Europe 2023: Helsinki and Berlin
Writing from Europe, Lamorna Nightingale, Jason Noble and Claire Edwardes recount their experiences on tour.
Part 1: Lamorna
We’ve been blessed by some beautiful weather since touching down in Helsinki very early last Thursday morning and have caught some sunshine to combat the dreaded jet lag. Helsinki is a really pretty city, lined with elegant buildings mostly constructed in the early 19th century when the original capitol of Finland surrendered to Russia following the Finnish War and the capitol moved to the safer location of the fishing village of Helsinki.
Our first gig on Friday night was in the very aesthetically pleasing hall Balderin Sali which had an old fashioned aesthetic and really warm acoustic. We played some of our favourite Australian repertoire alongside two pieces by the Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho – what an honour and privilege to be performing her music in her home country! Before the final movement of Gerard Brophy’s ‘Beautiful Birds’ I had an unfortunate accident with my flute – the foot joint somehow came loose and fell onto a very hard floor, rendering the instrument unplayable! Fortunately there happened to be a really helpful flute player in the audience who put me in contact with a local repairer who was able to fix it on Monday morning. What a relief! I really wasn’t sure what we were going to do if I didn’t have my flute for the rest of the tour!
Over the weekend we had some time off so Claire, Nardi and I caught the ferry from Helsinki to Tallinn in Estonia. I was expecting that the 2.5 hour trip would be on a large ferry but in actual fact it was more like going on a big cruise liner! After hanging out on the windy deck with the smokers for a little while, we headed inside to explore finding pokie machines, restaurants, a live band, a jam-packed duty-free shop and even a kids area which had games and shows – essentially a floating Finnish RSL!
One of the best things about touring is having a bit more time to get to know each other and it’s been fantastic to have Nardi Simpson along with us for this reason. I have really valued the opportunity to talk more deeply about her life, our work with First Nations artists and the upcoming referendum. On the boat trip back we were all so heartened to see the images coming in from the Walk for Yes rallies back home!
Part 2: Claire
It has been a true luxury to spend an entire week in a city as relatively small as Helsinki and spend some quality time exploring and getting to know the city and the people (Jason has even been renting a bike and cycling all over the place each morning). The weather has been stunning which is quite a blessing.
But to the main reason we came here – the Australian music and First Nations cultural sharing! We presented our first concert in a gorgeous old venue in the centre of town called Balderin Sali. The acoustic reminded me of the Kleine Zaal of the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, my absolute favourite acoustic in the world. It was a real pleasure to present Aussie classics including Lorikeet Corroboree by Fiona Loader and Gerard Brophy’s Beautiful Birds alongside some Ngarra-Burria favourites. Plus, Freya and Lamorna also presented two works by Kaija Saariaho, an awe-inspiring Finnish composer who tragically passed away earlier this year, which were really moving to experience in such a setting.
On Friday, Nardi presented on her novel ‘Song of the Crocodile’ at a very cool library called Oodi as well as at a local bilingual primary school (lucky kids!). On Monday she presented at the University to a group of very inspired linguistic students who then followed her around for the rest of the trip! Meanwhile, we spent a day with local emerging Finnish composers workshopping their new pieces in collaboration with our hosts Korvat auki, and local composer mentor Lotta Wennäkoski who was just a joy to meet and work with.
On the penultimate day we presented our -barra workshop with Nardi. The twenty super keen participants joined us at Heitsun Pavlonki, our beachside venue for the week, and it was a highlight of the tour thus far. This experience confirmed for me why we are here: to bring Indigenous dreaming stories – the oldest culture in the world – and living new Australian music to the other side of the globe. Nardi also joined us for our finale concert on Wednesday night, and we ended by performing the six new Finnish works. This special event was also streamed, and you can still watch it here.
Our next stop is Berlin, and then I’ll have a little holiday in Lisbon before heading back to Sydney for our regional NSW tour of The Surge. Can’t wait to see you all again soon!
Part 3: Jason
The final leg of our European tour took us to Berlin, perhaps the global epicentre of new music.
We all left Helsinki together, thankful there weren’t any issues with carrying instruments on board (thanks Finnair). We were staying in Adlershof, South-East of the city in Berlin, and spent the first afternoon free to wander around as we wished. For me, that meant a walk through Treptower park with the reward of a bratwurst and German beer from the biergarten after. A beautiful sunny day to relax and prepare for two day busy days of music making to come.
Our hosts were Pantopia festival at Spreehalle Berlin. Set in what seemed like an old factory site in Berlin Oberschöneweide, the site oozed “Berlin cool”. Old meets modern in this setting, with a mix of talks, concerts, installations and DJs.
On day 1 we performed a set inside the Alte Kraftwerk Hall. Beautifully lit and with great work from Jonas our sound guy, Ensemble Offspring sounded top notch in this beautiful acoustic. We performed works by Eric Avery, Felicity Wilcox, Gerry Brophy, Kaia Saariaho and Kate Moore. We were joined by local recorder virtuoso Susanne Frohlich in the final piece, performing a new arrangement of Hollis Taylor and Jon Rose’s ‘Santa Barbara’. Pied butcherbirds were echoing all through the venue and making many an Australian concertgoer a little homesick.
On day 2 Nardi Simpson presented a workshop on First Nations language and culture. I attended and was drawn into Nardi’s spell, learning and singing a lot with the other participants. It was wonderful to hear Nardi sing, and get out that ukulele she had been secretly travelling with! Then for concert 2. The hall was really packed for this one: a concert combining some of the Ngarria Burria works with Nardi Simpon’s ‘-barra’. The first set saw works by Brenda Gifford, Troy Russell and Nardi Simpson. For ‘-barra’, we were joined by a choir, comprising 7 local German girls, who were really engaged and quick learners in learning Nardi’s language and song. We all felt proud to bring the music of our First Nations composers to Europe, and the hall responded with a standing ovation and numerous requests to return to stage. What a high!
Now, we all take separate journeys home. For me, a couple of days in Prague to digest the experience and see some castles (or bier…). Thanks to everyone who supported this tour, it was a wonderful opportunity to present Australian music and storytelling, that was really well received. See you again soon Europe.
