The Traveller Without Baggage

Darwin’s own dynamic chamber group, Whistling Kite New Music (WKNM), returns to the Darwin Entertainment Centre stage this month with The Traveller Without Baggage, featuring guest pianist Georgina Lewis.

^{By Tierney White}

THE TALENTED ENSEMBLE debuted at the 2020 Darwin Festival, and features Nick Yates, who is also Artistic Director, Tara Murphy, Netanela Mizrahi, Clare Gorton and Stephanie Arnold, some of the most celebrated names in classical music in the NT.

The Traveller Without Baggage traverses vast musical territory, and presents an exciting and eclectic program of French, American and Australian chamber music featuring piano. Georgina Lewis appears regularly as a soloist and chamber musician with some of Melbourne’s most respected musicians. Yates says he’s thrilled to have her join the ranks.

“It’s very exciting. Georgie’s lovely, she’s an old friend, and she played in a piano trio in Melbourne for a long time with Steph Arnold, who’s also in Whistling Kite … She’s a lovely pianist, very thoughtful, but I think most exciting for us is that it’s our first show ever with piano,” he says.

“There’s whole worlds of music that open up when you’ve got a pianist, in terms of repertoire, and so of course we’ll be working Georgie quite hard – she’s doing a lot on the show – and it’s a broad spectrum of music from times and places.”

Yates says the repertoire is a nice cross section of everyone in the group’s interests and pieces they are passionate about.

“There are pieces that are really dear to everyone … In some ways, it’s quite broad, but that’s the thing that kind of ties the program together.”

The Traveller Without Baggage features the vibrant virtuosity of 20th Century French repertoire by Darius Milhaud, Paule Maurice and Nadia Boulanger, the post-minimalism approach of American composers John Adams and Nico Muhly, and contemporary Australian voices Anne Norman and Jabra Latham.

Yates reckons whether you know these names or not, you should head along to check it out.

“There’s exciting music, some of the Territory’s best classical musicians playing music you’ve probably never heard before, from all over the world.”

Whistling Kite New Music | The Traveller Without Baggage
WHEN THU 17 OCT | 7PM 
AT DARWIN ENTERTAINMENT CENTRE 
COST $40 | $35 CONC | $20 CHILD 
INFO yourcentre.com.au

^{Header: Paz Tassone
Thumbnail & inset: Georgina Lewis, photo: Hugo Begg}