Cabaret is a powerful and intimate art form where personal stories, music, and bold ideas meet. It thrives on connection, offering artists the freedom to explore themes that are raw, relevant, and deeply human.
In this special showcase, our third-year Music Theatre students present original cabaret works developed over six weeks of intensive writing, music, and performance workshops. Each piece is a reflection of their unique voice and creative vision – tackling the personal, the political, and everything in between.
Join us for a night of original cabaret and witness the next generation of artists embrace the relevance, immediacy, and power of this enduring art form.
📅 Thursday 4 June 7.00pm
📍 Nexus Arts
Tickets 👉 link in bio.
Under the direction of new staff member Alex Taylor, our Elder Conservatorium Big Band play the music of Australian composers – including works from Perica, Panichi, Voss, Francis and Ferguson (with special guests).
📅 Thursday 28 May 7.30pm
📍 Scott Theatre
More info and tickets 👉 link in bio.
Our Open Masterclass with @mistertoyrobot last night was incredible! Three talented ensembles from the Elder Conservatorium of Music and School of Performing Arts and Playford International College took to the stage 🎷✨
Lots of collaboration, thoughtful feedback from Troy, and seriously impressive musicianship.
A huge thank you to everyone who joined us for such a special evening ahead of ‘Troy Roberts In Concert: An Afternoon of Jazz’ tomorrow at UKARIA. 🎶
#jazz #helpmannacademy #emergingartists #emergingcreatives
We’re so excited to welcome @mistertoyrobot to Scott Theatre tonight for a special Open Masterclass ahead of this weekend’s sold out Troy Roberts In Concert: An Afternoon of Jazz at @ukariaculturalcentre 🎷
Yesterday’s closed Masterclass with students from Adelaide University’s Elder Conservatorium of Music and School of Performing Arts @elderconjazz was a great opportunity for students to fine-tune the fundamentals. Tonight, experience Troy sharing his approach to improvisation, musicianship, band-leading and life as a professional jazz artist.
🎶 Open Masterclass with Troy Roberts
🗓️ Tonight
⏱️ 4:30pm – 6:30pm
📍 Scott Theatre, Adelaide University
Final tickets available via the link in bio 🔗
Join the Elder Conservatorium Wind Orchestra this Friday 15 May for four contemporary works that explore texture, rhythm, and inventive musical landscapes, including the premiere of a new work by Thomas Godwin, a talented composition student at the Elder Conservatorium.
🎼 Vincent Persichetti
'Divertimento for Band', Op. 42
🎼 Percy Grainger
'Colonial Song' (ed. R. Mark Rogers)
🎼 Thomas Godwin
'Nocturne in F minor'
🎼 Michael Gandolfi
'Flourishes and Meditations on a Renaissance Theme'
Godwin’s new work brings a fresh voice to the stage, alongside other contemporary composers. Michael Gandolfi’s 'Flourishes and Meditations on a Renaissance Theme' offers a reflective counterpoint, transforming an anonymous Renaissance theme known as 'Spagnoletta' into seven starkly different variations. Together, these works showcase the diversity of music in the contemporary landscape.
📅 Friday 15 May 1.10pm
📍 Elder Hall
Tickets 👉 link in bio.
Students from the Centre for Aboriginal Studies in Music (CASM) were excited to welcome the team from Aboriginal Kidney Care Together Improving Outcomes Now (AKction) this week.
CASM and AKction are collaborating on a new song that will form part of CASM’s Music Health Song Book project – using music, language, and creativity to support health and wellbeing outcomes for community.
Warning: The AKction song is infectious!
The Elder Conservatorium recently made a clean sweep of the two major awards of the Generations in Jazz Festival in Mount Gambier (Friday 1–Sunday 3 May) – the biggest awards in jazz education in Australia.
🥇First Class Honours Jazz Performance graduate Marina Olijnyk won the Generations in Jazz Vocal Scholarship. This prestigious scholarship is exclusively available to young jazz vocalists 21 years and under, and offers a substantial grant of $10,000. We were also delighted to see that current student Sienna Vacca was also nominated for this award.
🥇 Current second-year student Johnny Turner (saxophone) won the James Morrison Instrumental Scholarship. Open to young jazz instrumentalists 19 years and under, this scholarship $10,000 to support the development of emerging artists and further their musical careers. Johnny also directed his St Peter’s Boys Division 4 Stage Band to a win!
The Elder Conservatorium has had a long history of winners in one category, but never both at the same time! A huge congratulations to Marina and Johnny! 👏
Our graduates Jackson Mack (drums), Tasha Stevens (bass) and Jasmine Hall (trombone) – plus Johnny Turner (baritone saxophone) – were also extremely impressive in the Australian Youth Jazz Orchestra, performing alongside (and under the direction of) celebrated European jazz composer/trumpeter Bert Joris.
Join internationally acclaimed guest Patrick Sheridan, renowned US tuba soloist, pioneer of the Breathing Gym, and represented Jupiter and XO Brass artist, for an afternoon of participatory classes and ensembles especially for our tuba community! Tuba, euphonium, and baritone players of all ages and abilities are invited to participate. Trombone players are also most welcome to attend the first two sessions (Guided Warm-up and Breathing Gym). Patrick appears courtesy of Jupiter Band Instruments and XO Professional Brass.
All ensemble parts will be made available on the day in both C bass clef and Bb/Eb treble clef.
📅 Sunday 31 May 1.00pm–5.00pm
📍 Madley Rehearsal Studio
More info and tickets 👉 link in bio.
On Friday 8 May, our Jazz Honours Ensemble celebrated the extraordinary legacy of Hoagy Carmichael, one of the key architects of the Great American Songbook. A special congratulations to Timothy Shephard (violin and vocals), Andrew Draper (trumpet), Caelin Corda (guitar), Chris Allen (bass) and Ethan Douglass (drums) for their performances (and arrangements!) of iconic standards such as 'Up the Lazy River', 'The Nearness of You', 'Two Sleepy People', 'Georgia on My Mind', 'Heart and Soul', 'Skylark', and 'Stardust', and a huge thanks to Lauren Logozzo (guest vocals) and ensemble director Mark Simeon Ferguson (piano).
Please do consider joining us for our next jazz concert on Thursday 28 May (7.30pm) in Scott Theatre. Under the direction of its new leader Alex Taylor, our Elder Conservatorium Big Band will play the music of Australian composers – including works from Perica, Panichi, Voss, Francis and Ferguson.
Current students and graduates from the Elder Conservatorium are invited to attend an exclusive Open Masterclass with visiting artist, saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist Troy Roberts. Troy will workshop with three student ensembles, providing critique, feedback, solutions, and creative challenges. Dr Lyndon Gray, Lecturer in Jazz Bass at the Elder Conservatorium, will facilitate a conversation with Troy on band-leading, side-personning, and workshopping original material.
Now based in New York City, Troy Roberts trained at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA), graduating with Honours at the young age of 19 and holds a Master of Music from the University of Miami (2007). He is a three-time GRAMMY Award nominee and was a semi-finalist in the prestigious Thelonious Monk International Jazz Saxophone Competition.
📅 Thursday 14 May 4.30pm
📍 Scott Theatre
Register / book tickets 👉 link in bio.
