Deborah Cheetham AO Curator
PLEXUS Featured ensemble
Leanne Bear
Nôtre Gothique
Brenda Gifford
Dharawa Miriwa (night sky)
World premiere, new PLEXUS commission
Deborah Cheetham AO
INSIEME – YAPENEYEPUK – TOGETHER
Sally Greenaway
Quietude
Nat Bartsch
Into the Light
After the disappointing cancellation of the live event in Canberra, we’re thrilled to bring this concert back to life digitally, performed by Melbourne’s tenacious PLEXUS collective.
As our hearts are liberated and our imaginations soar, we can dream, we can roam free and together we can reclaim the night.
To complete our 2021 Australian Series, we welcome PLEXUS, driven by the talents of three of Melbourne’s most vibrant and versatile musicians: Monica Curro (violin), Philip Arkinstall (clarinet), and Stefan Cassomenos (piano). The name PLEXUS reflects this ensemble’s devotion to supporting and engaging an ever-growing network of exceptional artists across a variety of disciplines. Since launching in 2014, PLEXUS has commissioned over 100 new works. As I write, my hometown of Melbourne counts down to the end of the longest period of lockdown in the world.
Even as I write these words, I am conscious of the fact that there are more forces in the world which restrict and limit the freedoms we once took for granted. There are men, women and children enslaved by systems of injustice, others are held captive by ignorance.
As I planned the 2021 Australian Series, Melbourne was entering lockdown for the first time. Now, we emerge and take our first fragile steps towards reclaiming the night.
PLEXUS will transport you through the music of Bartsch, Bear, Gifford and Greenaway and, as a final gift of thanks for my time as your curator, as celebration and invocation for the communion of live performance, a strongly prophetic work I created for PLEXUS in 2019: INSIEME – YAPENEYEPUK – TOGETHER.
Deborah Cheetham AO
Curator, 2021 Australian Series
Image: Belinda Strodder
