Ensemble Offspring Launches 2020 Season And Showcases Hatched Academy Artists

Ensemble Offspring presents its 2020 season launch and Hatched Summer School Concerts.

Ensemble Offspring turns 25 in 2020, and to celebrate, they will perform all over Australia with a musical walking tour in Erskineville Village with Fever Pitch, music from the skies in Birdsong at Dusk, 90’s nostalgia in The Great Acceleration and a global sonic feast at the Sydney Opera House with Shivers on Speed. Sizzle hits Marrickville Bowlo for the first time, Hatched has grown and EO’s First Nations Program launches with Brenda Gifford as composer in residence.

As part of the launch on Wednesday 11th December, there will be a special solo performance by guest New Yorker Ken Thomson, from the legendary Bang On A Can All Stars. Ken is an acclaimed clarinet and bass clarinet player and a staple of NYC’s contemporary music and jazz communities. As an instrumentalist and composer he is widely regarded for his ability to blend a rich variety of influences and styles into his own musical language.

The second Hatched Summer School concert, on Friday 13th December, will feature Ensemble Offspring performing six spanking new works by the cream of emerging Australian compositional talent. This concert is the culmination of an intensive week of workshops and masterclasses, drawing on the skills and expertise of Artistic Director Claire Edwardes, and the ensemble’s core instrumentalists and guest mentors – composers Yannis Kyriakides (Amsterdam) and Kate Neal (Melbourne), and special guest Ken Thomson (New York).

Entry is free/by donation.

Concert 1: KEN THOMSON IN CONCERT + ENSEMBLE OFFSPRING 2020 SEASON LAUNCH

Program:
KEN THOMSON Burst/ KATE MOORE Red Flame Blue Flame/ IGOR STRAVINSKY Three Pieces for Clarinet Solo/ CASSIE WIELAND Hands/ KEN THOMSON Coarse Grind (duo with Jason Noble)/ STEVE REICH New York Counterpoint

Concert 2: ENSEMBLE OFFSPRING – 2019 HATCHED WORLD PREMIERES

Performers 2019 Hatched Associate Artist Henry Justo (viola) + Claire Edwardes (percussion), Jason
Noble (clarinet), Lamorna Nightingale (flute), Blair Harris (cello)

Program:
THOMAS MISSON (TAS) Adieu (WP)/ STEVE BARRY (NSW) Microsonata (WP)/ SARAH ELISE THOMPSON (NSW) New Work (WP)/
LISA CHENEY (VIC) New Work (WP)/ ANGUS DAVISON (NSW) Warhol in the Tenderloin (WP)/ LEWIS INGHAM (VIC) Jovian Glimpses (WP)