NGARRA-BURRIA

A programme of indigenous Australian works

Ngarra-Burria are Dharug words meaning ‘to hear, to sing’. Initiated in 2016 by Indigenous composer Christopher Sainsbury, the Ngarra-Burria: First Peoples Composers programme exists to support and mentor emerging Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander composers. This concert features highlight works. The idea for this concert first came from Clair Butler, PhD student at UCC.

 
 

EVLANA ENSEMBLE

William Dowdall flute

Paul Roe clarinet

Yseult Cooper Stockdale cello

Caitríona Frost percussion

 

PROGRAMME

Troy Russell Nucoorilma (The Apple Tree) (2017)

Christopher Sainsbury The Flower Girls for solo flute (2014)

Will Kepa Ailan Opping (2020)

Nardi Simpson Wilga’s last dance (2019)

Elizabeth Shepherd Kooranginy; 1st movement – Walken Rainbow (2017)

Brenda Gifford Mungala (Clouds) (2017)

James Henry The Rains (2020)

Eric Avery Gliding (2020)

Deborah Cheetham Fraillon Permit Me (for solo cello) (2020)

Rhyan Clapham Pitara Yaan Muruwariki (2017)

Biographies

 

Troy Russell

Troy Russell is of the Biripai people of the Greater Manning area near Taree NSW, and the Gamillaroi people of the North West Slopes and Plains. He has an Advanced Diploma in Music from Eora Centre for Aboriginal Visual and Performing Arts in Sydney. He has played bass and guitar in most of the major Aboriginal Festivals in Australia, and has a strong track record as an anchor-man type musician in the Aboriginal cultural performing arts. In the last 8 years through the Ngarra-burria program he has undertaken further study in music composition and has emerged afresh with commissions and/or performances ranging from Ensemble Offspring to Sydney Museums.

Christopher Sainsbury

Christopher Sainsbury is of mixed heritage including Aboriginal (Dharug-Eora), Dutch, Irish and English. He composes in various genres, and his recent works include an opera, The Visitors commissioned by Richard Mills for the Victorian Opera Company’s 2023 season (with libretto by Jane Harrison) and a string orchestra work, String Talk, commissioned by the Sydney Symphony Orchestra for July 2024. Composing music that responds to his home region is meaningful to him. He won the APRA National Luminary Award in 2020 for effecting change within the classical and new music industry through the Ngarra-burria First Peoples Composers program.

Will Kepa

Will Kepa is a Torres Strait Islander multi-instrumentalist, audio engineer and producer, and composer currently based in Canberra studying at ANU School of Music. After learning to play the guitar in 1998, he enrolled in the Indigenous Music Program at the Tropical North Queensland TAFE in 2000. Graduating with a Diploma in Music, he has become a much sought after musician (drums, bass, guitar and ukulele), songwriter and arranger. Will has performed at many of the major festivals around the country, such as the Byron Bay Blues and Roots Festival, Woodford Folk Festival, and the Dreaming Festival.

Nardi Simpson

Nardi Simpson is a Yuwaalaraay writer, musician, composer and educator from NSW’s North West freshwater plains. A founding member of Indigenous folk duo Stiff Gins, Nardi has been performing nationally and internationally for the past twenty years. She is the current Director of the Sydney Conservatorium of Music’s Barayagal Choir, and was a previous participant in the Ngarra-burria program. Nardi was Ensemble Offspring’s 2021 First Nations Artists in Residence, Sydney Conservatorium of Music’s 2021 First Nations Artists in Residence, and is currently enrolled in PhD composition study with the ANU School of Music. In 2023 she toured to Holland and Germany with Ensemble Offspring where she shared from her range of vocal and instrumental styles.

Elizabeth Sheppard

Elizabeth Sheppard was born in Melbourne and raised in Adelaide. She is a professional singer and composer. She is an ecclesiastically, culturally and liturgically accredited Aboriginal Cathedral Cantor (BA DipEd BTh/BPhil STB ACertCM DipMus(Eora) AdvDipAbStuds NILA), a past member of the Adelaide University Choral Society, the Tasmanian Opera Company, the Melbourne Chorale, and Sydney Philharmonia Choirs, and a Ngarra-Burria First Peoples Composer Alumna of the Australian National University. In 2020 Sydney Living Museums commissioned Elizabeth to compose her Karlinkiri Hearth Wind Quintet, which was recorded by the Royal Australian Navy Band, and received an Interpretation Australia Award.

Brenda Gifford

Brenda Gifford is a Yuin woman, originally from Wreck Bay on the South Coast of NSW. A contemporary classical composer and classically trained saxophonist and pianist, she has twenty years of extensive experience as a musician. A First Nations person, her culture is the basis of her arts practice. Brenda has been commissioned by the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, by Canberra International Music Festival for her work Gambambarawaraga (‘seasons’ in Dhurgha language) and by Four Winds Festival. Mungala (Clouds) commissioned for American star flautist Claire Chase premiered at National Sawdust New York in 2019. She was Ensemble Offspring’s First Nations Composer In Residence 2020 while undertaking a Master of Music at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music as part of the Composing Women program.

James Henry

James Henry is in demand as a composer and sound designer, writing various blends of traditional Aboriginal and contemporary genres. His diverse set of skills has seen him compose for the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and the Sydney Philharmonia Choirs, work as musical director for the Dreamtime at the G opening ceremonies and the ‘Tanderrum’; Melbourne Festival Opening Ceremonies, as well as being involved in various theatre and dance productions, and commissions. The strength in James’ music comes from his diversity. Being a singer/songwriter as well as a covers performer, he has toured around the country performing as a solo artist as well as a featured performer on national and international tours with the Black Arm Band and Buried Country.

Eric Avery

Eric Avery is a Ngiyampaa, Yuin, Bundjalung and Gumbaynggir artist. As part of his practice Eric plays the violin, dances and composes music in an integrated way. In working with his family’s custodial songs he seeks to revive and continue on an age-old legacy. A violinist and contemporary dancer Eric explores the relationship between First People’s and non-First People’s forms and narratives through the combination of dance and music. Eric is a performer with Marrugeku Dance Theatre, has performed with the Black Arm Band and, more recently, the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Byron Bay Bluesfest, has opened for Grammy Award winner Rhiannon Giddens, and recently played in Sydney with Yo-Yo Ma. Eric was participant in the 2019 edition of the Ngarra-burria program for which he composed works for Ensemble Offspring and the Royal Australian Navy Band.

Rhyan Clapham

Rhyan Clapham Rhyan’s family is from Brewarrina on Ngemba land, and he is a member of the Murrawarri Republic in Weilmoringle, NSW. Rhyan has completed a Bachelor of Music at the University of NSW, and an Indigenous Studies Honours (focusing on Aboriginal hip hop music) in 2015. A rapper (under the name of Dobby) and drummer he has performed for various events such as Kevin Hunt’s ‘Our Music’ concert at the Sydney Conservatorium 2014, at Yabun Festival, UNSW corporate and academic events, Koori Radio events and at NAIDOC. In late 2017, Rhyan was a Ngarra-burria participant, and was announced as recipient of the 2018 Peter Schulthorpe Music Fellowship for an emerging composer, as part of Create NSW Arts Fellowships. During this fellowship he wrote a radiophonic art-work that explored his people and land in north-west NSW. He has had commissions from Ensemble Offspring, the Canberra Symphony Australian Chamber Series, and in 2021 was taken on by Sony Music.

Deborah Cheetham Fraillon AO

Deborah Cheetham Fraillon AO, Yorta Yorta woman, soprano, composer and educator has been a leader and pioneer in the Australian arts landscape for more than 25 years. In the 2014 Queen's Birthday Honours List, Cheetham was appointed as an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO), for 'distinguished service to the performing arts as an opera singer, composer and artistic director, to the development of Indigenous artists, and to innovation in performance'. In March 2015 she was inducted onto the Honour Roll of Women in Victoria and in April 2018 received an Honorary Doctorate from the University of South Australia for her pioneering work and achievements in the music. Deborah Cheetham Fraillon AO was the 2020 recipient of the JC Williamson Life Time Achievement Award which recognises an individual who has made an outstanding contribution to the Australian live entertainment and performing arts industry.