Ensemble Offspring leads us down their garden path

Ensemble Offspring | Avant Gardens

Book tickets to a Sunday morning recital at ‘someone’s house’ in the inner west Sydney suburb of Tempe (address to be disclosed to ticket holders before the event) and you’ll be invited into the backyards of some of Australia’s finest musicians.

Ensemble Offspring, you are brilliant!

We absolutely love this idea so we asked Artistic Director Claire Edwardes OAM how it got started…

Claire Edwardes: Over the past two years COVID has led to creative thinking in relation to how we make safe concerts for us and our audiences, rather than just sitting around waiting for the venues to get back to normal. So back in 2020 we put on Ah Tempe which was a little musical walking tour of Tempe with 3 different performances that audiences got to enjoy. Each mini show was introduced by the performers and on the way the audience could chat about what they experienced – it was all very casual and people seemed to enjoy it immensely. Then we had Musical Microparks in 2021 as part of Sydney Festival which again was a walking tour type of experience in the outdoors with quite personal performances by the various duos again with introductions and new works inspired by their ‘park’ or little corner of Erskineville. So in a way Avant Gardens was an organic development from both of these events which people seemed to love so much – leaving aside the logistical complexities of walking tours and just focusing on one person’s garden at a time as the intimate venue for high quality and original new music!

“It was so good to hear such beautiful music, most of which I’d never heard before. It felt such a privilege to be in everyone’s gardens – it was very generous of you to open your own homes to us for a performance space other than the usual concert hall. I loved the informality of it, like the fact that we were all sitting on a funny mix of chairs, stools and anything else with a flat surface. The chat was nice and relaxed.” Audience  feedback

classikON: What were the standout moments from 2021’s Avant Gardens concerts?

CE: In 2021 we had numerous stand out moments – not least the sell out audiences who were genuinely deeply engaged with the huge range of living new chamber music we presented at the 3 shows.

For me personally the highlight was the very first performance at Lamorna and Jim Nightingale’s house and garden. The forecast was foreboding so we were well prepared with ponchos for all and large outdoor umbrella’s covering the majority of the backyard – but when time for the performances came the skies became blue and all was perfect in Ashfield. The relief for us as organisers was massive, as you can imagine.

Consequently the performance of Blair Harris and Will Hansen at my partner Kim’s house in Tempe happened on that day in March 2021 that many Sydney siders may recall where there was so much rain that you thought your house was going to implode – we brought the performance indoors, half expecting 3 or 4 rain soaked people to attend, but we reached capacity and with the extra atmospheric sound of the weather mixed with the wonderful string and percussion music enveloping us it was a truly memorable experience for all!

 “It’s rare to have such an intimate concert. The music was wonderful and the setting and atmosphere joyful.” Audience  feedback

classikON: What was it like to open your homes up to audiences?

CE: I think those of us who agreed to turn our homes into concert venues were all pretty easy going about audiences – that said, entry is via side passages in all instances so audiences are literally just welcomed directly into our backyards – we use the back of our houses as the ’stage’. People are generally very respectful and also acknowledge that it’s pretty special being in the musicians’ own homes so it’s a great vibe all round – we provide drinks and nibbles too to make it as social and immersive an experience as possible!

What can we look forward to in Avant Gardens 2022

FEB 13 – 11am: Avant Gardens 1: Verve

A Sunday morning concert where you’ll soak up some avant-garde classics alongside the newest of the new, featuring special guest harpist Emily Granger, artistic director and percussionist Claire Edwardes and Jason Noble on clarinets. The trio will perform works by Nathan Daughtrey, Elena Kats-Chernin, Anne Cawrse, Gerard Brophy, and Caleb Burhans.

FEB 27 – 5pm: Avant Gardens 2: Spel

An intimate music experience with champagne and nibbleson arrival, Spel is an up-close and personal mash-up of sounds and sensations. Claire Edwardes (Artistic Director/percussion) and Blair Harris (cello) feature works by Katy Abbott, Kate Moore, Stuart Greenbaum, Mark Summer, Gene Koshinski and the Australian premiere of Hush for percussion & cello (2012) by Tonia Ho.

MARCH 12 – 5pm: Avant Gardens 3: Song & Dance

Get your finger on the pulse of what’s hot in the new music repertoire of Australia and beyond – and don’t forget your sunnies! Claire Edwardes (Artistic Director/percussion), Lamorna Nightingale (flute, piccolo), Jason Noble (clarinets) and Will Hansen (double bass) perfrom works by Casey Cangelosi,
Frederic Rzewski, Robert Davidson and Alex Vaughan, plus a world premiere of Alice Humphries’ The Visitor (sorry, I testosterone injection buy online and save money can’t stay) for clarinet, flute & percussion, commissioned by Silo Collective.