No composer is an island.
All our compositions are just feverish scratchings on paper until people literally breathe life into them.
This year, I’m presenting a season of heartfelt thank-you’s in music, written for some of the people I love, people who have made my music come to life over the years.
You are most warmly invited to share these
musical love letters from my foolish heart.
This one is for Emlyn.
Emlyn’s voice is the first thing I hear in the morning and the last thing I hear at night. He’s sung to me for 35 years and all of my music is infused with his voice.
In Seven Songs for Sea Captains, Emlyn will present his favourite selection of my songs, joined by the wonderful pianist James Huon George at our grand piano, Octavia. A storm, a lighthouse keeper, the passing of time, a hummed old tune from Shakespeare, and the wild call of the sea.
Come, fill your pipe and gaze out to the far horizon.
Saturday 22 August | 6pm for 7pm
Redruth Studio, Burra
Emlyn O’Regan, baritone | James Huon George, piano
This house concert is not ticketed. Please RSVP to: jodie@redruthstudio.com
This one is for Burra.
When Emlyn and I moved here in 2022, the only thing we knew was that we had fallen in love with an old stone church’s beautiful acoustics. Then we discovered the wonderful town.
Burra Rhapsody is my thank-you. This year, over lots of chats and chinwags, we’ve turned the sounds of Burra into music: railway station volunteers playing teacups and teaspoons, Burra Passport keys dancing, the post-office beep-beep machine, new songs, instruments from the Men’s Shed, lyrics from the kids at school and Emlyn as Johnny Green.
Together, we will make a truly Burra soundscape
Saturday 17 October | 7pm concert and live recording
Burra Town Hall
Burra Performers with Adelaide Baroque
Entry is free. Limited tickets will be available at the door, booking online is recommended.
https://www.trybooking.com/DOFHH
Burra Rhapsody has been made possible with support from Country Arts SA, Neoen, Chamber Music Adelaide and the Regional Council of Goyder.
This one is for Sally-Anne.
In 2023, Sally-Anne was touring through the Mid North when she dropped into my Burra home and studio for a pot of green tea. I handed her my setting of Emily Dickinson’s Hope Is the Thing with Feathers.
The song fitted her voice beautifully. Sally-Anne took Hope around the world with her, from the Sydney Opera House to concert halls across Europe. Inspired, I created a whole song cycle for her. We selected poems by Hone Tūwhare, Sara Teasdale, Christina Rossetti and Frances Frost, weaving together themes of hope, water and birds.
At UKARIA, Sally-Anne will bring Hope home to South Australia and perform the whole cycle for the first time. She will be joined by flautist Linda Pirie, cellist Joseph Freer and harpist Suneetha Carter, in an arrangement I have written especially for the night.
This concert is a love letter to Sally-Anne, a generous friend and glorious singer. It will be recorded live, and Sally-Anne and I will share a pre-concert talk about Hope’s journey from Burra to UKARIA.
Come and hear hope take flight.
Friday 23 October, 7pm concert and live recording
UKARIA Cultural Centre
Sally-Anne Russell, Linda Pirie, Joseph Freer, Suneetha Carter
Tickets https://www.trybooking.com/DOATC
This one is for our ocean.
During COVID, Emlyn and I washed up like flotsam on the Fleurieu Peninsula, beside the Great Southern Ocean. There, I saw a whale for the first time.
Soon afterwards, Linda Pirie commissioned a small piece for Windsong Quintet about hope and renewal, and I began writing from Victor Harbor’s whaling history. Since then, the piece has grown into a major multi-movement work. Twenty-seven musicians, five venues, Chamber Music Adelaide, CreateSA, the City of Adelaide, directors, designers and returning audiences have helped Leviathan become the largest work I have ever made.
Now I am writing the final movement for the glorious Sally-Anne Russell and the string players of Adelaide Baroque. Chamber Music Adelaide will present it at this year’s On the Terrace. This final movement is my love song for the sanctuary of Encounter Bay, calling the whales home, and my thank-you to everyone who has made the work possible so far.
Come and hear the whales come home.
Sunday 1 November
at Chamber Music Adelaide’s 2026 On the Terrace Festival
Sally-Anne Russell and Adelaide Baroque
Details will be available through Chamber Music Adelaide https://www.chambermusicadelaide.com.au