Composer Cyrus Meurant presents an evening of his music with saxophonist Andrew Smith of the Nexas Quartet.

The program opens with Four Pieces for soprano saxophone and electric organ, before moving to Sortie and Distant Cities for solo piano. At its centre is the premiere of Three Poems for solo tenor saxophone, followed by Constancies, which brings Meurant and Smith together once more.

Across the evening, the music moves between intimacy and intensity, solitude and connection—shaped by breath, resonance and silence.

Program

Four Pieces for soprano saxophone and electric organ
Sortie for solo piano
Three Poems for solo tenor saxophone [PREMIERE]
Distant Cities (Book I) for solo piano
Constancies for alto saxophone and piano

Andrew Smith: soprano, alto and tenor saxophones
Cyrus Meurant: piano and electric organ

“This is music that tells a story … instinctive and palpable” – Limelight

“Dynamic, dreamlike, plaintive and urgent” – Opera PLUS International

Cyrus Meurant

Cyrus Meurant is a composer and performer whose work spans concert music, opera, dance, theatre and projects involving music and health. His music has been described as “deeply rich” (Canberra CityNews) and “hauntingly beautiful” (The Sydney Morning Herald), and has been performed in Australia and internationally.

In 2018, Meurant’s opera Herakleitos premiered at the Laeiszhalle Hamburg (Germany), while his ballet Le Petit Prince, after Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, ran for two years at the Divadlo F.X. Šaldy in the Czech Republic, with Meurant appearing as solo violinist. His work for dance and theatre has included collaborations with The Australian Ballet, NIDA, Alleyne Dance (UK) and Dance Makers Collective, with performances at Theater Basel (Switzerland), The Place in London, the Adelaide Festival and the Sydney Opera House.

Meurant has also developed music projects in the health sector. His album Monday to Friday, commissioned for Beaumont Care, contributed to research into music and dementia and was an international finalist at the 2019 Asia Pacific Eldercare Innovation Awards. In 2022 and 2023, he was musical director, pianist and composer for the Australian Chamber Orchestra’s theatre work To Whom I May Concern, a collaboration with Group Homes Australia, UNSW and Dementia Australia. He has also composed Sentio for Sensory Concerts, performed by musicians from the Opera Australia Orchestra.

Meurant has worked with the Australian Chamber Orchestra, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Canberra Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra Victoria, Ensemble Signal (USA), Omega Ensemble, Arcadia Winds and Syzygy Ensemble. His works include Vessel for the Australian Chamber Orchestra, directed by Pekka Kuusisto; Tableaux for the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Martyn Brabbins; and Triptych for Ensemble Signal, conducted by Brad Lubman.

As an arranger, Meurant has also worked with artists including Anne Sofie von Otter, Terry Riley, Kamran Ince, Synergy Percussion, Taryn Fiebig and Richard Tognetti. His recordings include Poems for Piotr, Seul, Monday to Friday, Four Pieces, Sortie and Sonata for solo violin. In 2025, The Crossing of a Sea, featuring the Syzygy Ensemble, was released on ABC Classic.

Meurant studied composition and violin at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, the Conservatoire de Paris on a Churchill Fellowship, and the Royal Academy of Music, London. He holds a Doctor of Musical Arts from the Sydney Conservatorium and is an Associate Lecturer in Composition at the University of Sydney.

Andrew Smith

Andrew Smith is a saxophonist specialising in contemporary and new music. He performs regularly with the Nexas Saxophone Quartet and has appeared with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and The Sax Summit. His work spans contemporary classical music, popular music and theatre, with collaborations including performances with Natalie Cole, Ben Folds and Conchita Wurst. He has also recorded for film and television, including the HBO/BBC production Top of the Lake: China Girl, featuring music by Mark Bradshaw.

Smith has performed at festivals in Australia and internationally, including the Australian Festival of Chamber Music, Adelaide Cabaret Festival, Sydney Festival, Aurora Festival, the International Society for Contemporary Music and the World Saxophone Congress. His international engagements have taken him to Scotland, France, Hong Kong and China.

His recordings include Ballads of the Pleasant Life: Kurt Weill, Weimar and Exile with the Nexas Quartet and bass-baritone Peter Coleman-Wright, released by ABC Classics, and Current with the Nexas Quartet. Through his work with Nexas, he has performed and helped develop a wide range of Australian and international contemporary repertoire.

Smith studied at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, where he completed a Bachelor of Music (Honours) and Master of Music, before undertaking further study at the Université Européenne de Saxophone in Gap, France.

He teaches saxophone at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and is a D’Addario Artist.

Contact the host of Cyrus Meurant and Andrew Smith: Live at Church Street Studios

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