Ensemble Offspring return to The Night With… from Australia after their first Scottish tour with us in 2019 with programme combining music from Scotland and Australia. The programme features the world premiere of Beneath the Surface by Matthew Whiteside, an audio-visual work exploring humanity’s impact on the seabed through footage he has shot scuba diving and edited by his long time collaborator Marisa Zanotti.
Alongside this will be a new work by Australian composer Alice Chance and works drawn from Ensemble Offspring’s award winning Songbirds project where composers respond to the songs of Australian birds.
Biography:
Ensemble Offspring is Australia’s leading new music group, standing at the forefront of musical innovation. Led by internationally acclaimed percussionist Claire Edwardes OAM, the ensemble unites the country’s most fearless and virtuosic instrumentalists with a core “pierrot plus one” line up of flute, clarinet, violin, cello, piano and percussion. Together, they create “visceral, joyous music” (Sydney Morning Herald) through kaleidoscopically varied performances that blaze a trail for Australian music.
At the heart of Ensemble Offspring’s mission is an unwavering commitment to the creation and dissemination of living new music. Since forming in 1995, they have commissioned and premiered over 350 new works, solidifying their position as the foremost champions of contemporary music in Australia. In particular, they actively promote underrepresented voices including female-identifying, First Nations, and emerging artists. This dedication has earned the ensemble the 2022 Classical:NEXT Innovation Award, the 2019 Sidney Myer Performing Arts Group Award, multiple APRA Art Music Awards and two ARIA Award nominations.
Ensemble Offspring’s annual development programs are an essential pillar of Australia’s musical ecosystem. Hatched Academy is an incubator for emerging Australian artists which nurtures the next generation of cultural leaders through a composer intensive, individual mentorships, and an emerging performer position and our First Nations Composer in Residence and Ngarra-Burria: First Peoples Composers programs elevate the voices of Indigenous artists, foregrounding their rich cultural perspectives through instrumental chamber music.
By boldly subverting classical traditions, Ensemble Offspring deliver concerts that “burst with imagination, energy and inspiration” (Seesaw Magazine). Through their pioneering spirit, pursuit of excellence and relentless commitment to equality, the ensemble continue to shape a vibrant and diverse future for Australian music.
