C14 Coming Together

Theo Carbo (b. 1999, Melbourne, Australia) is a guitarist, composer, electronic musician, producer and sound engineer. Growing up as an astute student of jazz, Theo’s proficiency as a guitarist has seen him working in groups of Australia’s most important improvising musicians including Barney Mcall, Andrea Keller, Sam Anning, Nadje Noordhuis, Joseph O’Connor and Paul Williamson. A keen philosopher of music and a student of composition at the Victorian College of the Arts, Theo has recently been developing a broader practise which involves elements of experimental composition, electronic processes, solo and ensemble improvisation and studio engineering. "Theo is a naturally gifted artist with a unique and refined take on things. His musical maturity is a great argument for the collective unconscious" - Barney Mcall

Dimity Shepherd is a graduate of the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts. She made her professional operatic debut for Opera Australia in 1998 singing the role of Rosina in the OZ OPERA production of The Barber of Seville, performances of which OPERA~OPERA wrote, “…as wondrously delicious a Rosina as I ever hope to encounter”. Her subsequent roles for Opera Australia have included Cherubino in The Marriage of Figaro and Rebecca in the premiere seasons of Paul Grabowsky’s Love in The Age of Therapy. She has been regularly engaged by Victorian Opera, making her debut for the company as Orphee in Gluck’s Orphee & Eurydice and subsequently appeared for the company in the lead role of Alice in Through The Looking Glass, and as Arsamene in Handel’s Xerxes. Engagements by Victorian Opera since, have included the role of Nireno in Handel’s Julius Caesar, Lucy in Threepenny Opera in Melbourne and Sydney, Mercurius in JS Bach’s Der Streit Zwischen Pheobus und Pan, Jazz in the premiere of How To Kill Your Husband (And Other Handy Household Hints), the lead role of Clara Johnson in the world premiere of Midnight Son, Cherubino in The Marriage of Figaro (2013 Green Room Award), the Second Secretary in Nixon In China, three principal roles in Sondheim’s Sunday In The Park With George, The Begger Woman in Sweeney Todd, Flora in La Traviata and roles in the premiere seasons of The Riders, Cunning Little Vixen and The Princess & The Pea. And of her most recent performances for Victorian Opera, during 2018, in the premiere season of Lorelei,  for which she received a Greenroom Award nomination, The Age said, as a siren, as a singer, as a woman … Shepherd most accomplished. Her roles for Opera Queensland include Maddalena in Rigoletto, Stephano in Romeo & Juliet and Tisbe in La Cenerentola. Dimity Shepherd created the title role in Jonathan Mill’s The Ghost Wife in the world premiere seasons at the Melbourne, Adelaide and Sydney festivals and at London’s BITE02 festival at the Barbican Centre, performances of which the Sydney Morning Herald said, “Dimity Shepherd in the title role, was evocative, illusory, extraordinary, while The Times said, Dimity Shepherd is brilliant in the role.  She creates a heartbreaking, yet flawed figure and her vocal intensity underlines the music’s strange lyricism., and The Guardian wrote, Shepherd is absolutely compelling…the musical and dramatic core of the piece…” For leading Melbourne new-music company, Chamber Made Opera her engagements have included creating the lead role in Crossing Live and the role of Elizabeth in The Children’s Bach. Her roles for Melbourne Opera include Carmen, Smeaton in Anna Bolena and Emilia in Rossini’s Otello, in 2019, for which she received a Greenroom Award. Other operatic engagements have included a return to the Second Secretary in the Auckland Festival production of Nixon In China, and Anne in To Hell & Back for Gertrude Opera. Her concert appearances include Sculthorpe’s String Quartet No.13 Island Dreaming in the 2002 Sydney Festival, Vaughan Williams’ Serenade To Music as part of the opening events of the Melbourne Recital Centre, Messiah for the Royal Melbourne Philharmonic Society and for the Melbourne Symphony, and Charles Gaines’ Sound Text for the Melbourne International Festival and a solo recital in the program of the 2019 Port Fairy Spring Music Festival. 2020 originally included a return to the role of Carmen in Opera Australia‘s national touring production and  to her role in Lorelei for Opera Queensland and appearances as the vocal soloist in the Melbourne season of the Australian Ballet‘s production of Anna Karenina.

Australian keyboardist and composer Jacob Abela is a soloist and chamber musician specialising in the new music field. Jacob is Australia’s leading voice for the Ondes Martenot, a French keyboard instrument which predates the synthesiser. Jacob is a founding member and co-director of new music outfit Rubiks, who have enjoyed critical acclaim for their contribution to Melbourne’s contemporary music scene. Jacob also performs regularly with the Melbourne and Sydney Symphony Orchestras, and has appeared with renowned ensembles such as Ensemble Offspring, Argonaut Ensemble (BIFEM), Speak Percussion, and Synergy Percussion. Festival credits include the Bang on a Can Summer Music Festival (USA), Bendigo International Festival of Exploratory Music, Metropolis New Music Festival, ISCM World New Music Days, Sydney Festival, and Mathemusical Conversations (Singapore).

Richard Piper has had a long and distinguished career in Australian theatre, as actor, singer and composer. He has performed in forty productions for Melbourne Theatre Company, and made countless appearances for companies all over the country. He played Billy’s Dad in the original Australian production of Billy Elliott, and most recently, the mayor in Come From Away at Melbourne’s Comedy Theatre.