April 2025
From Artistic Director
Gabriella Smart…
2025 is an exciting and busy year for Soundstream, and particularly for the Inarma Choir, who are artists in residence at the upcoming Emerging Composers Forum, during which they will perform in concert at Lot 50-Kananyapilla (McLaren Vale) on Saturday May 18th. The Choir will also be participating in a Law and Culture gathering and gospel singing workshop in Alice Springs in July, and rehearsals with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra in August.
In 2026, the Choir will sing in the world premiere of their new orchestral work with the ASO, commissioned with support from Arts South Australia. This performance is the culmination of a three-year project which sees the Inarma Choir focusing on intergenerational transmission of knowledge. It’s been an extraordinary journey between three generations of women who are all close family, and who share the same Tjukurpa across five remote communities 1000 kms across central Australia.
Image: Orchestrator Connor Fogarty and Inarma Choir Elder Josie Mulda at Kulgera, en route to Pukatja from Alice Springs.
I’ve just returned from a field trip to Alice Springs and Pukatja with Connor Fogarty, a composer and arranger who will be orchestrating the choir’s new work, and three Inarma Choir Elders from Titjikala Community. In Alice Springs we picnicked at Emily Gap with twenty women from Titjikala, Amoonguna and Pukatja, sharing stories, singing, and discussing future plans.
Then a seven-hour drive to Pukatja, where Inarma Choir Elders decided on the format of their new work. Makinti Minutjukur and Katrina Tjitayi from Pukatja will compose the work in close collaboration with all of the choir members. It’s been an extraordinary experience and a privilege to be on Country with these powerful women! The Inarma Choir are supported by Creative Australia, Arts South Australia and Adelaide University through the Australian Research Council.
On another note, and in another part of the country, I'm performing two concerts in Melbourne on April 13th and 15th with extraordinary long-time collaborator Cat Hope, and for the first time with trailblazer, Nylstoch. Hope to see you there.
Gabriella Smart
Artistic Director
Emerging Composers Forum
May 15th-19th
Meet the participants
Top left: Isabella Rahme. Top right: Oscar Lush. Centre left: Vicki Hallett. Centre right: Georgia Oatley. Bottom left: Frankie Dyson Reilly.
Upcoming performances
Gabriella Smart will be performing in Narrm (Melbourne) in April at the following events:
Sunday 13th April - NORLA
Gabriella Smart, Cat Hope, Nylstoch Rainer Linz, Bridgid Small
3-7pm, Mission to Seafarers, 717 Flinders Street, Docklands.
Monday 15th April - Make It Up Club
Full line-up to be announced - follow @makeitupclub on Instagram
or email makeitupclub@gmail.com for more details
317 Fitzroy Street, Brunswick.
