Supporter Stories
Leta Keens
Since I was a teenager, I’ve loved live music gigs - all types of music and in all sorts of venues from concert halls to dusty old clubs and seedy pubs. I’m not quite sure when I first saw Ensemble Offspring - maybe the incredible Morton Feldman concert in a church in Paddington in 2007 could have been it. It’s a concert I’ve never forgotten for its pure beauty, and the privilege I felt for being there, in the company of such brilliant and committed musicians. To be honest, that’s how I feel every time I’m at an Ensemble Offspring concert - they definitely add enormously to my life.
That became completely clear during Covid when, during one short space of time when we had been stuck at home for ages but were suddenly allowed to get together in small numbers, Claire organised a progressive garden concert with musician friends near her house. It was such an emotional day for all sorts of reasons, not least of which was seeing and hearing my favourite ensemble again for the first time for months.
Silo Collective [which I coordinate] has commissioned four pieces with Ensemble Offspring, and it’s always been a really amazing experience - being involved in the process of creating a new piece, including being invited to open rehearsals, has been thrilling, surprising and a whole lot of fun. Thanks, Ensemble Offspring for everything you do!
Don Macleod
At 81 years of age, I'm old enough to remember the fore-runner of Ensemble Offspring, The Spring Ensemble at Roger Woodward's Sydney Spring Festivals (1990-2001) - I attended every concert.
And remembering exciting concerts, I can go back even further to the 1960s and 1970s with the Sydney Symphony Prom concerts at the Sydney Town Hall where I heard such works as Cage's Concert for Piano and Orchestra (1957-58), Carl Orff's Catulli Carmina and David Ahern's (1947-1988) Ned Kelly Music (1967)... it's about time Ahern's compositions were heard again!
At the Sydney Spring Festivals, we got to hear music by the Estonians Erkki-Sven Tuur (b.1959) and Lepo Sumera (1950-2000), Horatiu Radulescu (1942-2008), as well as the young Australian EO founders Damien Ricketson (b.1973): his saxophone concerto Blech and Matthew Shlomowitz (b.1975 - now in England): his Piano Concerto.
So, it was natural for me to then attend the Ensemble Offspring concerts when they started. Of course, there were other groups promoting new music such as Flederman, the excellent Sydney Alpha Ensemble and their two-and-a half hour concerts, as well as groups still functioning such as Elision and Ensemble Q.
But all praise must go to Ensemble Offspring for continuing to perform new music whether by young Australians, as well as overseas composers such as Helmut Lachenmann (b.1938) and Fausto Romitelli (1963-2004).
Long may you continue!!