Her music

Shilong presented a wonderful overview of Australian women composers with his program called Her music speaks for Musica da Camera.  I've played lots of music by women composers recently and lots of Australian composers, but not a full program (the closest was one by Sally Greenaway with MdCC a year or two ago).  Some of the composers were on this program, too.  They were Sally Greenaway, Corrina Bonshek, Helen Gifford, Margaret Sutherland, Betty Beath, Maria Grenfell and Elena Katz-Chernin.  And the music was delightfully varied and nothing disappointed.  Sally's homage to the Balkans and Batik was culturally influenced, bouncy and melodic.  Then through a slow pensive Dream, a free-like atonal and a-rhythmic piece that came together for me as  watched Shilong's conducting, all changing time signatures, sparse odd harmonies, varied techniques, even thumbs on bass.  I loved it.  Then a Margaret Sutherland concerto in three movements, an sad adagio lament for Kosovo, a homage to knitting unicorns to bring solace and optimism in hospital settings and a final jaunty and challenging piece in 5/4 and various divisions thereof by Elena Katz-Chernin Fast Blue Village 5.  For this concert, I was in the audience recording so it was a new vision of MdCC but also missing playing such an imaginative program.  Well done all round.

Shilong Ye (musical director) conducted Her Music Speaks for Musica da Camera Canberra.