WHAT IS OFFSPRING BITES?
Offspring Bites is Ensemble Offspring’s biennial audio-visual series launched in 2017, celebrating living Australian chamber works written for Ensemble Offspring by pairing them with bespoke visual content. Giving the most exceptional Noisy Egg Creation Fund commissions a life beyond the concert hall, our Offspring Bites initiative takes a holistic approach to the documentation of Australian art music with an integrated audio and visual element.
Our 2nd edition launching in 2019 celebrates the output of some great Australian female composers with whom Ensemble Offspring has collaborated over a period of time - Bree van Reyk (composer and long time member of Ensemble Offspring), Andrea Keller (Melbourne jazz pianist and composer), Holly Harrison (young Western Sydney composer), Cassie To (student composer when she wrote this work) and Melody Eötvös (now teaching in Melbourne after many years in the USA). Likewise the video artists are some of Australia’s best and most prolific. Each has developed a strong synergy with the composer and created something bespoke to the mood, content and theme of that specific musical work.
We urge you to hop onto vimeo and soak up the music featured in this disc alongside the bespoke visual element for the full Offspring Bites experience - then share it with your friends. Enjoy!
vimeo.com/ensembleoffspring
Claire Edwardes - Artistic Director
released June 21, 2019
Artistic Director
Claire Edwardes
Engineered/Produced
Bob Scott (Tracks 1, 2, 3, 4)
Andre Shrimski & Jason Blackwell (Track 5)
Mastered
Bob Scott
Recording Venues
Recital Hall West, Sydney Conservatorium of Music
Eugene Goossens, ABC Ultimo (Track 5 only)
Video Artists
Rowena Crowe - Avialae
Su-An Ng - Vibe Rant
Sam James - Light for the First Time
Peter Humble - Love in Solitude
Watch and share Offspring Bites videos at
vimeo.com/ensembleoffspring
We are grateful for the donors and funding partners who supported the commissions on this recording, many through Ensemble Offspring’s own Noisy Egg Creation Fund.
Avialae was composed for Ensemble Offspring’s 20th birthday celebrations, with the support of the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and premiered in 2015 at Future Retro.
Vibe Rant was commissioned by Ensemble Offspring’s Noisy Egg Creation Fund with the generous support of Penny Le Couteur and Greg Dickson and premiered in 2016 at Kontiki Racket.
Light for the First Time was commissioned by Ensemble Offspring’s Noisy Egg Creation Fund with the generous support of Kim Williams and premiered in 2017 at Sizzle.
Tardigradus was commissioned by Ensemble Offspring’s Noisy Egg Creation Fund with the generous support of Kim Williams, and premiered in 2017 at Arc Electric.
Love in Solitude was commissioned as part of the 2017 Merlyn Myer Commission, in association with the Melbourne Recital Centre and premiered in 2017 at The Salon, MRC.
Thanks to designer Traianos Pakioufakis, Stephen Adams, Andre Shrimski and the team at ABC Classic, sound engineer extraordinaire Bob Scott and Su-An Ng for video credit animation.
All program notes by the composers.
All photos by Heidrun Lohr.
Ensemble Offspring is assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts advisory body, and the NSW Government through Create NSW.
We work and play on Gadigal Land.