Double Bill: Elysian Fields & Rafael Karlen Quintet

Viol women - The Female Composers Project

Take up an instrument as rare as the electric viola da gamba and your first job is to create repertoire! ‘Viol Women’ continues the journey into new musical territory that viola da gambist and band leader Jenny Eriksson and Elysian Fields has been on since their first gig. The band was formed five years ago in partnership with Matt Keegan and Matt McMahon. Now with two highly regarded CDs behind them, Elysian Fields’ most recent project has been to commission women composers to write for their unique sonic line up of saxophone, voice/violin, electric viola da gamba, piano, double bass, and drums. 

Eriksson has sought out a broad range of female musicians to contribute charts including band member, Susie Bishop, as well as her singer/songwriter sister Laura – mainstays of world music outfit, Chaika. The text to Laura Bishop’s song will be delivered by her sister, Susie, in Elvish! Other contributors include pianist/flautist Keyna Wilkins, Alice Chance, fusion keyboardist Freyja Garbett and Eriksson herself. Gordon Kerry, a renowned composer of the classical world, is also featured in a work he wrote especially for the ensemble. 

• Paul Cutlan, Saxophones

• Susie Bishop – Voice/Violin

• Jenny Eriksson – Electric Viola Da Gamba

• Matt Mcmahon – Piano

• Jacques Emery – Double Bass

• Dave Goodman - Drums

Rafael Karlen Quintet  ft. Nadje Noordhuis

Award-winning composer and saxophonist Rafael Karlen will be joined by many of Australia’s most acclaimed improvising musicians to tour their new album Equally True. For this performance, the group will feature internationally renowned trumpeter Nadje Noordhuis.

Alongside an extended suite which was originally commissioned for the Brisbane International Jazz Festival, the music was largely written while Rafael was composer in residence in the prestigious Peggy Glanville-Hicks House. The Arrivals and Prospects suite is an extended work exploring charged landscapes of nostalgia and lingering reflection, through to anticipation and excitement of future destinations. 

• Nadje Noordhuis: Trumpet

• Matt Mcmahon: Piano

• Brett Hirst: Bass

• James Waples: Drums

• Rafael Karlen: Saxophone

This event received a City of Sydney CBD activation grant.