – Rohan Thomson, Photo of dolphins – Grant Stevens, Graphic design – Cole Bennetts.
Click here to BECOME A MEMBER. NFSA visitor information at nfsa.gov.au/visit-us
-
Saturday, 3 May 2025
1:00 pm
-
National Film and Sound Archive
McCoy Cct, Acton ACT 2601
-
General Admission $40,
Concession $40
ARTIST Learn more about the artist
Artist Erwan Keravec - highland bagpiper, composer and improviser
Artist Andrew Ford, composer - writer - broadcaster
Andrew Ford OAM is a composer, writer and broadcaster who has won awards in each of those capacities, including the Paul Lowin Prize for his song cycle Learning to Howl, a Green Room Award for his opera Rembrandt’s Wife and the Albert H. Maggs Prize for his large ensemble piece, Rauha. He has been composer-in-residence for the Australian Chamber Orchestra, the Australian National Academy of Music (ANAM) and the Australian Festival of Chamber Music. In 2014 he was Poynter Fellow and visiting composer at Yale University, in 2015 visiting lecturer at the Shanghai Conservatory, and in 2018 HC Coombs Creative Arts Fellow at the Australian National University. Ford has written widely on all manner of music and published ten books, most recently The Song Remains the Same with Anni Heino (La Trobe University Press, 2019). He has written, presented and co-produced five radio series for the ABC and, since 1995, presented The Music Show each weekend on Radio National. He was awarded an OAM in the 2016 Queen’s Birthday Honours.
Photo: Jim Rolon
Artist Sonya Lifschitz
Ukrainian-born/Australian-based Sonya Lifschitz is a pianist working across many contexts, with repertoire spanning from 15th century Faenza Codex to works written for her today. She is known for her fiercely imaginative, daring collaborations across film, animation, spoken word, visual and performance art. Described as “a life force of extraordinary density and capacity”, Sonya’s artistry combines bold adventurousness with exceptional musicianship. She is active as a soloist, creative collaborator, artistic director, educator, radio presenter and a passionate arts advocate for which tireless efforts she recently won the 2024 QPAC Excellence in Classical Music Award.
Artist Rubiks Collective
“Rubiks Collective achieves the impossible. The vocal quartet is living, breathing proof that new compositions can be invigorating and inspiring, not merely intellectually niche.” – Sydney Morning Herald
Rubiks is one of Melbourne’s most dynamic contemporary art music ensembles, reimagining classical music for the modern era. Directed by Tamara Kohler (flutes) and Kaylie Melville (percussion), Rubiks showcases bold cross-art collaborations, shares untold stories and champions gender equity in the arts . Since debuting in 2015, Rubiks has been hailed as “a formidable contribution to Australia’s growing community of contemporary music makers” (Partial Durations) and commended for their “incredibly personal, strangely spiritual and ultimately deeply touching” performances (Limelight).
Artist Jane Sheldon - soprano and composer
Jane Sheldon is a soprano and composer who has established an international reputation for highly specialised, groundbreaking art music for voice. Jane’s compositional output includes electronic music, chamber music, opera installations, works for dance companies and large-scale sound installations for museums. Described as “riveting” (New York Times) and “gripping” (Limelight Magazine), Jane’s compositions focus on the experience of altered or transformative states. Her latest album is I am a tree, I am a mouth (“conceptually brilliant… a vocal and compositional triumph, beautifully realised with splendid restraint” – Limelight Magazine). The release was listed in the New Yorker’s Notable Recordings of 2022. Her next album, Flowermuscle, is due out late 2024.
Artist Sally Walker - flute
Sally Walker is Lecturer in Classical Woodwind at the Australian National University, regular Guest Principal with the Australian Chamber Orchestra and Principal Flautist with the Omega Ensemble. She performs on modern flutes and piccolo as well as historical flutes and recorders and has appeared in the London Proms, Salzburg, Lucerne, Tanglewood and Edinburgh Festivals.
She was Grand-finalist in the Leonardo de Lorenzo International Flute Competition (Italy), won 2nd Prize in the Friedrich Kuhlau International Flute Competition (Germany) and was awarded scholarships from the DAAD (German Academic Exchange for postgraduate study in Germany), Ian Potter Cultural Fund and the Queen’s Trust.
She has toured and recorded with the Berlin Philharmonic and Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestras, is a former Principal Flute of the Deutsche Kammerakademie Neuss, was a member of Kölner Kammerorchester and has performed as Guest Principal Flute with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, NDR Radio Philharmonie Hannover, Kammerakademie Potsdam, Manchester Camerata, Queensland Symphony Orchestra, Adelaide Symphony Orchestra and the Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra.
Sally devotes herself to both Early and Contemporary Music, having performed with Early Music ensembles such as Das Neue Orchester Köln, Neues Bachisches Collegium Musicum and the Leipziger Kammerorchester as well as Contemporary Music ensembles such as Halcyon. She is deeply committed to chamber music and has collaborated with colleagues across various art forms and styles, including Tamara Anna-Cislowska, Aiko Goto, David Greco, Steven Isserlis, Afro Moses, Ian Munro, Simon Tedeschi, Dénes Várjon, Shanghai and Acacia string quartets. She has recorded three CDs with Pianist Philip Mayers, was featured on Sally Whitwell’s Aria-nominated CD, “I was Flying”, Cyrus Meurant’s CD “Monday to Friday” and on recordings with Halycon, Australian Chamber Orchestra and other orchestras.
Photo credit:
Portrait of Sally – Rohan Thomson
Photo of dolphins – Grant Stevens
Graphic design – Cole Bennetts
Artist Flinders Quartet
Flinders Quartet (FQ) is instantly recognisable as one of Australia’s most loved chamber music ensembles. A quartet for the 21st century and a highly respected force in Australian chamber music, FQ marks their twenty-fifth anniversary with acknowledged musical skill and maturity.
FQ lives up to their motto of “caring for tradition, daring to be different” through a busy schedule encompassing live and online performances, commissioning, recording, education and mentorship programs including the successful composer development programs ‘Ascend’ and ‘Emerge’, and outreach activities through their artistic patronage of John Noble’s Itet regional quartet program, Resonance String Orchestra, and Musica Viva’s Strike a Chord championship.
Photo credit – Pia Johnson