Adrenaline is at an all-time high at Ensemble Offspring headquarters: we’re packing the van for The Surge tour!
This weekend we’ll stop by Canberra to play the first show over at the National Film and Sound Archive (Friday 21 May), followed by Deniliquin Baptist Church on Sunday 23 May. Over the next few weeks we’ll head out to Cowra (Saturday 29 May) and Orange (Sunday 30 May), and Sydney friends can catch the show at Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre on Saturday 5 June. The final wrap-up will take pace in Brisbane on Friday 20 August in a huge show with Queensland band Topology, presented by Dots+Loops.
Joined by superb guitarists Vladimir Gorbach and Andrew Blanch, Ensemble Offspring will assume a rare septet format in tribute to John Williams’ ensemble Attacca (formed in the early 1990s). We’re so proud to be celebrating Williams’ contribution to Australian music with reimagined performances of two Australian works written for Attacca: Peter Sculthorpe’s Tropic and Nigel Westlake‘s Tall tales but true, both composed in 1992.
The Surge program engages with the deep-seated political, social and environmental themes that have continued to shape Australia since the 1990s. In addition to a video screening of Paul Mac’s Redfern Address, we commissioned three Australian composers through the Noisy Egg Creations Fund to create new works which boldly address Australia’s cultural past, present and future. The premieres by Jessica Wells, Robert Davidson and Felicity Wilcox have been coming together amazingly well in the rehearsal room, and to ice the cake we’ve summoned Blue Mountains-based video artists Peachey and Mosig to accompany the show with striking video projections.
We really can’t wait to take this brilliant program all over NSW and beyond. Keep an eye on our social media to catch intros by our composers, and be sure to check out our beautiful PDF program to read all about the music.
Canberra – we’ll see you at NFSA on Friday!