Elder Conservatorium

04/04/2025

Join us for an afternoon of jazz brilliance this coming Wednesday as the Elder Conservatorium's jazz honours students bring the music of the legendary Billy Strayhorn to life. Strayhorn is well known for his collaborations with Duke Ellington and leaving an indelible mark on the jazz world. His compositions – rich with sophisticated melodies and lush harmonies – will be celebrated in this dynamic performance. From iconic classics, such as 'Take the A-Train' and 'Lush Life', to lesser-known gems, experience the genius of one of jazz's most influential composers, as these emerging musicians showcase their artistry and passion.

📆 Wednesday 9 April 1.10pm
📍 Elder Hall

Tickets available via the link below 👇
https://uofa.sales.ticketsearch.com/sales/salesevent/145727

04/04/2025

Our first ECSO concert of the year was a tremendous success! Thank you and Congratulations to conductors Professor Charles Bodman Rae and Associate Professor Luke Dollman, soloist Lloyd Van’t Hoff and our amazing Elder Conservatorium Symphony Orchestra for a memorable concert this afternoon. 🥹🥹🥹🥳🥳🥳🥳 Please note that we will have TWO Lunchtime Concerts next week! Honours Jazz Ensembles will perform a list of all time favourite Jazz tunes composed by Billy Strayhorn on Wednesday, and on Friday we welcome the amazing Australian String Quartet and Melbourne based pianist Aura Go to the Elder Hall stage. Both concerts commence at 1:10pm. Double the Joy!🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩

02/04/2025

Lloyd Van't Hoff, Erin James, Lauren Henderson and Dr Lyndon Gray graduated from the Leadership for Emerging Academics and Professionals (LEAP) Program on Thursday 20 March. Thanks to this infusion of energy from the Elder Conservatorium, it was a dynamic and engaging graduation ceremony in the form of a talk show, directed by our very own Erin James, with an uplifting soundtrack provided by Lloyd Van't Hoff, Lauren Henderson and Dr Lyndon Gray. ✨👏

01/04/2025

Come and hear the Elder Conservatorium Symphony Orchestra in this Friday's lunchtime concert!

Respighi's 'Pines of Rome' paints a vivid portrait of Italy's eternal city, from its serene groves to its triumphant marches, using lush orchestral colours and evocative imagery. Charles Bodman Rae's Clarinet Concerto is based on the composer's 'Partita Dalriada', which has at its heart an ancient Scottish melody. This world-premiere performance features the Elder Conservatorium's Head of Woodwind, clarinettist Lloyd Van't Hoff, as soloist, with the composer conducting.

📆 Friday 4 April 1.10pm
📍 Elder Hall

Tickets available at 👇
https://able.adelaide.edu.au/music/events/list/2025/04/lunchtime-concert-echoes-and-horizons

31/03/2025

On Wednesday 19 March the Sydney Opera House premiered a new commission of 'Square Circles' for their dome cinema. Directed by William Barton and Stephen King, it's a computer-generated cinematic experience set to music written and performed by Barton and the Australian String Quartet. 'Square Circles' shows at the Opera House each Wednesday–Saturday till Saturday 5 April.

30/03/2025

On Tuesday 11 March, performer Adam Noviello (currently on stage in 'Hedwig and the Angry Inch') met with the first- and second-year Bachelor of Music Theatre students. Adam was interviewed by Music Theatre lecturer Joseph Simons before answering industry-related questions from the students, including navigating a career as a non-binary performer.

28/03/2025

Elder Conservatorium composition student Emma Knights recently travelled overseas for the world-premiere performance of her orchestrations of 'Trois Morceaux pour Piano' by Lili Boulanger, as part of the Virago Symphony Orchestra's Women in Motion concert in the Toneelhuis in Antwerp, Belgium. This event commemorated International Women's Day on Saturday 8 March, and featured an all-female orchestra led by a female conductor (Pascale Van Os) performing music composed and orchestrated by women.

You can watch a recording of the performance on YouTube via the link below 👇
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNYuAi4SCYg

Congratulations, Emma! 👏

28/03/2025

It was such a privilege to have visiting violist CarlaMaria Rodrigues here this week, working with our students on the repertoire for today’s exceptional concert. What an amazing performance by everyone involved! 🎊🎊🥰🥰🥳🥳🤩🤩

27/03/2025

Elder Conservatorium Technical Officer Dylan Cooper's band Raccoon City are today releasing their third album, entitled 'Fugue', through bandcamp, and through Dog Knights internationally.

The album was recorded by Dylan between his own studio and throughout spaces in the Con, including Elder Hall, the Schulz studios and the Schulz stairwell. The album features guest performances by Elder Conservatorium alumnus Daniel Thorpe and local young rock icon Cahli Blakers.

Check out the album via the link below 👇
https://rcpd.bandcamp.com/album/fugue

27/03/2025

Our friends at the Adelaide Youth Orchestras are presenting Tchaikovsky's beloved Sixth Symphony at Elder Hall this Saturday!

Under the direction of Keith Crellin OAM, AdYO's flagship orchestra kicks off with the exhilarating Overture to 'Die Fledermaus' before rising star and AdYO Concertmaster Jude Owens-Fleetwood takes the spotlight for Mendelssohn's beloved Violin Concerto in E minor.

This epic program closes with Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 6 'Pathétique', a deeply emotional and powerful masterpiece packed with intensity, passion and unforgettable melodies.

📆 Saturday 29 March 6.30pm
📍 Elder Hall

Tickets available via the link below 👇

Get Tickets on Humanitix - Tchaikovsky 6 hosted by Adelaide Youth Orchestras. Elder Hall, University of Adelaide, North Terrace, Adelaide SA 5000, Australia. Saturday 29th March 2025. Find event information.

26/03/2025

On Tuesday 25 March, The Light Room Studio at ILA (Immersive Light and Art) was transformed into a digital way-station for 'Vanishing Point' – an immersive concert where orchestral music, experimental performance, and cutting-edge visuals converged to explore the tipping points shaping our world.

Associate Professor Luke Harrald's eponymous work 'Vanishing Point' received its world premiere, with visuals entitled 'The Fragility of the Whale' by computer scientist Nickolas Faulkner. Also on the program were Lotta Wennäkoski's 'Nosztalgiaim' (2007), performed with visuals entitled 'The Intensity of Light' by Luke Harrald; and Adelaide-based composer Georgina Bowden's 'Flex' (2022).

The concert featured cellist David Moran performing remotely from The University of Adelaide via bi-directional audio and visual streaming with an ensemble of live musicians from the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, including Cameron Hill and Lachlan Bramble (violins); David Wicks (viola); Gemma Phillips (cello); Gustavo Quintino (bass); Julia Grenfell (flute); Peter Duggan (oboe); Mitchell Berick (clarinet); Mark Gaydon (bassoon); Adrian Uren (horn); Martin Phillipson (trumpet); Colin Prichard (trombone) and Sami Butler (percussion). This talented ensemble was led by Associate Professor Luke Dollman (conductor) as stunning visuals were projected across the 140sqm of LED screens in The Light Room Studio at ILA.

'Vanishing Point' was part of the Elder Conservatorium's 'Rebooting the Muse: Harnessing digital technologies for sustainability in the Australian performing arts post-COVID-19' research project, funded by an Australian Research Council Linkage scheme grant and generously supported by the Light Foundation. Our research explores how new technologies can be deployed to offer new audience experiences and remote ways of working, while documenting the impact on artist and community well-being of these innovations.

Special thanks to our own Dylan Cooper and Isaac Ray (ILA) for their technical development of the performance, and the rest of the ILA team: Lewis Godwin, Daniel Holden, Harriet Shegog, and Simone Koch.

26/03/2025

The University of Adelaide's latest edition of its bi-annual Lumen magazine, subtitled 'The time issue', has recently been published. The magazine features several new articles all united by the central theme of time – including a piece by Professor Anna Goldsworthy (Director of the Elder Conservatorium of Music) on how her grandfather's metronome (pictured below) has gently measured the tempo of her music and her life.

'Music is an art written on time: the beat, the bar, the phrase. Its larger structures are predicated upon time too, which is why it makes such demands of memory: the return of incidents or landmarks, the transformation of themes. It can also carry time in other, more personal ways, in the memories that accrue around a particular piece. My grandfather performing a Chopin waltz after Sunday lunch; my father playing through 'Clair de lune' in the study adjacent to my bedroom, as I slip off to sleep.'

Read more: https://www.adelaide.edu.au/lumen/news/list/2025/02/13/the-music-between-the-notes

📸: Isaac Freeman (photographic editor of Lumen)

25/03/2025

This Friday's Lunchtime Concert features Dr Elizabeth Layton (violin), Sofia Tortorelli (violin), CarlaMaria Rodrigues (viola), Tim Tran (viola), Samvel Berberyan (viola), Edith Salzmann (cello) and Henry Say (cello).

Elegant, wistful and deeply expressive, Frank Bridge's eight-minute 'Lament' was one of two duos performed by the composer and his teacher in 1912, and is today recognised as one of the most haunting musical dialogues ever written. Contrasting cheerful exuberance and a darker, veiled beauty of its own, Brahms's second String Sextet in G major, Op. 36 ('the most ethereal of Brahms's longer works', according to Sir Donald Tovey) provides the ideal companion piece, containing within its first movement a hidden cypher for Agathe von Siebold, to whom the composer had been engaged (but was destined never to marry) six years prior.

📆 This Friday 28 March 1.10pm
📍 Elder Hall
Tickets available via the link below:
https://uofa.sales.ticketsearch.com/sales/salesevent/145724

25/03/2025

Elder Conservatorium alumnus Liam Pilgrim (violin) was recently announced as one of the twelve musicians accepted into the Sydney Symphony Orchestra's 2025 Fellowship program.

Growing up in Newcastle, Liam relocated to Adelaide in 2017 to undertake studies with Dr Elizabeth Layton at the Elder Conservatorium. Liam then began learning with both Zoë Black and Adam Chalabi at the Australian National Academy of Music (ANAM) in 2022, while also studying chamber music with Sophie Rowell. Here he formed the Rosina Quartet with his close friends, receiving masterclasses from the Brodsky Quartet, Thomas Carroll, and Matthew Jones. While at ANAM, Liam had the opportunity to perform with most of Australia's leading orchestras, with a particular highlight being a part of the Sydney Symphony's performance of Schoenberg's 'Gurreleider' in early 2024. Liam collaborated with Lachlan Skipworth as part of the ANAM Set Festival in 2024, premiering Skipworth's 'Villanelle' for violin and piano.

Congratulations, Liam! 👏✨

24/03/2025

Elder Conservatorium Administrative Officer and current PhD candidate Katelyn Crawford was recently recognised at the Australasian PASS and Peer Learning Awards, in the category of Outstanding Senior PASS Leaders/Mentors. Katelyn has been involved in the University of Adelaide PASS program since 2020. She has been instrumental in guiding and mentoring incoming PASS leaders, providing timetabling support, and contributing to the reshaping of the PASS training program. Katelyn will be awarded at the Australasian PASS and Peer Learning Conference in Sydney in June. Congratulations, Katelyn!

📸: Jamois

23/03/2025

The Classical Voice students at the Elder Conservatorium are in for a busy and exciting year in 2025. In addition to a packed teaching schedule, they will enjoy perhaps their broadest range of activities thus far encompassing choral, operatic and specialist vocal ensemble work.

In May, they take part in a performance in St. Peter's Cathedral of Maurice Duruflé's Requiem with the Elder Conservatorium Chorale and the Elder Conservatorium Symphony Orchestra. This will be the first Adelaide performance of the full orchestral version of Duruflé's magnum opus and will be conducted by Associate Professor Carl Crossin OAM. Our second- and third-year Classical Voice students will join the Chorus of the State Opera South Australia for their performances of Mozart's 'Die Zauberflöte' in August – performances which also feature new Head of Voice Teddy Tahu Rhodes as Sarastro. Thanks to Teddy for organising this fabulous opportunity for our young singers.

All Classical Voice students will also be featured in excerpts from Mozart's 'Le Nozze di Figaro' as part of 'The Big Sing' project with the Adelaide Youth Orchestra in September. They will also have the opportunity to develop their small 'one-voice-to-a-part' vocal ensemble skills through a residency in late October with internationally acclaimed vocal ensemble coach and ex-countertenor with The Kings Singers, Timothy Wayne-Wright. This residency culminates in a concert in Elder Hall ('From little things...') on Saturday 1 November.

23/03/2025

From Wednesday 22 January–Thursday 6 February, Associate Professor Carl Crossin OAM toured Canada and the USA with Gondwana Chorale – one of Australia's two national youth choirs. Carl is one of two co-conductors of this 45-voice mixed choir comprising nationally auditioned young singers aged 18–25. Following two weeks of intense rehearsal at the Gondwana National Choral School in Sydney (Monday 6–Saturday 18 January), Gondwana Chorale collaborated and performed with a range of Canadian and US choirs in Vancouver (Vancouver Youth Chorus), Seattle (Columbia Choirs), Eugene in Oregon (the University of Oregon Chamber Choir – one of America's finest collegiate choirs) and New York (The Westminster Choir from Westminster Choir College near Philadelphia).

They also participated in a workshop with leading Spiritual/Gospel specialist Rollo Dillworth from Temple University in Philadelphia. Repertoire for the tour featured 80% Australian choir repertoire (all composed within the last 15 years) and included one of Carl's own works (conducted by the other co-conductor, Paul Holley from Brisbane).

Two current Elder Conservatorium students and one past-student were members of the choir. Carl has worked with Gondwana Chorale regularly since 2011. Since 1998, Carl has also worked frequently with Australia's other national youth choir, the National Youth Choir of Australia and, in July this year in Melbourne, will conduct NYCA's 2025 Season.

23/03/2025

Experience 'Vanishing Point' – an immersive concert where orchestral music, experimental performance, and cutting-edge visuals converge to explore the tipping points shaping our world.

Set in The Light Room at ILA, transformed into a digital way-station where music transcends physical space, 'Vanishing Point' brings together an ensemble of twelve musicians from the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, alongside experimental cellist David Moran (live-streamed). This performance features new music by composer and media artist Associate Professor Luke Harrald, with visuals by computer scientist Nick Falkner.

Part of the Australian Research Council funded project 'Rebooting the Muse: Harnessing Digital Technologies for Sustainability in the Australian Performing Arts', this project is a partnership between ILA (Adelaide's Centre for Immersive Light and Art), The University of Adelaide, and the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, that explores combining networked and immersive technologies to create new audience experiences and remote ways of working. This concert will feature Moran performing remotely from The University of Adelaide, via bi-directional audio and visual streaming with the live musicians and projections across 140sqm of LED screens in The Light Room at ILA.

📆 Tuesday 25 March 6.30–10.00pm
📍 The Light Room, ILA (Centre for Immersive Light and Art)

An immersive concert blending orchestral music, experimental performance and cutting-edge visuals to explore tipping points in climate, technology, and society.