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The Origin Cycle

Event

The Origin Cycle

  • Date: Friday, 13 November 2009, 7:00pm
  • Venue: Peter Karmel Building, ANU School of Music — Canberra, ACT
  • Tickets: This is a free event

Event Details

Charles Darwin’s Origin of Species is not only one of the most important scientific works of all time, but one of the most beautifully written. In The Origin Cycle for soprano and chamber ensemble, fragments of Darwin’s great book are set to music by Australian composers Elliott Gyger, Elena Kats-Chernin, Kate Neal, Rosalind Page, Paul Stanhope, Nicholas Vines, and Dan Walker.

In celebration of the 2009 bicentennial of Darwin’s birth and 150 years since the first publication of the Origin, this performance by Ensemble Offspring and soprano Jane Sheldon will take place among the exhibits of the Australian Museum. The passages chosen encompass the entire work, capturing the many facets of a Darwinian view of nature and summarising what Darwin called the ‘one long argument’ contained in the Origin. They include the passages introducing his most famous and enduring images – the ‘tree of life’ connecting all species, the vision of nature as a surface into which wedges are unceasingly struck, and the book’s final invocation of ‘grandeur in this view of life’.

Further information for this event is available online at the event's website

Featured Australian Works

Comparing the eye to a telescope : soprano with ensemble (2009) by Barry Conyngham — World premiere
— performed by Roland Peelman, Jane Sheldon and Ensemble Offspring
Economy of wax : for soprano, flute/piccolo, viola and harp (2009) by Nicholas Vines
— performed by Roland Peelman, Jane Sheldon and Ensemble Offspring
Entangled bank by Paul Stanhope
— performed by Ensemble Offspring, Jane Sheldon and Roland Peelman
Floreana by Rosà Lind Page
— performed by Ensemble Offspring, Jane Sheldon and Roland Peelman
History imperfectly kept by Dan Walker
— performed by Roland Peelman, Jane Sheldon and Ensemble Offspring
Hourly scrutinising : (yet to be assigned) (2009) by Kate Neal
— performed by Ensemble Offspring, Jane Sheldon and Roland Peelman
Digital sheet music sample The face of nature : for soprano and ensemble (2009) by Elliott Gyger
— performed by Ensemble Offspring, Roland Peelman and Jane Sheldon
Tree of life by Elena Kats-Chernin
— performed by Roland Peelman, Jane Sheldon and Ensemble Offspring

Featured artists

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