Halcyon returns to the stage with After Dark - new Australian music for voice and cello.  The program features works that have been a long time in limbo.  Four works commissioned by Halcyon early in 2020 will receive their long-delayed premieres - Luke Styles’ Starfish, Anthony Moles’ Mantoux, Cameron Lam's Persephone as a Whistling Moth and Ghosts, a new song cycle by Nicole Murphy.  The performance also includes premieres by Aristea Mellos, Alisha Redmond, Brad Taylor-Newling and Andrew Ford and recent works by Alan Holley, Gordon Kerry and Gillian Whitehead.

The four commissions were part of a large voice and cello project, conceived in 2019. Due to Covid and the nature of the pieces themselves, this has morphed into a three stage project with three cellists - the digital concert Holding Light in mid 2020 with Geoffrey Gartner, After Dark with James Larsen and a final program in early December with Rosanne Hunt.

Contemporary Australian writers feature abundantly in the program with words by Richard Allen, Laurence Barratt-Manning, Margaret Bradstock, Sarah Holland-Batt, John Kinsella, David Malouf and Mark Treddinick. 

There has been so much 'pivotting' in recent years as artists have tried to make viable plans in an uncertain world and weathered the dark times of isolation.  Live performance, where an audience experiences that moment of musical creation in real time in a shared moment with the performers, is unlike anything we can conjure on a screen.  Showcasing a wealth of contemporary Australian composers across several generations, join Halcyon's artistic director, mezzo-soprano Jenny Duck-Chong and cellist James Larsen for this intimate performance.

ARTISTS
Jenny Duck-Chong mezzo-soprano
James Larsen cello