About Ensemble OffspringEnsemble Offspring is a dynamic organisation dedicated to the performance of innovative new music. Ensemble Offspring pursues an agenda of directly shaping the music of our future. The ensemble is based on the philosophy of promoting artistic integrity, open-mindedness and challenging the way musicians and audiences think about music. The Ensemble doesn't shy away from demanding repertoire but aims to present such repertoire in a stimulating, inclusive and accessible fashion via unique programming, performance excellence, education activities and inventive methods of presentation. Embracing an eclectic and progressive repertoire, the ensemble can be found presenting spectral, minimalist and complexist classics one week to free improvisation, multimedia and cross-genre events the next.Ensemble Offspring is comprised of many of Sydney's most talented musicians. Claire Edwardes (percussion) and James Cuddeford (violin) have careers as international soloists, others such as Veronique Serret (violin) and Lamorna Nightingale (flute) perform with orchestras such as the Australian Chamber Orchestra, Bree van Reyk (percussion) performs in Australia's premier percussion group Synergy as well as drum-kit in various rock bands, while Jason Noble and Diana Springford (clarinets) can be found in diverse situations ranging from performing with indigenous choirs to lecturing in philosophy. When the musicians come together as Ensemble Offspring they are committed to exploring new ways of making music. In 2009, Ensemble Offspring projects have included; Kontakte, Karlheinz Stockhausen's classic set against the contemporary electronic music of Pimmon performed at the Sydney Opera House and around the country; Thirteen Colours, an award-nominated program of luminous spectral music which featured at the newly opened Melbourne Recital Centre; and Open Music an eclectic program reappraising the tradition of indeterminate and open-form music at the Totally Huge New Music Festival. Other highlights have included; To the Max, an unconventional concert at the cavernous Carriageworks that explored the extreme ends of the decibel spectrum; Waiting to turn into puzzles an experimental audio-visual collaboration between with film-maker Louise Curham and composer David Young that opened the Aphids Reel Music Festival in Melbourne; and A Line Has Two a collaboration between renowned Australian poet Christopher Wallace-Crabbe and composer Damien Ricketson that featured at the 2008 Canberra International Music Festival. Past highlights have also included; a European tour as guests of the prestigious Warsaw Autumn International Festival of Contemporary Music; Partch's Bastards, a microtonal instrument-building project; and our resident spot (as the Spring Ensemble) in Roger Woodward's Sydney Spring Festival.
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Ensemble Offspring is assisted by the NSW Government through Arts NSW.
