Ensemble Offspring
AVANT GARDENS AUTUMN
Our 2026 Season
Europe & UK Tour
16 - 28 April, 2026
Ensemble Offspring’s 2026 Europe and UK Tour showcases a bold cross-section of new Australian and international music. The program features world premieres by Felicity Wilcox, Alice Chance and Matthew Whiteside, highlighting the ensemble’s commitment to boundary-pushing contemporary voices. In London, Ensemble Offspring joins forces with string band, Ruthless Jabiru, for a powerful new collaboration, while a Scottish tour with The Night With… expands the reach of new Australian and First Nations chamber music. Come see us in Amsterdam, London, Edinburgh, Cromarty, Aberdeen and Glasgow!
Australia’s Musical Trailblazers
Formed in 1995, Sydney-based Ensemble Offspring is “Australia’s leading new music ensemble” (Classikon). Led by percussionist Claire Edwardes OAM, the core line-up features Lamorna Nightingale (flutes), Jason Noble (clarinets), Véronique Serret (violin) and Blair Harris (cello), joined by 2025 Hatched Emerging Performer Ronan Apcar (piano) and incoming 2026 Emerging Performer Arkie Moore (trumpet).
Commissioning more new music than anyone else in Australia, Ensemble Offspring prioritises and champions marginalised voices - including female-identifying, emerging and First Nations artists. Winners of the 2019 Sidney Myer Performing Arts Award and the 2025 Art Music Award for Performance of the Year: Notated Composition, they recently made their New York debut at Long Play Festival and tour regularly to Europe. Now in its 4th decade, Ensemble Offspring continues to forge new paths for Australian music, driven by artistic excellence, inclusivity and collaboration.
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“Here is EO at its most adventurous and its strongest, with sharply-refined performing chops to follow through on its ambitious programmatic swing.”
Limelight, 2025
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"...the impact of such works also lies in the way they live in the memory. Both received superb performances.”
Sydney Morning Herald, 2025
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“... bold, ambitious and experimental in its celebration of new music.”
Limelight, 2025
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“much flair, dynamism, charisma and innovative trail-blazing”
Classic Melbourne, 2026
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"This program was notable for its energy and variety as much as for its neat new devices."
Sydney Morning Herald, 2025
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“Ensemble Offspring deserves its reputation…they perform with joy, enthusiasm and great skill.”
ClassikON, 2025
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"This is an ensemble of Australia’s finest musicians performing innovative, relevant and engaging new music that bursts with imagination, energy and inspiration.”
Seesaw Magazine, 2022
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“Claire’s animated introductions…delight the audience, who then sit spellbound…delighted by the virtuosity and the flawless synchronicity.”
ClassikON, 2025
