Colliding | Cello Concerto
Event description
Join us for the premiere performance of 'Colliding', a cello concerto written by Australian composer Alisha Redmond inspired by the energic soundscape of storms with thunder and hail colliding within clouds.
This concerto was commissioned by James Larsen as part of a bigger project to create works written specifically for community orchestras. James will feature as the concerto soloists.
The Colour City Chamber Orchestra and ConChords will have an intensive rehearsal session over the weekend to bring you this concerto performance.
Alisha will be joining ORC when this WORLD premier will be performed.
About the Artists
James Larsen
Since completing his formal studies, cellist James Larsen has made appearances as a chamber musician and soloist at festivals throughout Australia, Germany, France, Italy, Canada, and the U.S.A and is a regular feature in the musical life of Sydney as the cellist of the NOMAD String Quartet.
As a founding member of the Geist String Quartet, he has been awarded the Llewelyn Travel Scholarship, Westheimer Fellowship, and Mary Valentine prize whilst studying Eberhard Feltz, the Kuss Quartet, and the Elias Quartet in Europe and America. He has also been awarded the Ruth Pfanner Cello Scholarship, Margot Lewin Prize.
As well as keeping busy as a performing cellist, James is a dedicated teacher, educational conductor, and chamber music coach. He currently serves on the staff of MLC School in Sydney.
Alisha Redmond
Alisha Redmond (b.1991) is an Australian composer and pianist whose music has been described as ‘exquisite’ (Robert Davidson, 2021). Her compositional work often focuses on the natural world, inspired by the lush surrounding bushland where she grew up in West Gippsland, Victoria. Alisha has composed works for the concert hall, stage, and screen, with a strong focus on collaboration with artists and performers.
Alisha has also composed orchestral and pop music for film and theatre, specialising in working closely alongside directors and writers to help shape their musical ideas and ensure the soundtrack aligns with their vision. She received the JMC Academy Martini Award - Best Musical Score for short film Knights of the Old Republic: Rescue Mission (2015), selected for the Berlin Sci-Fi Film Festival in 2018. Alisha wrote the score and provided vocals for the short film So Your Kid’s A Homo in 2016, selected for the Queen City Film Festival in Cumberland, USA. For the stage, Alisha developed a “haunting [and] unpredictable” (Lot’s Wife, 2013) solo piano soundtrack in collaboration with playwright Jess Stanley for the production It’s Alright, Sid It’s Alright (premiered at La Mama in 2013.)
Alisha has achieved a high level of professionalism and diversity in her musical practice despite the difficulties she experiences associated with Meniere's disease, particularly tinnitus and partial deafness.