As both Ensemble Offspring and Australian National Academy of Music (ANAM) celebrate 30 years, A Journey Through Our Time brings together two organisations that have each shaped Australian contemporary classical music in distinct ways — one through groundbreaking performance and commissioning, the other through training the next generation of artists.
The award-winning Ensemble Offspring celebrated its 30th anniversary last year. What are your proudest moments across these last thirty years and what are you looking forward to?
Thirty years is a long time! So, I have chosen some highlights from each decade.
Decade One (1995-2004): For me, one highlight is that our premiere concert was part of Roger Woodward’s Sydney International Spring Festival. Damien Ricketson and Matthew Shlomowitz, the Ensemble’s founders, were two young composers at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music who put together a ramshackle group of performer friends to play their final year compositions in concert, along with classics such as Xenakis’s Eonta.
The fact that Roger said yes to their proposal for us to play as part of the Festival was a boon, but then we were asked back as a sort of ensemble-in-residence for the next four years. We had the opportunity to work with renowned international composers such as Franco Donatoni, James Dillon and Michael Finnissy – it really was a pretty epic start to our journey!
Our original name was the Spring Ensemble and we changed it to Ensemble Offspring in the early noughties when the festival wrapped.
Ensemble Offspring - early group photo (supplied)
Decade Two (2005-2014): I returned from The Netherlands in 2006 after seven years. I was lucky enough to work throughout Europe as both a soloist and a member of various new music ensembles, but in 2006 I decided to return home, believing I could contribute to the new music scene in a more holistic way. This led to me joining Damien as the Co-Artistic Director, before he stepped down in 2015.
This decade marked a period of business development for the company. We established a proper Board, registered for not-for-profit status, and developed our own website, rather than just using the New Music Network page, as many ensembles did at the time.
During this time, we collaborated closely with Halcyon, performing works by Claude Vivier, György Ligeti and Steve Reich. We also cut our teeth on free improvisation techniques for the first time with Jim Denley, we played a lot of early music by Philip Glass – plus Damien started developing his music-theatre shows including A Line Has Two, Fractured Again and A Secret Noise.
Decade Three (2015-2025): This most recent decade has been defined by important developments in equity and access, and I would say Ensemble Offspring was at the forefront of many of these movements.
In 2017 we programmed an entire year of female composers, which became a turning point in the industry for gender equity in new and classical music.
That same year, Ngarra-Burria First Peoples Composers was founded with partners Australian National University, Australian Music Centre, Moogahlin and Ensemble Offspring, under Dr Chris Sainsbury (Dharug man). This program would go on to create some of the biggest voices in Indigenous classical music including Brenda Gifford, Nardi Simpson and Eric Avery.
Our Hatched Academy has now been going for 12 years and has nurtured and championed the voices of the next generation of emerging composers and performers during that time. We are truly proud of the program’s role in these areas of cultural development and solidification in Australia, and it remains an integral part of our mission and vision.
What has been your experience working with ANAM musicians, and what does it mean to collaborate with artists at the beginning of their professional journeys?
Many of our Hatched Emerging Performers are past ANAM graduates, most notably Callum G’Froerer (trumpet 2012), Jacob Abela (piano 2015), Eliza Shephard (flute 2018) and Ronan Apcar (piano 2024). We are always deeply impressed by the breadth of talent and experience of ANAM applicants and regularly collaborate with graduates who have a particular penchant for new music.
Recently Ronan was invited to become a core member of Ensemble Offspring and we are really excited to welcome him to the team. We find his musicianship, confidence, and performance individuality (especially his sense of rhythm along with his improvisation chops) really astounding and we look forward to many more projects with him!
Hatched Composers Intensive 2025, credit: Oliver Miller
We’re thrilled you’re curating the program for ANAM musicians and Ensemble Offspring for A Journey Through Our Time. Can you talk us through the program and share insights on the program selected?
The program Ensemble Offspring will be performing with ANAM musicians is both a homage to our history as an ensemble and an extension of our dedication to the commissioning of new music.
We have now commissioned over 350 new works, and four of the six works programmed for ANAM were written for Ensemble Offspring. Two are by remarkable First Nations composers Nardi Simpson and Eric Avery, and two by iconic young Australian female composers and long-time Ensemble Offspring collaborators Holly Harrison and Kate Moore.
The remaining works by Jennifer Higdon and Chen Yi are, I would say, virtuosic repertoire classics which ground the Australian works in a global context.
What do you want audiences to discover in this concert – and how do you want them to feel?
Contemporary music can feel new and unfamiliar, and people sometimes worry they aren’t equipped to understand it, but from my perspective the whole point is to connect with how it makes you ‘feel’ rather than being overly analytical.
As always, Ensemble Offspring invites audiences to come into the space with curious ears and an open mind.
Not every piece will be everyone’s cup of tea, but if it makes you feel something and gets you thinking, then we have done our job!
Ensemble Offspring in 2026, credit: Andy Catlin
IN CONVERSATION: CLAIRE EDWARDES
Thursday 8 October 3pm
Rosina Auditorium, Abbotsford Convent
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A JOURNEY THROUGH OUR TIME
Friday 9 October 7pm
Rosina Auditorium, Abbotsford Convent
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Words by Claire Edwardes OAM, Ensemble Offspring Co-Founder and Artistic Director (alum 1998, percussion)