Celebrating jazz

Local jazz trio ER@SER DESCRIPTION and Women in Jazz Adelaide will lead International Jazz Day celebrations at the Dunstan Playhouse on April 30.

Featuring two synth players and a drummer, ER@SER DESCRIPTION will present their blend of jazz, fusion, pop and soul with original material at the concert, while Women in Jazz’s nine-piece collective The New Standard will showcase songs “from pioneering female jazz composers through to fresh contemporary releases”.

The International Jazz Day concert is presented annually by the Adelaide Festival Centre, with the 2023 event ­– featuring the Women in Jazz Adelaide Big Band – proving a sell-out. An inaugural Adelaide Jazz Festival is also planned for April 28-30 this year, with performances by groups including Django Rowe Quartet, Lucky Seven and Soylent Green.

A new patch for Patch

The Patch Theatre team outside their new HQ. Photo: Andrew Beveridge

Children’s theatre company Patch has moved from Angas Street to a new multi-use space in Kent Town which artistic director Geoff Cobham says will enable it to keep up with the demand for its work and continue to create engaging arts experiences.

“Having a rehearsal space, workshop, and storage at one location is an absolute game-changer for us,” Cobham says of the premises at 63 King William Street. “It saves us time, keeps the team together, and provides us with the space to create and play whenever inspiration strikes.”

More than 56,000 children and families experienced Patch’s shows last year, and in 2023 it is touring its theatre performance ZOOOM across SA, the US and Canada, as well as presenting an in-schools program, taking the interactive installation Sea of Light around Australia, and developing four new works to premiere in 2023 and 2024.

The 9mx9m rehearsal room at the company’s new premises will also be available for Adelaide artists and arts organisations to hire.

Live at Nexus

WOMADelaide may be over for another year, but Nexus Live is keeping the world music vibe alive with two interesting performances next month.

The Red Vacuum, on April 1, is a musical performance that uses “structured improvisation” to tell the story of how an Iranian boy’s fascination with household items creates havoc for his family during their country’s war with Iraq in the 1980s. Show creator Gelareh Pour (from the duo ZÖJ, who, coincidentally, performed at Womad last year) also sings and plays the Persian bowed stringed instrument the kamancheh in The Red Vacuum, alongside former Australian Art Orchestra artistic director Peter Knight on trumpet and electronics, Kaylie Melville on percussion, and fellow ZÖJ member Brian O’Dwyer on drumkit.

On April 15, Nexus will host international cross-cultural ensemble The Three Seas, who won new fans at the 2018 OzAsia Festival with what is described as a joyous fusion of West Bengal and Himalayan folksong with contemporary sounds from Sydney and the Indian city of Kolkata. Think “spiritual jazz, rock, dub reggae and traditional North Indian instruments… alongside tribal rhythms and intricate bass line”.

Talking arts

Guildhouse is presenting two sessions curated by Sebastian Goldspink –  curator of the 2022 Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art: Free/State ­– as part of its reVision Speaker Series.

The first of the online sessions, titled R.E.P.R.E.S.E.N.T, will be held on April 4 and feature Reko Rennie (whose work was exhibited in Free/State) and Amrita Hepi discussing the added pressure First Nations artists have to represent their people, and how this role can be both a privilege and a burden.

In the second session ­– Country & Western, April 12 ­– speakers Tess Allas, Dennis Golding and Carmen Glynn-Braun will explore the increasing presence of public art by First Nations artists.

Both sessions are being co-presented by Agency, an organisation that promotes Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art and culture, for which Goldspink is associate curator. Tickets are available here.

Music photo opportunity

The Superjesus performing at The Gov. Photo: Kerrie Geier

Gig goers and photographers are invited to submit their photos of South Australian bands and musicians for possible inclusion in an upcoming exhibition at the Adelaide Festival Centre.

“Turn Up Your Radio exhibition celebrates South Australia’s famous bands and music artists from around the state, from Sister Janet Mead to The Superjesus, and from pop, rock to hip-hop,” says the centre’s Performing Arts Collection coordinator, Helen Trepa.

“We are calling out to all bands, photographers, managers and promoters to help tell the bigger South Australian music story by adding their band images to the Turn Up Your Radio album, which will be screened as part of the exhibition. Band images from any era, genre, live or posed, almost famous and famously local are welcome.”

The exhibition, to be presented in the Festival Theatre Galleries from June 2 until August 14 as part of the AFC’s 50^th anniversary celebrations, will also include SA music memorabilia such as original handwritten song lyrics, costumes, photographs and posters. Photos can be submitted here before April 13.

Best of Baroque

Early-music ensemble Adelaide Baroque has launched its 2023 season, which will culminate with a full performance of Handel’s Messiah on historical instruments at St Peter’s Cathedral.

The season includes a four-concert Orchestral Series, beginning with three performances of Vivaldi in the Vines: an Easter Celebration: on March 31 in St Francis Cathedral in Adelaide, April 1 at St Aloysius Church in Sevenhill, and April 2 at St Mary’s Anglican Church in Burra. Further concerts will include Let the bright Seraphim: Handel’s Glory; Illustrious and Incomparable: The extraordinary woman of the Baroque; and Vivaldi at the Opera: Arias for Zelim.

The ensemble’s popular Explorations Series will return with five concerts throughout the year at the North Adelaide Baptist Church featuring solo artists and small chamber groups, while the year-ending performance of Handel’s Messiah, in collaboration with Anthony Hunt and the choir of St Peter’s, will be presented on December 22 and 23.

This year is the start of a fresh era for Adelaide Baroque, with new management led by chair Peter McBean and general manager Rob Nairn. Details of all 2023 performances can be found on the website.

Green Room is a regular column for InReview, providing quick news for people interested, or involved, in South Australian arts and culture.

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