Lisa Cheney | Musician/band
Lisa Cheney
Reviews
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25.01.2022 Just 4 days left in The Owl & the Pussycat Pozible recording campaign! Thank you so much to all the wonderful friends who have supported it this far. Can you help us get this over the line? #hootandmeow #childrensopera
24.01.2022 I'm so looking forward to this concert with Jenna Robertson, soprano and Alex Raineri Pianist tomorrow, Sat 12 September, 6pm AEST as part of Brisbane Music Festival. Super thrilled that they've included my little Lullaby. Tune in from wherever you are for an hour of wonderful music (program below). https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/around-the-world-2020-brisb Leonard Bernstein: Glitter and be Gay from Candide... Jules Massenet: Adieu notre petite table from Manon Francis Poulenc: Les chemins de l’amour Francis Poulenc: Improvisation #15 in C minor, Hommage à Edith Piaf Sebastian Harris: A mother reserves the right from Otsukaresama Lisa Cheney: Lullaby Igor Stravinsky: No Word from Tom from The Rake’s Progress George Gershwin (arr. Finnissy): They’re Writing Songs of Love But Not for Me George Gershwin: Embraceable You Traditional: My Lagan Love John Ireland: The Trellis Traditional: The Fidgety Bairn Traditional: The Wee Cooper of Fife
24.01.2022 It's been just over a year since we lost the beautiful and inspiring music conductor and educator Richard Gill AO. I feel very privileged to have completed this arrangement of a Liszt's Nuages Gris for the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra's 'TSO In Your Classroom' project. It's heartwarming see how Richard used it as a teaching tool for high school students in this video. If you're a teacher, I highly recommend that you check out the TSO's FREE resources to use in your classroom.... As part of the resources found at the link below, students can listen to and engage with the work Nuages Gris as arranged for orchestra by me. In completing tasks, students will engage with listening, analysis, creating and performing. The tasks in this module can be used as part of a course and assessment under the Australian Curriculum (ACAMUM 100/102/104) or as part of the relevant senior secondary course within your jurisdiction. https://www.tso.com.au/tso-in-your-classroom/ Perhaps you're a primary school teacher? Then you should check out the resources for my arrangement of Tingalayo here too. It's all free! All children deserve access to quality music education. Let's continue Richard's legacy together. Please share these resources with your friends. https://www.tso.com.au/tingalayo/ https://youtu.be/MN7jMzsRLEY #musiceduction #TSOinyourclassroom #australiancomposers #arranging #tso #RichardGill
23.01.2022 A few fantastic performances coming up this week! 1. Melbourne: Thursday 7:30pm six-four X Spiral join forces to perform a concert of new music, including my trio 'No Distant Place' for Clarinets, Violin and Piano (originally commissioned by Plexus). This is sold out online, but if you're like me and forgot to register, there's a good chance there'll be room when you turn up beforehand. https://www.facebook.com/events/694787971028094/... 2. Melbourne: I'm presenting the pre-concert talk for Melbourne Symphony Orchestra's performance of Humperdinck’s Hansel & Gretel in concert Thursday and Saturday. Do you have a favourite part? I would love to hear it, feel free to post in the comments below. 3. Brisbane: The ball of endless energy and musicianship that is Alex Raineri Pianist opened his Brisbane Music Festival this week. I'm thrilled that my new piano work 'Tracing Ghosts' for Alex and choreographer Katina Olsen will be premiered alongside 21 other new works by contemporary Australian composers. #4 bloodpaths (first performance) / Brisbane Music Festival opens this Friday, with a repeat performance on Sunday, December 1st. A big warm thank you to all of those who take the continue to take the time to listen, email and program my work. I'm constantly updating the 'performances' section of my website, whenever I'm informed of something new. Feel free to pop by there anytime to see what's on the horizon. https://www.lisacheney.com.au/performances
21.01.2022 I’m in the middle of an excellent week here in Sydney at the Ensemble Offspring Hatched Composers Academy! These outstanding musicians are bringing 6 beautiful and often challenging new works to life by Australian composers under the guidance of Kate Neal and Ken Thomson. It’s a real privilege. If you have a free lunch break this Friday, we would love you to pop on down for the free lunchtime composer concert and hear what we’ve been working on. Event link: https://facebook.com/events/1184556728335652/?ti=icl
17.01.2022 When people ask me about my experience writing The Owl & the Pussycat for children, there's one beautiful and overwhelming feeling that rises to the surface. It's NOT the late nights, the anxiety of hitting the mark and balancing quality art music and entertainment for young people, the laughter in the rehearsal room, the collaboration, the learning, or even hearing the music come together for the first time. IT WAS turning up show after show and watching the kids sit engaged... for an entire 45 minutes, to hear their squeals of laughter, their big wide eyes as they drunk in the beautiful messages of love and acceptance crafted by Kathryn Marquet and the slightly offbeat, colourful and at times experimental musical sound worlds. My heart was/is filled with so much joy to serve our little people in this way and that's why I believe so strongly that it's time to record the work! A quality recording is an integral part of assisting the beautiful piece of Australian art music, writing, theatre and opera to live on in the ears and eyes of young people for many years to come. Can you help Little Match Productions and I to partially fund our original cast recording? <3 Every dollar helps more than you could imagine. #childrensopera #hootandmeow #australianmusic #artmusic #recording https://www.pozible.com//help-record-the-owl-and-the-pussy
17.01.2022 If you're near a radio in the next hour I encourage you tune in to ABC Classic FM to enjoy one of my favourite concerts of the year. Beautiful pieces by Alice Humphries - Composer, Rosalind Page and Deborah Cheetham performed by Syzygy Ensemble. PLUS Campbell Banks plays the stuffing out of my cello work When We Speak. You can also listen to the concert online at any time via the link below. https://www.abc.net.au///song-for-dulka-warngiid/11258128
13.01.2022 Friends, thank you so much for your support my dream to record my children's work The Owl & the Pussycat. We have 9 days left to go in our crowdfunding campaign, and a scary-looking $4000 left to raise. We can do this! It's been eye-opening how much money it actually takes to record a brand new 45-minute piece of art music/opera/musical hybrid (our crowdfunding campaign will almost cover half). I have an awakened sense of awareness surrounding how easy it is for new Austral...ian work to completely disappear out of the public eye without limitless funds and the ability to share it long into the future. If we reach the target this recording will be used to: 1. to create an album of the music AND 2. an audio storybook of the entire show for kids to listen to as a podcast, in the car, falling asleep etc. We're really proud to be adding quality content to an often underserved area of art music, for young audiences. Help us reach our funding target via our Pozible campaign here: https://www.pozible.com//help-record-the-owl-and-the-pussy A little taste: Kathryn Marquet wrote a beautiful original story with contemporary themes of adventure, love, and, most importantly, acceptance. Each day this week I'll be sharing a link to a secret recording of a musical number from the premiere performance of the show back at the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games Cultural Festival. Picture us in a tent, on Surfers Paradise beach (having just braved cyclonic winds and helicopters overhead - hellooo, studio recording soon!) and watching little kids in their swimmers or green and gold cheer outfits shyly enter our pea-green boat and sit on a green cushion on the floor waiting to be taken on a journey to the land where the "bong tree grows". In the live recording below, Owl (Sarah Murr) convinces a very scared Pussycat (Irena Lysiuk) that there are no monsters under the water and that they shouldn't be afraid of the dark. Accompanied by our trio of onstage Puffins (instrumentalists): Daniel Byrne (clarinet), Andrew Chamberlain (cello) and Rebecca Lloyd-Jones (percussion). Enjoy my very Rabbits-esque duet , and imagine what this could sound like in a studio recording! [Note: this secret link will be reset at the end of the crowdfunding campaign so that the next time you hear it will be the studio original cast recording] Listen here: https://soundcloud.com//dont-be-afraid-of-the-dark/s-L7XPe Commissioned by Little Match Productions with support from the APRA AMCOS Art Music Music Fund. #sharethelove #childrensopera #hootandmeow #australianmusic #artmusic #recording #artforkids #puffins #newmusic #australiancomposers
12.01.2022 Very excited to receive a copy of the Sydney Antiphony's new CD, 'Memoriam'. It includes the first commercially available recording of my choral work 'Drought', with text by the late Australian poet, Judith Wright. It also includes utterly beautiful works by Chris Williams and Brooke Shelley! Get your copy of the album here: https://sydneyantiphony.ecwid.com/CD-Memoriam-p109122262
12.01.2022 Very humbled to be a finalist with my Making Waves New Music partner in crime, Peggy Polias for a 'Diversity in Music' award at the 2019 AWMA Awards. If you love listening to new Australian art music, give Making Waves New Music a visit and do whatever you can to support Australian composers, a thriving new music community and our beautiful volunteer team in any way you can. #makenewmusic
10.01.2022 I'm over the moon to share that The Owl & the Pussycat will be sailing to lots of Australian locations on tour from April to July this year! If you live in QLD or the Eastern Coast of Australia this is your chance to bring the whole family on our beautiful musical adventure. Kathryn Marquet and I had so much fun collaborating with a cast of wonderful musicians, creatives and Little Match Productions. We can't wait to share this with you, small and big kids alike! For tickets and venue info follow link below: https://www.littlematchproductions.com/the-owl-the-pussycat
10.01.2022 This is a fresh breath of air in these strange times! I'm honoured that Plexus (amazing humans and musicians) will be performing my 2015 commissioned work 'No Distant Place' this Friday evening via the Melbourne Digital Concert Hall. No Distant Place is in two movements, and was inspired by a poem of the same name by Derek Bourne-Jones that I came across in a family cemetery, located on a rock in the centre of a beautiful ‘Garden of No Distant Place’. The powerful words of t...he poem eloquently touched on many feelings that I had had up until to that point about life, loss, sacrifice, eternity and most importantly, love. This concert also features works by some special composers/friends: Nat Bartsch, Peggy Polias, Melissa Douglas and the powerhouse that is Deborah Cheetham. It is part of a larger series of concerts over the weekend featuring works by some of my favourite composers. Thank you to Monica Curro, Stefan Cassomenos and Philip Arkinstall. Join us where ever you are in the world. Tickets and details for this concert here: melbournedigitalconcerthall.com/women-in-music-festival-pl/ Information on all four concerts in this series here: https://melbournedigitalconcerthall.com/women-in-music-fe/
10.01.2022 Throughout the second half of 2019 I had lots of fun collaborating on a new commission for the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra Chorus. The brief was to explore the concept of 'time' and I loved sourcing my text from within the choir itself. 'Go Back and Start Again' was premiered by June Tyzack and the TSO chorus at MONA FOMA Festival in Hobart across the weekend of 17-19 Janaury, 2020. Our fearless chorus sang and spoke this work from memory in a haunting and pitch black space ...over multiple days of the festival as audiences entered the space at different times throughout the day. Imagining this sung in the dark was incredbly inspiring during the composition process. I just love the wonderful folks at the TSO who have been so supportive of my music. They're incredible champions of Australian music and I can't wait to work with them again. I look forward to recording and sharing this work in the near future, but for now please enjoy a little preview of the score (with the assistance of your imaginations).
08.01.2022 Thank you to the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra and Jenny Compton for including my work 'Echoes and Threads' in this wonderful initiative. TUNE IN is a collection of 48 stand-alone pages of activities that can be completed independently, online. TUNE IN is for everyone; students, families and life-long learners. TUNE IN introduces students to a range of orchestral works from the Baroque, Classical and Romantic periods, as well as six works specifically written for children by l...iving Australian composers Jessica Wells, Paul Stanhope, Matthew Hindson, Maria Grenfell, Lisa Cheney and Julian Yu. Each page provides a video opportunity for students to meet an Australian composer or a TSO musician. Students will learn about sound production and the science behind this. TSO musicians will demonstrate how technological innovations developed over hundreds of years have led to the creation of the instruments that are played today. A ten-question online quiz, targeted at upper primary students and beyond, is provided on every TUNE IN page. Questions will refer to information shared in the video and on the page. TUNE IN worksheets, suitable for lower primary classrooms, are available on each page. https://www.tso.com.au/tune-in/
07.01.2022 On Wednesday I was honoured to attend a celebration of the Australian women in music who inspire us. It was particularly humbling to be there representing the team at Making Waves New Music as finalists in ‘Diversity in Music’ award. I would love to introduce you to my date to the AWMA Awards, Dr. Brydie Leigh Bartleet of the Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University. Brydie was my Master's supervisor and a huge influence on why gender equity and feminist scholarship is so important in my own practise and to the work Peggy, the team and I do on Making Waves. A huge shoutout to all the strong female-identifying creatives making waves in their fields. #awma2019
06.01.2022 I'm so proud to share that The Owl and the Pussycat album is finally here! Featuring my favourite songs from our beautiful children's show, as performed by an incredible ensemble. Available for purchase and streaming on all of your favourite music sites. Please share the love with your little (and big) kids alike. More at the link below. #hootandmeow Little Match Productions https://lisacheney.wordpress.com//the-owl-and-the-pussyca/
06.01.2022 This is so special! Introducing 'Don't Be Afraid of the Dark' from The Owl and Pussycat children's opera. In the live show, our little audience holds their hands in the air and wiggles their fingers to create the sparkling stars that help Owl and Cat find their way across the ocean to Bong Tree Bay. Stay tuned for the album coming soon! #hootandmeow And if you have little ones at home, head on over to https://www.littlematchproductions.com/ to keep updated with Little Critters Club content.
05.01.2022 My thanks to Vanessa Hughes and team from ABC Classic for giving my choral work ‘Drought’, sung by the magnificent Sydney Antiphony, with text by Judith Wright a spin on Drive last night. It’s always a thrill and surreal feeling to hear your own work on the radio sandwiched between Einaudi and Beethoven.
05.01.2022 As a composer, teacher and active member of our vibrant arts community, I call on the Australian Government to recognise the contribution of the Australian Arts sector with an inclusive support package that benefits all artists during the difficult time, and well into the future. #createaustraliasfuture #auspol Josh Frydenberg Scott Morrison (ScoMo)
04.01.2022 Day #1 of 2, recording The Owl & the Pussycat album and story book What a joy! So lovely to be back at my second home, the QLD Con too. David Spearritt
03.01.2022 Listen here: https://gyro.lnk.to/TheOwlandThePussycat
03.01.2022 Friends, please consider supporting this beautiful online concert of art song this Saturday (US) or Sunday morning (AUS) with Amber Evans - Soprano and Jeremy Chan. They are committing to donate large portions of the ticket sales to various BLM charities, including ActBlue, NAACP, Brooklyn Community Bail Fund, but also to Australian charities, including Change the Record and the Healing Foundation. They've also publically acknowledge the whiteness of their program and have pl...edged to improve this in the future. I'm honoured to have one of my earliest works, a 'Lullaby' included. The program includes: *indicates world premiere **indicates US premiere Robert Davidson 2020 (2020)** - solo piano version (The Four Seasons) Miriam Hyde The Cedar Tree** (1944) Phyllis Batchelor Autumn (date unknown) Miriam Hyde Winter Willow Music** (1955) Esther Rofe Dinah's Song** (1987) (Insomnia Cures) Peggy Glanville-Hicks Come Sleep (1938) Lisa Cheney - Composer Lullaby** (2012) Aristéa Mellos Songs of Resignation: Four Settings of Constantine Cavafy (2019) I. Walls II. I brought to art III. Candles IV. Voices Katie Noonan mists of ruse** (2003) Melissa Dunphy IV. from Tesla’s Pigeon (2010) Margaret Tesch-Muller Music There is a Solemn Wind Tonight**(2016) Robert Davidson 2020 (2020) - voice/piano version* Saturday June 20th, 8pm (US EST), Sunday June 21st, 10am (AUS EST). Tickets: $5-50 (pay what you can)
