Elizabeth Sheppard Media

Copyright ©️ Elizabeth Sheppard 2023. All Rights Reserved.

In 2023 many factional divisions in Australian society have been exposed and discussed, in truth telling workshops and rehearsals, in online media, and in hard talk dialogue sessions. Australians have gathered together to help those affected by disasters, through constructive community action and songmaking, but the ultimate Reconciliation is still pending. Many Australian composers and music fans have come to believe that only uniquely Australian, home grown music that’s grounded in Australian Indigenous Country, and demonstrates deep respect for one or more named Australian Indigenous cultures and its Elders, can gather and voice the soul of Australia. We’ve come a long was from March 2020, when the Covid pandemic hit us. In 2023 Australia’s musicians are still faced with huge challenges, but now we’re much better prepared to deal with them.

In 2020 I’d just begun Postgraduate music studies at the Australian National University School of Music, after completing nine scored pieces for my Ngarra Burria First Peoples Composer internship in 2018, and composing two commissioned pieces (Karlinkiri Hearth and Untitled) in 2019, that were performed at The Australian Museum and the Sydney Opera House. In 2020 my creative output increased; I surprised myself by drafting three new pieces in quick succession, and revising four earlier drafts. This momentum increased in 2021 and 2022, when I completed eighteen commissioned works and many more drafts, and the music continues to flow in 2023, with my latest EP album of Australian carols and interludes, Karollini, professionally recorded by Antony Pitts and Tonus Australis, due for release in September 2023. AProf. Christopher Sainsbury, Ensemble Offspring, The Song Company, River City Voices, Sydney Living Museums, Dr. Sally Walker and Dr. Scott Davie have continued to support and guide my composition studies, and I extend my sincere thanks to them.

In 2016 to 2023 my music has been tested, professionally performed, recorded, produced and released in partnership with Mooghalin Arts, Anmatjere Arrernte Songwoman Rhubee Neale, Dharawal Inuk composer and soprano Sonya Holowell, Biripai opera tenor Elias Wilson, conductor and baritone Antony Pitts, Reconciliation for Western Sydney Inc., Eora Aboriginal College of TAFE, the Australian Music Centre, Ensemble Offspring, Roland Peelman, the RAN Band Wind Quintet, Dr. Scott Davie, Dr. Sally Walker and harpist Emily Granger, River City Voices Choir, The Song Company and Tonus Australis. This music was produced with assistance from the Indigenous Composers Initiative program, an ANU AGRTP Postgraduate Scholarship, and the 2021 ANU School of Music Indigenous Music Scholarship. Eora and Tranby Aboriginal Colleges have also supported my music with musical, cultural and legal training.

This has been a time of environmental turmoil, community reflection and impending change, that I and many other Australian composers have tried to depict and ease in our music. Through music, many factional divisions in Australian society have been exposed and discussed, in truth telling workshops and rehearsals, in online media, and in hard talk dialogue sessions. Australians have gathered together to help those affected by disasters, through constructive community action and songmaking. The ultimate Reconciliation is still pending. All Australians have taken part, in various ways, in live and online community gatherings, and this intensive process is ongoing. During this time, many Australian composers and music fans have also come to believe that only uniquely Australian, home grown music that’s grounded in Australian Indigenous Country, and demonstrates deep respect for one or more named Australian Indigenous cultures and its Elders, can gather and voice the soul of Australia.