Ensemble Offspring: Songbirds (Wauchope)

Music in the Regions in partnership with Wauchope Community Arts Council present Ensemble Offspring's Songbirds.

Songbirds Beguiling audiences since 2019, Songbirds has become an Ensemble Offspring crowd-favourite. Ever since, we have toured Songbirds around Australia and the world, and our home crowd have been begging us to bring it into their gardens. Now Songbirds returns as a 30th birthday treat for our first musical garden party of 2025.

In an intimate, salon setting, Nature comes to you, as a trio of flute, clarinet and percussion evokes virtuosic avian displays and the weird and wonderful sounds of the Australian bush. The musical guest list includes the pied butcherbird, magpies, a laughing kookaburra, a frenzied flock of rainbow lorikeets, even a nightingale… Everything you’ll hear was written especially for Ensemble Offspring by composers who’ve woken up with ‘Nature’s first musicians’, hung out with them on their balconies and documented their songs. Brenda Gifford and Nardi Simpson bring Indigenous perspective, turning eyes and ears to the sky. The results are musical conversations – scintillating and playful – as we literally riff with the birds.

About Ensemble Offspring:
Ensemble Offspring are Australia's leading new music group. Under the leadership of internationally acclaimed percussionist Claire Edwardes OAM, they are Australia's foremost champions of contemporary classical music. The group has commissioned and premiered over 350 new works and has toured First Nations music and new commissions worldwide. Their dedication to excellence and amplifying underrepresented voices has earned them a Myer Award, multiple APRA Art Music Awards and two ARIA nominations. Through their pioneering spirit and relentless commitment to equity, Ensemble Offspring shape a vibrant and diverse artistic future for new Australian classical music. 

About Music in the Regions:
Music in the Regions (MitR) is an independent touring organisation established in 2022 to connect classical musicians with regional audiences and facilitate transformative musical experiences across New South Wales. These musicians will perform in regions not traditionally visited, reinvigorating regional venues into concert venues, and fostering a vibrant, world-class New South Wales classical music industry. MitR is supported by TLE Electrical and through private philanthropy. For more information visit www.musicintheregions.com