Ensemble Offspring’s 2026 EU and UK Tour!

HOLLAND

The week before last in the Netherlands was a real whirlwind for Claire. Fresh from Classical:NEXT in Budapest, she arrived in Amsterdam and moved straight into rehearsals with Het Muziek and conductor Clark Rundell for the world premiere of Storm Oratory, the new percussion concerto by Kate Moore (which will also be performed with Clark in Sydney as part of The Oracle in June).

The rehearsal period proved both smooth and deeply rewarding, made all the more special with the composer present throughout. The work premiered on the opening night of the Minimal Music Festival at Muziekgebouw to a packed house and a standing ovation. Earlier that day, a public dress rehearsal had already drawn an audience of 400 - clear evidence of the Netherlands’ remarkable appetite for new music. This review excerpt says it all:

"In the following cadenza, the soloist took full advantage of the opportunity to showcase her nimble virtuosity. But truly breathtaking was her stick control on a drum set with cymbals and various tom-toms. Her highly differentiated sound production was nothing short of divine! Edwardes is truly a fantastic percussionist. Moore's new piece is clearly a tribute to Edwardes's qualities...The performance was phenomenal.” — Michel Klier, The New Muse

You can read the review here and listen to the recording here.

Building on the momentum of the premiere, Claire went on to present her solo album show, Dual Attractor, at Splendor — an artist-run venue tucked away near Waterlooplein and the Red Light District of Amsterdam. The concert played to a full room, with an overwhelmingly warm reception. Kate Moore was in attendance for her vibraphone solo Joyful Melodies, alongside commissioner Leta Keens sitting alongside Kate, who had travelled especially from Sydney.

The following morning brought a trip to Eindhoven for a meditation concert with TROMP Percussion, marking a third sold-out performance in just one week. This intimate solo program, preceded by a guided meditation, centred on female composers - particularly from Australia - with works by Anne Cawrse, Kate Moore and Caroline Shaw.

By Monday, Claire arrived back in London — Eurostar delays notwithstanding — exhausted but exhilarated, closing out the Dutch chapter with a long-overdue reunion with Lamorna and Jason in a local pub. A week of rehearsals with Ensemble Offspring x Ruthless Jabiru ensued - it was fun to meet so many young Aussies who are all based in London and finally get to work closely with conductor Kelly Lovelady on some chunky repertoire which was mostly Australian but not exclusively.

LONDON

Last Friday's collaborative concert with Ruthless Jabiru at Peckham Levels turned out to be a vibrant and warmly received gathering of both old and new friends. The venue itself — a converted carpark — offered an unconventional but surprisingly effective performance space, complete with low ceilings, concrete floors, a bar to one side, and an unexpectedly good natural acoustic. It certainly sparked ideas for similar spaces back home!

The program opened with Brenda Gifford’s (now classic) Bardju, this time featuring Zubin Kanga on piano alongside an expanded cello and bass section thanks to Ruthless Jabiru. The result was a rich and funky sound that had the ensemble feeling more like a band than a chamber group.

The concert unfolded as a shared program, with EO performances of Nardi Simpson’s Of Stars and Birds, Robert Davidson’s Bird Riffs, and Gerry Brophy’s Hummingbirds, before both groups joined forces for Thierry Pécou’s Rorqual. Among the standout moments were Ruthless Jabiru’s powerful performance of Holly Harrison’s Black Ice, as well as the heartfelt responses from expatriate audience members - particularly to Raven Riff, which evoked a strong sense of nostalgia.

It was also a pleasure to spot many Australian and UK composer friends in the audience, including Matthew Shlomowitz, Luke Styles, Drew Crawford, Laurence Osborne, Florence Maunders, Christopher Fox and Tim Parkinson.

Having a bar within the performance space added to the atmosphere, allowing the evening to flow seamlessly into celebrations with friends and collaborators. Special thanks to Kelly Lovelady, the driving force behind Ruthless Jabiru, whose efforts made the collaboration both possible, deeply rewarding and a true buzzing success!

SCOTLAND

Without a day to spare Claire, Jason and Lamorna hopped on a plane to Edinburgh from London City Airport ready for their Saturday night performance in the beautiful city of Edinburgh. With blue skies abounding they raced to their afternoon rehearsal now joined by Glaswegian, London based cellist Louise McMonagle for the world premiere of Matthew Whiteside’s 30 minute work about scuba diving entitled Beneath the Surface.

Matthew is the Artistic Director of The Night With… the organisation who hosted our Scottish escapades — he is responsible for driving us between our various performance spots, packing the van, organising the sound, operating the video in his work and being a composer so it’s a big job all round! The rest of the program is made up of works from our much loved Songbirds project including three other world premieres by Alice Chance, Felicity Wilcox and Seyoung Oh (these are all being recorded at the end of the tour as well) and for the first time we have accompanied them with images of the birds which inspired the works (for those who are not so familiar with Australian birds) and it has been really effective!

The concerts in Edinburgh, Cromarty, Aberdeen and Glasgow were all in vastly different venues — an art gallery, a community hall, a lecture theatre and a bar — and it has been a true pleasure and a privilege to connect with new audiences, share Australian music and perform 4 world premieres, 4 times on consecutive nights as part of Matthew’s successful series.

Some non musical highlights have been the stunning Scottish highlands scenery on the road (each day we had a trip of about 4 hours to our next venue), catching up with Henry Justo (ex-Hatched Emerging Artist and viola player) and Felicity Wilcox (all the way from Paris) in Edinburgh, the pub dinner in Cromarty (think cosy, hearty, quirky and olde worlde), and having Jane Stanley (Avant Gardens Autumn and Spring composer) and Abbie Felton (ex Hatched Emerging Artist and guitarist) in the audience at our final rocking Glasgow show.

And then finally day 6 of our non-stop music making run saw us in the recording studio getting all the new works recorded for eventual release — so stay posted for that as there is loads of new and exciting birdsong inspired chamber music which you are all yet to hear which we hope will inspire and delight!

Next stop for Claire is Rome to hang with her daughter Poppy; for Lamorna to Berlin to chill with her sister Chloe and for Jason back to London to party with his multitude of friends there. 

THANK YOU from the bottom of our hearts to our dear friends and supporters for all that you do to keep Ensemble Offspring viable and helping to get us overseas to share this amazing Australian music with Europe and the UK - it really does mean the world to us!

X Claire, Jason and Lamorna