Ensemble Offspring

Announcing our biggest and boldest program of 2026: The Oracle. On June 3 & 5, two innovative works receive their Australian premieres. English composer Tansy Davies has written 'Lost Science' as an imaginary journey into the Earth’s interior. She evokes ancient spaces that ‘speak to us in moans, groans, echoes and whispers’, summoning visions of the Divine Feminine, from Isis to Joan of Arc. Rounding out the program is a second Australian premiere by Kate Moore, 'Rose of roses, flower of flowers', first heard in New York in 2025 and now presented in Australia to celebrate the 70th birthday of its commissioner, Mark Wakely. Wednesday 3 June, Sydney Friday 5 June, Canberra Book your tickets now at ensembleoffspring.com #TheOracle #EnsembleOffspring Image description: Percussionist Claire Edwardes holds a tambourine in front of a background of red roses.

Welcome to Ensemble Offspring's 2026 Season! We’re buzzing with excitement about what’s ahead as we leap into a fresh era of bold and boundary-pushing new sounds. You’ll get to hear legendary composers such as Steve Reich and Kate Moore alongside incredible new voices. We're bring our signature adventurous spirit to a mix of intimate and iconic Sydney venues, from cosy private homes to ACO On the Pier and the Sydney Opera House. Subscription packages are now available for 2026. Take a look and purchase yours now through the link in bio.

Avant Gardens Autumn (in Woollahra and Hurlstone Park) presented us with stunning Sydney weather, engaged and satisfied capacity audiences and the most generous and hospitable hosts! A stunning world premiere for Lamorna, Niki and Ben by Jack Symonds rounded out an eclectic, entertaining and intimate program for flutes, percussion and double bass. “Nightingale stood out in this performance, effortlessly moving between bass flutes and piccolos, amidst an expertly woven tapestry of melodic fragments. Symonds maintains fantastic command over the polyphony of this work, brilliantly subverting the registral cliches of the instruments to great effect.” Read the full review by Louis Wishart at classikon.com Thanks to Oliver Miller for the gorgeous photos!

Come witness Kate Moore’s virtuosic percussion concerto in Sydney on June 3 at ACO On The Pier featuring world-class percussionist Claire Edwardes. Venture into the heart of a storm with our expanded 14-piece sinfonietta sized ensemble! Find out more and book your tickets now at ensembleoffspring.com #TheOracle #EnsembleOffspring Image by Andy Catlin

While snapshots from our UK/Europe tour have been filling our socials lately, we also wanted to share these stunning professional images from London, Edinburgh and Glasgow. Our heartfelt thanks go once again to presenters Kelly Lovelady (Ruthless Jabiru) and Matthew Whiteside (The Night With…) for their creativity, generosity, organisational brilliance and unwavering enthusiasm in bringing an Australian new music ensemble to audiences in London and Scotland. We could not have wished for more inspiring collaborators. We’re equally grateful to the wonderful, packed audiences who joined us throughout the tour. Your warmth and support made these performances truly special. Image credits: 1-3 by Andy Catlin, 4-7 by Marcin Hlawaczek (hlavi), 8-10 by Monika Mabiki

Tickets for this weekend's Avant Gardens concerts are almost sold out, with only a few left for Sunday May 10 in Hurlstone Park. This is a concert you won't want to miss, celebrating women in music with performers Lamorna Nightingale (flutes), Benjamin Ward (double bass) and Niki Johnson (percussion). Get your tickets now at EnsembleOffspring.com #AvantGardens #EnsembleOffspring

EOIs for our inaugural Burranbala program are now open! A 1-week creative exchange for First Nations musicians. Burranbala (meaning ‘catalyst’ in Yuwaalaraay language) is an exciting new music residency led by Director Nardi Simpson alongside First Nations leaders, which centres Indigenous perspectives and modes of working together. Four invited participants from NSW will join with a diverse team of musicians for an experience of sharing and experimentation at Bundanon, on, and with, beautiful Dharawal/Dhurga country. Learn from artists such as Nardi Simpson and Nicole Smede (pictured). Burranbala invites all present into a period of co-learning/leading, celebrating the unique knowledges and practices we each carry. Through yarns and guided activities we will try new things, learn from each other, and expand concepts of being a musician. We ask - what can ‘art music’ mean, when Indigenous ways of knowing and making are leading the way? Rather than a distinct-sounding ‘genre’, could it instead be a site for reclamation, resistance, and resurgence; a home for our stories, told in our ways? We invite you to reimagine the possibilities with us. Find out more information and fill out the short application form at EnsembleOffspring.com Images: Nardi Simpson by Stephen Wilson Barker, Nicole Smede by Stephen Wilson Barker

This Mother's Day weekend, May 9 & 10, hear iconic works from around the globe - be immersed in the beauty of Jane Stanley's Desert Rose; bear witness to masterpieces by two iconic female composers Sofia Gubaidulina and Kaija Saariaho; and hear revolutionary exploratory music by Anthony Braxton and Pauline Oliveros. Performed by Lamorna Nightingale (flutes), Niki Johnson (percussion) and Benjamin Ward (double bass), join us for an exciting afternoon of innovative and cutting-edge music. Tickets are almost gone. Book yours at EnsembleOffspring.com before you miss out. Saturday 9 May, Woollahra, Sydney *SOLD OUT* Sunday 10 May (Mother's Day), Hurlstone Park, Sydney *SELLING FAST* #AvantGardens #EnsembleOffspring Images: Jane Stanley by Elly Lucas, Sofia Gubaidulina by Bodil Maroni, Kaija Saariaho, Anthony Braxton, Pauline Oliveros

Without a day to spare Claire, Jason and Lamorna hopped on a plane to Edinburgh from London City Airport ready for their Saturday night performance in the beautiful city of Edinburgh. With blue skies abounding they raced to their afternoon rehearsal now joined by Glaswegian, London based cellist Louise McMonagle for the world premiere of Matthew Whiteside’s 30 minute work about scuba diving entitled Beneath the Surface. Matthew is the Artistic Director of The Night With… the organisation who hosted our Scottish escapades — he is responsible for driving us between our various performance spots, packing the van, organising the sound, operating the video in his work and being a composer so it’s a big job all round! The rest of the program is made up of works from our much loved Songbirds project including three other world premieres by Alice Chance, Felicity Wilcox and Seyoung Oh (these are all being recorded at the end of the tour as well) and for the first time we have accompanied them with images of the birds which inspired the works (for those who are not so familiar with Australian birds) and it has been really effective! The concerts in Edinburgh, Cromarty, Aberdeen and Glasgow were all in vastly different venues — an art gallery, a community hall, a lecture theatre and a bar — and it has been a true pleasure and a privilege to connect with new audiences, share Australian music and perform 4 world premieres, 4 times on consecutive nights as part of Matthew’s successful series. And then finally day 6 of our non-stop music making run saw us in the recording studio getting all the new works recorded for eventual release — so stay posted for that as there is loads of new and exciting birdsong inspired chamber music which you are all yet to hear which we hope will inspire and delight! Read more about our EU & UK tour at EnsembleOffspring.com/News Images 3/4 by Andy Catlin

Avant Gardens Autumn is the perfect concert to bring your parents - particularly your mum - this Mother's Day weekend! Lamorna, our flautist and one of our featured artists next weekend, says "Mum loves coming to Ensemble Offspring gigs because of the energy of the performances and the unexpectedness of the music. She also loves the chance to frock up!" Join us this Mother's Day, May 9 & 10, for a beautiful celebration of women in music - the perfect gift for a mum who’s hard to buy for. Tickets are selling fast! Book yours now at EnsembleOffspring.com #AvantGardens #EnsembleOffspring Pictured: Lamorna's parents next to an Ensemble Offspring banner of her!

We're excited to be welcoming Niki Johnson to Avant Gardens Autumn as both a performer and composer! Niki has composed a piece titled 'Under Ocean's Skin', dedicated to her late mother. This work emulates the feeling of being submerged in and embraced by the ocean on a warm summer's day, connecting this sensation with that of love emanating through the body. Come experience Niki's heartfelt work and world-class playing this Mother's Day weekend in Sydney, May 9 & 10. Saturday 9 May, Woollahra, Sydney *SELLING FAST Sunday 10 May (Mother's Day), Hurlstone Park, Sydney Reserve your tickets now via the link in bio. #AvantGardens #EnsembleOffspring

Our collaborative concert with Ruthless Jabiru @ruthlessjabiru at Peckham Levels on Friday night had a really warm and buzzing vibe with old and new friends in tow. The unusual performance space was a converted carpark - Peckham Levels - it had a relatively low ceiling, concrete floors, a bar to one side and a surprisingly good natural acoustic! Got us thinking for potential carpark conversions back home! We started the show with Brenda Gifford’s @gifford1707 (now classic) Bardju, this time with Zubin Kanga @zubinkanga on piano plus the expanded cello and bass section on the funky bass line - such a rich chunky sound which made us all feel like pop stars on our podium behind the string orchestra. We took turns with repertoire (we performed Nardi Simpson’s @nardiga Of Stars and Birds, Robert Davidson’s Bird Riffs and Gerry Brophy’s Hummingbirds) and at the end joined forces on Thierry Pecou’s Rorqual. Some highlights of the show were Ruthless Jabiru performing Holly Harrison’s @hollyharrison_composer awe inspiring Black Ice and the feedback we received from the ex-pats in the audience (most notably the orchestra members) about Rob’s Bird Riffs which created deeply nostalgic reactions. It was great to see so many Aussie composer friends in the audience including Matthew Shlomowitz @mshlomowitz , Luke Styles @lukestylesmusic , Drew Crawford and UK composers Laurence Osborne, Florence Maunders (whose fabulous music was also on the program), Christopher Fox and Tim Parkinson. Having a bar within the venue space was a real highlight as we could launch straight into celebratory, fun times with friends - most notably the force behind Ruthless Jabiru Kelly Lovelady @kellylovelady with whom it was a pleasure and a privilege to collaborate! Thanks Kelly for all your hard work making this wonderful collaboration happen!