Join us in celebration and cultural exchange at our Buddha’s Birthday Multicultural Concert! 🥳🎶

All ticket proceeds will be donated to the Hsing Yun Education Foundation.

Immerse yourself in the vibrant infusion of an impressive line-up of professional musicians, dancers and poets from Ghana, Indonesia, Armenia, Jewish, India, China and Ireland.

Nan Tien Temple, in collaboration with the Institute for Australian and Chinese Arts and Culture(IAC), has prepared a special occasion to celebrate ‘Gratitude and Compassion’ to honour the life and teachings of the Buddha and our late Founder of the Fo Guang Shan Buddhist Order, Venerable Master Hsing Yun.

One of Venerable Master Hsing Yun's key teachings is the promotion of harmony and understanding between people of different cultures and religions through his efforts to promote interfaith dialogue, education, and social engagement. In this spirit, he has contributed to a more harmonious and multicultural Australia.

“Within the cultural exchange in Australia, unity in diversity bears witness to peace.”

Such is the vision of the wise Master.

Each performance is a cultural expression of gratitude and compassion and offers a reflective space to inspire people to continue to cultivate these qualities in their own lives. This theme is a beautiful way to honour the legacy of Venerable Master Hsing Yun and continue to promote his values and teachings, which recognise the humanity and dignity of all people, regardless of their race, religion, or culture.

As a Buddhist temple, we welcome people of all faiths and backgrounds to join us in celebrating diversity and unity. This festival is a wonderful opportunity to learn about and appreciate different cultures while also enjoying an unforgettable weekend of entertainment.

Don't miss out on this one-of-a-kind event! Mark your calendars and come celebrate with us at our Multicultural Concert at the Buddhist temple. All ticket proceeds will be donated to the Hsing Yun Education Foundation.

The minimum age of admission is 5 years old.

Please scroll further to read the musicians’ biographies.

Clíona Molins

Clíona Molins is a Sydney-based harp player, teacher and composer. She was classically trained in Dublin at the Royal Irish Academy of Music where she studied both the Irish and Concert Harp. For over 10 years, Clíona has performed with shakuhachi flute player Riley Lee and regularly performs with latin-inspired music with singer Wendy Twibill and duo Strangelove. After settling here in Australia, Clíona played the harp in the Aida orchestra and performed solo in the Opera House as part of the Brendan Voyage. She also performed at the Utzon Room with fellow musician Christine Wheeler. Clíona has been involved in projects that pay tribute to ‘voices from our unsung past’, where she was commissioned to write with Rosie McDonald the Parramatta Female Factory Song Suite. She has performed at Canberra's National Folk Festival, over consecutive years with five piece traditional Irish band Folklore (now Seanchas). Clíona plays solo harp for many corporate events in some of Sydney's leading venues.

http://www.clionaharpist.com.a...

Yaw (Stephen) Derkyi

Yaw (Stephen) Derkyi is a native of Ghana who has a passion for drumming, singing, traditional dancing and chanting. Unity is his motto! Kaki is a 26-year-old performer who lives and breathes all things ‘entertainment’! Kaki is very charismatic when it comes to entertaining others and loves to express this through her Ghanaian culture, alongside her twin sister, Penny; older sister, Aba and father, Yaw. Penny is a 26-year-old bubbly performer and educator who loves arts and crafts and creating fun new activities for children. Penny says she was born to sing and dance! She loves bringing smiles and positive energy to everyone’s daily life. Aba does it all! Along with being a vibrant children’s entertainer, Aba is a 29-year-old, full-time, primary school teacher who brings the energy to her very own classroom every day! Aba loves putting smiles on children’s faces.

https://blacktownarts.com.au/d...

Professor Kim Cunio

Professor Kim Cunio, Head of the School of Music at the Australian National University (ANU), is an activist composer interested in old and new music and the role of intercultural music in making sense of our larger world. A descendant of Mizrachi Jews from Iraq, India and China, Kim is a recipient of the ABC Golden Manuscript Award for his work on traditional music. His compositions have been played internationally with performances at the White House, United Nations, and festivals in a number of countries. Kim has received commissions from the Sydney 2000 Olympics, Art Gallery of NSW, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne International Arts Festival, Foundation for Universal Sacred Music (USA), with various projects funded by the Australia Council for the Art, Kim is currently working on a series of albums with the Gyuto Monks of Tibet; a project setting the sounds of space with the British Antarctic Survey and artist engineer Diana Scarborough.

https://researchers.anu.edu.au...

Dr Terumi Narushima

Dr Terumi Narushima is a senior lecturer in music at the University of Wollongong. She is a composer, performer and sound designer who specialises in alternative tuning systems. Her works include Tritriadic Chimes, a sound installation for LA MicroFest, Hidden Sidetracks, a composition for custom-made instruments premiered by Ensemble Offspring at the Sydney Opera House, and Mizu No Rin, a commission for Synergy Percussion. She has worked on various film and theatre collaborations, including Yasukichi Murakami: Through a Distant Lens which was presented at the Darwin and OzAsia Festivals, as well as the Griffin Theatre in Sydney and Parramatta Riverside Theatres. She performs with the microtonal ensemble Clocks and Clouds. Her book Microtonality and the Tuning Systems of Erv Wilson (2018) is published by Routledge. Her current project involves collaborative research into the development of microtonal flutes using 3D printing.

https://scholars.uow.edu.au/te...

Kraig Grady

Kraig Grady (born 1952) is a US-Australian composer/sound artist. He has composed and performed with an ensemble of microtonal instruments of his own design and also worked as a shadow puppeteer, tuning theorist, filmmaker, world music radio DJ and concert promoter. His works feature his own ensembles of acoustic instruments, including metallophones, marimbas, hammered dulcimers and reed organs tuned to microtonal just intonation scales. His compositions include accompaniments for silent films and shadow plays. An important influence in the development of Grady's music was Harry Partch, like Grady, a musician from the Southwest, and a composer of theatrical works in Just Intonation for self-built instruments. Many of his compositions use unusual meters of very extended lengths.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

Heather Lee

Heather Lee is a highly regarded singer in Australia and internationally, having performed at prestigious events such as the Sydney 2000 Olympics, Whitehouse, and the United Nations. She has recorded for major events and cultural exhibitions and has the ability to sing in many languages and styles. Heather has a deep commitment to sacred traditional music and western classical music, and her recordings and concerts have taken many listeners to spiritual heights. Her current projects include collaborations with the Gyuto Monks of Tibet and composer Kim Cunio, as well as documenting and composing with the Gyuto Monks of Tibet. Heather has also received recognition from the Government of India for her singing of Ghandi's favourite bhajan, Vaishnava jana to.

Dr Nicholas Ng

Dr Nicholas Ng is a composer, performer and Research Fellow at the Australia-China Institute for Arts and Culture (Western Sydney University). A former Lecturer (Australian National University) and Research Fellow (Queensland Conservatorium), he has been teaching erhu (2-stringed Chinese fiddle) and theory at Sydney Conservatorium since 2016. Nicholas' upbringing in Old Rite church music combined with his world music interests has led to a unique style in his compositions for The Song Company, The Australian Voices, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and other ensembles. He collaborates with William Yang and appeared with Benjamin Law in Annette Shun Wah's Double Delicious (2020), produced by Contemporary Asian Australian Performance. On the erhu, Nicholas has toured to festivals around Australia, New Zealand, North America, Canada and Europe. He established the ANU Chinese Classical Music Ensemble (2003). Nicholas has curated a number of events including ENCOUNTERS: China (2010), Music in the Gardens (2012), BrisAsia Festival (2012-2013) and Shanghai Club at The Famous Spiegeltent (2013).

https://www.nicholasng.com.au/