The Canberra International Music Festival's theme this year is Mulanggari - meaning "alive" in the language of the Ngunnwal and Ngambri people. And the program is full of life-affirming joy.
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Here's five things not to miss.
Lior's Compassion Since its premiere in 2013, this groundbreaking work has won over critics and audiences alike, earning the 2014 ARIA Award for Best Classical Album. Based on ancient Hebrew and Arabic texts, Compassion brings together Lior's voice and orchestrations by Nigel Westlake to offer a life-affirming statement of shared humanity for a divided world. It's the very definition of music for our time.
(I actually spoke to Lior ahead of his Canberra International Music Festival appearance, you can read it here).
The Stiff Gins For more than 20 years, this beguiling duo have sung in language about Indigenous culture and women's empowerment. Now, in a unique collaboration, Kaleena and Nardi join forces with the Dudok Quartet Amsterdam to perform the Gin's tender songs in a whole new light, arranged by jazz legend Jonathan Zwartz. A trio of three female percussionists bring Holly Harrison's new Major Lift commission into life, while the legendary William Barton and Véronique Serret summon a final moment of magic alongside works by Nardi Simpson and Yuin composer Brenda Gifford.
Luminescence The beloved Canberra choir bring a living songbook to life with Red Dirt Hymns using new texts by Australian poets set as hymns by radio personality and composer Andrew Ford, accompanied by Freya Schack-Arnott, cello and Hilary Geddes, guitar. Red Dirt Hymns unfolds to the evocative imagery of Canberra artist Sammy Hawker, whose art is created within the fabric of country itself - saltwater, limestone and eucalypt.
Larry Sitsky The Canberra musical identity is now into his 10th. He found his wings in pre-revolutionary China and embraced the ethnic origins of his family before settling in Canberra, where his legacy is as prolific as it is lively and direct. His work will be celebrated in Larry and Luigi, and in Duet, in which he will join ABC Classic's much loved Duet series of musical conversations, with pianist and presenter Tamara-Anna Cislowska to share an hour of music and conversation at the keyboard.
Jazz Up Late Featuring young Belgian pianist Bram De Looze who is one the latest sensations on the international jazz scene. Already hailed as the "the new Keith Jarrett", Bram has earned considerable acclaim both for solo improvisation projects on different types of pianos and for his high calibre jazz collaborations across Europe.
- The Canberra International Music Festival runs May 1-5. cimf.org.au
Sally Pryor
As features editor at The Canberra Times, I love telling people things they didn't know - or even things they've always known - about the city we live in.
As features editor at The Canberra Times, I love telling people things they didn't know - or even things they've always known - about the city we live in.
