Staff Achievements | April–May 2025

Elder Conservatorium's Head of Jazz, Mark Simeon Ferguson, has been facilitating the 'Adelaide Edition' of the UNESCO Cities of Music International Jazz Day Relay since its inception in 2023, bringing current students, recent graduates and staff together to record the year's designated composition.

At 3.23am, sitting in a hotel room in Port Augusta while on a tour with students from the Elder Conservatorium's Jazz department, Mark opened his computer and 'penned' what is now being arranged and performed by bands in cities around the world.

To celebrate UNESCO's International Jazz Day on Wednesday 30 April, the UNESCO Music Cities' International Jazz Day Relay will see artists from more than 20 cities participate and perform Mark's original composition in a montage video featuring short samples from each city, released through the 2025 Jazz Relay YouTube channel playlist. Mark and the Adelaide Edition will also perform the track live at the Adelaide Festival Centre's Jazz Day event on Wednesday 30 April at the Dunstan Playhouse at 6.00pm, as part of the Adelaide Jazz Festival. 2025's 'Edition' also features ARIA Award-winner James Muller.

'I was thinking about how important these tours are – young people, regardless of where they live, need to hear live music, and young musicians need the opportunity to workshop with more experienced ones to expand their horizons and build their confidence and resilience,' Mark said.

'Another thing in my mind was sustainability – Port Augusta used to have a coal-fired power station: now it is a hub for renewable energy with solar and wind farms and a concentrated solar thermal plant. For the sake of our future, we desperately need to keep moving in this direction and educating people to see the benefits of sustainable practices.'

'So at 3.23 am I opened my computer to write down the musical ideas that were coming to me. There is an urgency built into the piece – most phrases are three bars in length, not four – urgent action is needed both to make high quality education more accessible, and to make sustainability a priority.'

'3.23 a.m.' will be performed live by James Muller (guitar), Lucinda Wearing (guitar), Ben Spitty (trumpet / flugelhorn), Jasmine Hall (trombone), Tasha Stevens (bass), Bailey Hall (drums) and Mark Simeon Ferguson (piano) at the UNESCO International Jazz Day concert on Wednesday 30 April at 6.00pm in the Adelaide Festival Centre's Dunstan Playhouse, as part of the Adelaide Jazz Festival.

READ AN INTERVIEW WITH MARK AND CIARA FERGUSON IN GLAMADELAIDE

On Saturday 19 April, Associate Professor Luke Dollman conducted the Australian Youth Orchestra's Young Symphonists in a show-stopping Easter Saturday performance to a full house in the Snow Concert Hall at Canberra Grammar School Red Hill. Australia's finest high school-aged students lit up the stage with Jessica Wells' Uplift, Ann Carr-Boyd's Look at the Stars, Strauss's Blue Danube, and Ravel's orchestration of Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition.

On Thursday 17 April in a sold-out Sydney Opera House, a significant representation of Elder Conservatorium faculty, students and Adelaide Symphony Orchestra members – including Teddy Tahu Rhodes, baritone (Christus), Elder Con faculty Stephen King (viola), Helen Ayres (violin), Rob Nairn (bass), MPhil student Issie Watson (violin) and ASO/Adelaide Baroque members Jackie Newcomb (bassoon), Alison Rayner (violin) and Brendan O'Donnell (oboe) – took part in a stunning Australian HIP premiere of the Bach/Mendelssohn St Matthew Passion with the Sydney Philharmonia Choirs. Conducted by Elizabeth Scott, with the Australian Romantic and Classical Orchestra led by Rachael Beesley, with an all-star soloist line-up, Mendelssohn's version transformed Bach's masterwork with lush Romantic sounds and emotion. 

READ THE REVIEW IN LIMELIGHT

ABC Classic is proud to announce the release of the album Radiante, featuring the Seraphim Trio – Professor Anna Goldsworthy (piano), Dr Helen Ayres (violin) and Tim Nankervis (cello) – with Dr Stephen King (viola), celebrating the music of female composers across 160 years of history, right up to the present day. The album presents key works by four inspiring women: Germaine Tailleferre, the only female member of the groundbreaking French composer's circle 'Les Six'; Clara Schumann, who sidelined her own creative talent to make room for that of her husband Robert Schumann; the Croatian countess Dora Pejačević, who turned her back on a life of privilege to dedicate herself to music; and a world premiere from rising Australian star Elizabeth Younan.

Seraphim Trio is renowned for the breadth of its vision and the expressive power of its performances. At the heart of its dynamic program of concerts, touring, teaching and recording is a commitment to the music of female composers: 'When we first began playing together as Seraphim Trio,' says the ensemble's pianist, Professor Anna Goldsworthy, 'it rarely occurred to us to seek out music by women composers – something that now seems astonishing. Today, championing female voices is central to our mission, and it has been our great pleasure to record these brilliant works.'

Tracklist

      Germaine Tailleferre (1892–1983)
      Piano Trio

1.     I. Allegro animato
2.    II. Allegro vivace
3.    III. Moderato
4.    IV. Très animé

      Clara Schumann (1819–1896)
      Piano Trio in G minor, Op. 17

5.     I. Allegro moderato
6.     II. Scherzo. Tempo di Menuetto
7.     III. Andante
8.     IV. Allegretto

       Elizabeth Younan (b. 1994)
 9.    Piano Trio

      Dora Pejačević (1885–1923)
      Piano Quartet in D minor, Op. 25

10.   I. Allegro
11.   II. Adagio
12.   III. Minuetto. Allegretto
13.   IV. Rondo. Allegro

Artists

Seraphim Trio
Helen Ayres (violin)
Timothy Nankervis (cello)
Anna Goldsworthy (piano)

Stephen King (viola) (tracks 10–13)

The album will be available to purchase and stream from Friday 2 May.

PURCHASE OR STREAM ONLINE

As the ABC begins a two-month celebration of the piano, pianist, writer and Elder Conservatorium Communications Manager Dr Dylan Henderson discusses the heartwarming new television series, The Piano, with classical pianist Andrea Lam, who is one of the judges, two of the show's participants, and ABC Classic's Megan Burslem in an essay titled 'Keys to a Brighter World', published in the May print edition of Limelight.

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Professor Anna Goldsworthy joined her father, writer Peter Goldsworthy, for a presentation and interview by Diana Glenn, at the Ramsay Centre for Western Civilisation in Sydney on Wednesday 23 April. The following night, Anna Goldsworthy gave a reading from her novel-in-progress at the Dog-Eared Readings in Adelaide.

Our Head of Woodwinds, Lloyd Van't Hoff, had a busy ANZAC long weekend at the Blackheath Chamber Music Festival in New South Wales (Friday 25–Sunday 27 April), performing alongside a stellar lineup of some of Australia's greatest musicians, including Lior (voice), Alexandra Osborne (violin), Dimity Hall (violin), Justin Williams (violin), Julian Smiles (cello), David Campbell (double bass), Andrea Lam (piano), Rebecca Lagos (percussion), Diana Doherty (oboe), Alexandre Oguey (cor anglais), Emma Jardine (violin), Rachel Siu (cello), Bernadette Harvey (piano), Eliza Shephard (flute), Matthew Wilkie (bassoon), Michael Duke (saxophone), Harry Bennetts (violin), Jennifer Eriksson (viola da gamba), David Campbell (double bass), Jaan Pallandi (double bass), Louis Johnson (harp), Reginald Mobley (countertenor), Madeleine Easton (violin), Simone Slattery (violin), Rafael Font (violin/viola), James Tarbotton (violin), Deidre Dowling (viola), Anthea Cottee (cello), Pippa Macmillan (double bass) and Neal Peres Da Costa (harpsichord). The festival received a five-star review in Limelight.

READ THE REVIEW

Dr Oliver Fartach-Naini has curated an Elder Conservatorium Spotify playlist to showcase the recordings made by our staff.