A GENTLE CORRECTION
First Nations Composer Program
What is our First Nations Composer Program?
Ensemble Offspring’s First Nations Composer Program is unique in the Australian art music scene. Our multifaceted program actively addresses the disparity in opportunities afforded to First Nations musicians and artists with, in the words of Christopher Sainsbury, a ‘gentle correction’ to past approaches. We recognise the damaging legacy of colonisation and see the immense value that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists contribute to the cultural landscape. Key to our First Nations program is local industry engagement and partnerships prioritising ‘First People First’.
Explore works by First Nations composers:
First Nations Works List
Read Ensemble Offspring’s Commitment to First Nations Artists:
Download PDF

Ngarra-Burria: First Peoples Composers
First Nations Composer in Residence
Our annual First Nations Composer in Residence opportunity was launched in 2020, with Brenda Gifford the first recipient. It offers a flexible mentoring and workshopping environment for the chosen composer including one-on-one sessions, involvement in local and regional touring programs and workshops and the premiere of a new Ensemble Offspring commission (valued at $2500). In 2021 our FNCIR was Nardi Simpson (Yuwaalaraay) and in 2022 our FNCIR is Eric Avery (Ngiyampaa/Yuin/Bandjalang/Gumbangirri).
Application Process
Applications for First Nations Composer in Residence are by invitation. However, if this is something that you are interested in, please email claire@ensembleoffspring.com

Our First Nations Composers
First Nations Stories

To Lisen, To Sing CD Out Now!
This album celebrates the creative vision of twelve of the program’s leading alumni: Eric Avery, Rhyan Clapham (Dobby), Marlene Cummins, Brenda Gifford, Tim Gray, James Henry, Will Kepa, Mark ‘Munk’ Ross, Troy Russell, Elizabeth Sheppard, Nardi Simpson and Aaron Wyatt.
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Ngarra-Burria: A Vibrant Concert
“Filmed at the Elisabeth Murdoch Hall and streamed by the Australian Digital Concert Hall this is an exciting, challenging and exuberant concert by Ensemble Offspring.”
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Ngarra-Burria Educational Resource
Celebrate the works of composers Christopher Sainsbury, Brenda Gifford and Aaron Wyatt with this educational resource for secondary students.
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The Australian Wars | SBS On Demand
The story of Australia’s first wars, calling for the nation to acknowledge the First Peoples who died in these conflicts and for the Australian War Memorial to recognise them.
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Ngarra-Burria 2022 Showreel
The Ngarra-Burria 2022 Showreel is now online! Follow the link below for an insight into this important initiative.
Watch now
Ngarra-Burria: Starting Over by Marlene Cummins
Watch Ensemble Offspring in the ABC studios recording Starting Over by Guguyelandji and Woppaburra composer Marlene Cummins.
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Ngarra-Burria: Mark Ross's Streets of Sydney
Peek inside the studio as Ensemble Offspring record a new work by Jardwadjali/Wotjobulak composer Mark Ross.
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Ngarra-Burria: Cirrus by Aaron Wyatt
Ensemble Offspring record Cirrus by Aaron Wyatt in the ABC studios.
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Rivers, rhythm and rhyme with DOBBY
Muruwari and Filipino artist DOBBY (Rhyan Clapham) is about to premiere WARRANGU; River Story, a suite of songs sharing cultural knowledge of water and Country.
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Ngarra-Burria: First Peoples Composers
“It’s an Indigenous-led change to the Australian classical and new music sectors that enriches us all.” – Fred Copperwaite

Watch the showreel: Nardi Simpson's -barra
Yuwaalaraay artists Nardi Simpson, Lucy Simpson and Brendan Odee Welsh have come together in 2022 to create a sonic mapping of the land they call home.
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Moogahl Yarns
Nardi Simpson is joined by fellow composers Marlene Cummins, Brenda Gifford, Troy Russell & Tim Gray to have a yarn about being First People composers in the arts music scene of so-called Australia.
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First Nations Resources
Over the past 5 years Ensemble Offspring has forged valuable new relationships with an impressive list of First Nations composers. Click below for a list of works written as part of Ngarra-Burria.
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Black Panther Woman
Marlene Cummins breaks a forty year silence to tell the story of her abuse in the Australian Black protest movement, to overcome her demons of today.
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World Premiere: James Henry's Zoom Meeting
Composer James Henry reveals how video conferencing in quarantine shaped his bluesy new work for Ensemble Offspring. Listen to Zoom Meeting (2020) here!
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Firestarter: The Story Of Bangarra
Celebrating Bangarra’s 30th Anniversary, Firestarter tells the story of how three young Aboriginal brothers turned a new dance group into a First Nations cultural powerhouse. Watch on ABC iview
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SOH Stream: Yarning Country
Curated by Warlpiri woman Rachael Hocking, this is a night for dance and laughter, spirit and survival, community, creation and love. Welcome to country by Aunty Rhonda Dixon-Grovenor, music, poetry readings and more!
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National Indigenous Art Fair
NIAF is an ethical marketplace, offering a unique opportunity to buy artworks directly from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists from community-owned art centres in the Northern Territory, South Australia and Western Australia.
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DOBBY | Digital Season (Premiere)
DOBBY is a Filipino and Aboriginal rapper, drummer and speaker with family from Brewarrina on Ngemba land. He combines cultural stories and experiences with his impressive vocal, keyboard and drum skills to create rap that is contagious and unforgettable.
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Sydney Writers' Festival: Whose Country Is It Anyway?
Literature has played a significant role in the colonial imagination and domination of First Nations people. Author Melissa Lucashenko, musician/author Nardi Simpson and writer Nayuka Gorrie have a profound discussion on writing Country.
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NAIDOC Week 2020: Nardi chats with Lamorna and Claire
To mark NAIDOC week 2020, Nardi Simpson joined Claire and Lamorna for a virtual panel discussion. Click below to get to know Nardi and her creative practice.
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Bruce Pascoe’s Dark Emu (Magabala Books)
Dark Emu argues for a reconsideration of the ‘hunter-gatherer’ tag for pre-colonial Aboriginal Australians and attempts to rebut the colonial myths that have worked to justify dispossession. Author Bruce Pascoe provides compelling evidence from the diaries of early explorers. Watch his TED Talk.
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Tara June Winch’s The Yield (PenguinBooks)
The yield in English is the reaping, the things that man can take from the land. In the language of the Wiradjuri yield is the things you give to, the movement, the space between things: baayanha. Tara June Winch’s The Yield is the story of a people and a culture dispossessed.
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In My Blood it Runs
Dujuan is a child-healer, a good hunter and speaks three languages. As he shares his wisdom of history and the complex world around him we see his spark and intelligence…his family fight to give him a strong Arrernte education alongside his western education lest he becomes another statistic. Watch trailer.
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Nardi Simpson’s new novel Song of the Crocodile (Hatchette Press)
Full of music, Yuwaalaraay language and exquisite description, Song of the Crocodile is a lament to choice and change, and the unyielding land that sustains us all, if only we could listen to it. Listen to Nardi’s interview ABC Conversations here.
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Tyson Yunkaporta’s Sand Talk
This remarkable book (watch trailer) is about everything from echidnas to evolution, cosmology to cooking, sex, science and spirits. Tyson Yunkaporta looks at global systems from an Indigenous perspective asking how contemporary life diverges from the pattern of creation.
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Australia Council Protocols for Indigenous Music
Australia’s unique Indigenous artistic and cultural expression is rooted in thousands of years of heritage and continuing practice. ‘Indigenous music is a voice that crosses boundaries. It is the true voice of this country.’ David Milroy
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Chris Sainsbury’s Ngarra-Burria Platform Paper
In a considered account of composers’ pursuit of an Australian sound in contemporary music Christopher Sainsbury uncovers the powerful bond between heritage and musical expression in Ngarra-burria: First Peoples Composers.
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ABC Classic on Ngarra-Burria
‘Culturally and historically, the people that do all the talking – they need to listen. And the people who have done all the listening that need to have that platform to talk.’ Rhyan Clapham, Muruwari man – composer, percussionist, and rapper
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Listen to the music of the first cohort
Listen to 2017 Ngarra-Burria: First Peoples Composers studio recordings on Soundcloud. This was the first year of the program with recordigs by Ensemble Offspring’s Lamorna, Jason, Claire and Freya.
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Resonate Magazine on the Indigenous Composer Initiative
This article by Chris Sainsbury is edited from his presentation at the 2017 IAML Australia conference in Canberra in 2018. The music he refers to is available for listening as part of ABC Classic FM’s New Waves podcast on ABC Classic.
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