A showcase of contemporary Australian music inspired by ancient stories.

Experience the best of Australian contemporary classic music among inspirational surroundings!

Performed in the stunning Gandel Atrium, National Museum of Australia, Sleeping Stories features a program of five diverse works including three world premieres. Five new pieces of music to deepen your love of Australian composers.

Alice Chance’s ‘radically melodic’ new piece is a dynamic program of story and song.

Jane Seldon’s ‘Spectre: three attempts to summon her’ weaves together electroacoustics, flute and subtle elements of spoken word. This beguiling piece offers an homage to the rich layers of Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho’s music.

Peggy Polias draws inspiration from the Museum’s current blockbuster Pompeii exhibition. ‘Cameo’ focuses on stories depicted on a pair of cameo glass plaques excavated from the site in 1960. The single movement piece in three sections follows the thread of Ariadne’s stories from the Greek Island of Crete to Naxos (both part of Peggy’s personal heritage) where Ariadne and Dionysus met and married.

Nardi Simpson’s new work, Wilga’s Last Dance, honours Uncle Fred Reece’s significant contributions to preserving traditional Yuwaalaraay language and story.

The final piece from Dharug composer Christopher Sainsbury, draws inspiration from flautist Sally Walker’s encounter playing on the bow of a boat to dolphins at Port Stephens. Absorbing the rhythm and lyricism of the Dharug word for dolphin: barru-waluri, the piece reflects the feeling of an invigorating ocean swim.

Artists
Jessica Cottis Conductor
Sally Walker Flute, Artist in Focus
CSO Chamber Ensemble

Repertoire
ALICE CHANCE World premiere, new CSO commission
JANE SHELDON Spectre: three attempts to summon her
PEGGY POLIAS COMPOSER IN CONNECTION World premiere, new CSO commission
NARDI SIMPSON Wilga’s Last Dance: Last melody of the area
CHRISTOPHER SAINSBURY World premiere, new CSO commission