As a musician's instrumental proficiency develops, so does their artistic taste and temperament. Returning in 2025, Soundbites sees ANAM musicians present concerts that capture a moment in time, reflecting their training and offering glimpses of their future selves. What excites them? What do they want to express? How does music help them make sense of the world? Discover their unique, intimate perspectives in this series.
Where Feathers Rest: Emily Dickinson in Sound
This program traces a deeply human journey through the words of Emily Dickinson, whose poetry captures the fragile thresholds between inner turmoil and quiet transcendence. Six of her poems form the backbone of this concert, each transformed into music to create a narrative arc that speaks to the struggles of mental health, the weight of isolation, and the search for release.
The concert begins with the poem A solitude of space, reflected by Benedicte Maurseth’s Alde, where shimmering string harmonics, flute and voice create a fragile web of sound. Respighi’s Notturno embodies the poem Hope is the Thing with Feathers, fragile yet persistent in delicate flight. An interplay between tonal and atonal improvisation over Bill Evan’s heartwarming chords in Peace Piece captures the inner conflict in the poem The Soul has Bandaged Moments. Mattea Osenk gives voice to the despair in Dickinson’s poem I Felt a Funeral in my Brain, in her own composition for solo viola and voice. As the arc continues, The Bustle in a House offers quiet reflection in the aftermath of grief, a fragile attempt to restore order amidst the chaos of loss. Finally, with After 100 Years, time itself opens the possibility of distance, renewal, and a different kind of peace.
Words by Mattea Osenk.
Benedicte MAURSETH arr. OSENK Alde
Ottorino RESPHIGHI Notturno
Bill EVANS Peace Piece
Mattea OSENK I Felt a Funeral in my Brain
Maria ZHDANOVICH aftr 100 yrs *
Accompanied with spoken text by Emily Dickinson.
Mattea Osenk (SA) viola / voice / curator
Maria Zhdanovich (SA) flute / voice
Po Goh (VIC) piano
Helena Burns (QLD) viola
Sola Hughes (ANAM alum 2025) violin
* Premiere performance.
