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Bellingen Muse is very proud to announce that our ‘Artist in Residence’ group for 2025 is…
Ensemble Offspring is Australia’s leading new music group, standing at the forefront of musical innovation.
Led by internationally acclaimed percussionist Claire Edwardes OAM, the ensemble unites the country’s most fearless and virtuosic instrumentalists with a core “pierrot plus one” line up of flute, clarinet, violin, cello, piano and percussion.
Together, they create “visceral, joyous music” (Sydney Morning Herald) through kaleidoscopically varied performances that blaze a trail for Australian music.
Ensemble Offspring will perform 3 full concerts during the festival, plus a cameo performance at the Gala Opening.
Ensemble Offspring performers at Bellingen Muse 2025 are shown below.
ARIA award-winning pianist Tamara-Anna Cislowska is one of Australia’s most renowned, respected and celebrated classical pianists, performing and recording in Australia and internationally to critical and public acclaim.
She is well known to many in our region from her sparkling duet performance with Elena Kats-Chernin at the festival in 2017, as well as her very popular ‘Duet’ program on ABC Classic radio.
Having earned international prizes in London, Italy and Greece Tamara’s accolades also include ABC Young Performer of the Year (at the age of 14), and the 2015 ARIA award for ‘Best Classical Album’.
With over 8 million streams annually on Spotify alone and ten ARIA no.1 albums for ABC Classics, Deutsche Grammophon and Naxos, Tamara is undoubtedly one of Australia’s most globally recognised pianists in classical music today. Tamara is also celebrated as a curator and music director, a librettist and a composer.
Tamara will perform a solo concert on Saturday Night 13th Sept. in the Bellingen Memorial Hall. Tamara’s virtuosic playing will showcase the Hall’s new Kawai piano as she performs works by Beethoven, Schumann, Debussy, Kats-Chernin and Gershwin.
Claire Edwardes OAM
A founding member of Ensemble Offspring, Claire has directed the group since 2006, initially as co-Artistic Director with Damien Ricketson and since 2015 as sole Artistic Director.
She was recently described as a “unique treasure of Australia’s musical community” by Limelight and as “an invigorating musical life force” by The Age.
She is the only Australian to win the ‘APRA Art Music Luminary Award’ four times and in 2023 she was the recipient of the Creative Leadership Award at the Australian Women in Music Awards.
Claire leaps between her roles as leader, mentor, curator, recording artist, concerto and recital soloist, at all times tirelessly championing new work that she has commissioned predominantly by Australian composers including Iain Grandage, Anne Cawrse, Alice Chance and Kate Moore.
Lamorna Nightingale
Lamorna is a freelance flautist, concert presenter, educator and publisher who is passionate about the future of art music in Australia.
She has extensive experience working in the orchestral sector and has been a core member of Ensemble Offspring since 2007.
Lamorna is the Artistic Director of ‘BackStage Music’, a concert series established in 2016 in Sydney, utilising unusual venues and fostering a diverse culture for living music.
These roles have seen her work directly with hundreds of Australian composers at all stages of their careers and developing programs which create a space for under-represented voices to be heard. Through her publishing company Fluteworthy, she has created several pedagogical volumes of repertoire for young flute players.
Jason Noble
Jason is one of Australia’s most adaptable clarinettists, spanning the classical to experimental and improvisatory genres.
A core member of Ensemble Offspring for 25 years, Jason has performed with the group at contemporary music festivals from Warsaw to London and throughout Australia.
His album releases THRUM (2020) and Chi’s Cakewalk (2017) feature new Australian clarinet work reflecting his collaborations with established and emerging composers. He has made guest appearances on albums for Gurrumul, Gondwana Voices, Paul Mac and the Tiwi women’s choir Ngarukuruwala.
As an in-demand music educator and examiner he has been invited to teach two winter academies at the Afghanistan National Institute of Music in Kabul. Jason became Ensemble Offspring’s Hatched Academy Director in 2024.
Jean-Bernard Marie (piano)
Jean-Bernard was born in Mauritius and began studies in violin, viola & piano at the Sydney Conservatorium and later at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris and Royal College of Music in London.
He performs on several continents with orchestras, as soloist, in chamber ensembles and as a lieder accompanist, whilst enjoying regular and close collaborations with contemporary composers, most recently performing world premiers of new works by Brian Nabors & European premiers by Derrick Skye at the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Bozart in Brussels and Queen Elizabeth Hall, London in 2024.
In 2025 Jean-Bernard will release two discs – one of which, a recording of Olivier Messiaen’s “Vingt Regards sur l’Enfant Jesus” sponsored by Matador cultural association in Madrid.
Alice Morgan
Alice is an accomplished Sydney / Eora based saxophonist and clarinettist who enjoys a varied career of performative mediums within classical, jazz and contemporary genres.
Alice has performed as Guest Principal Saxophone with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and will perform in several concerts across their 2025 season, including as orchestral soloist for Bernstein’s Symphonic Dances from West Side Story and Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition.
In 2024 Alice was Ensemble Offspring’s Hatched Associate Artist where she performed in several concerts across their season. Specially commissioned for the program, she premiered and recorded Holly Harrison’s Swivel and Swerve with Hospital Hill at the Church in Alexandria.
The Bard & the Bows
– a bespoke production created for Bellingen Muse 2025.
Join us at Gleniffer Hall for an exciting afternoon of theatre and music, where Shakespeare’s most beloved characters come to life — from young lovers on a balcony, to a wedding gone wrong, to a weaver turned donkey in an enchanted forest.
Performed by Et Tu Theatre, this special program features three scenes from Romeo & Juliet, Much Ado About Nothing, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream, woven together with beautiful violin and viola duets.
A celebration of love, mischief, and melody in one of the valley’s most intimate settings, presented in a style consistent with the days of the Bard.
Et Tu Theatre
Et Tu is an independent theatre company that was founded in Melbourne in 2019. It is now based in Bellingen.
Local professional actors Amy Bradney-George and Seton Pollock are co-founders of Et Tu and their mission is to explore works that are entertaining, engaging and create conversations within the audience and the production team.
They are well known to Bellingen theatre goers for their highly acclaimed two-person shows, while each have extensive professional experience in performances of the works of Shakespeare.
Gleniffer Strings
This year’s Gleniffer Strings players are Bella Fonti on viola and Lachland Wilkins on violin.
Appearing in The Bard and Bows with Et Tu Theatre, Bella and Lachland will weave their magic into and between the Shakespearian vignettes.
They will also be seen at the Sunday “Share your Muse” community music day.
Share Your Muse !
Join us for a Sunday Picnic of music, food, community and celebration as a variety of local musicians and groups share their Muse – their inspiration and their performance.
Bring a picnic and your favourite refreshments, maybe a blanket or chair. There will be performances in the hall and maybe on the verandah !
Entry by gold coin donation – though if you are NOT performing please purchase your free ticket online to help with planning.
