Program Note

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It’s February 2022 and we have just witnessed two years of unimaginable disruption through Covid-19. Our communities have suffered, many lost livelihoods, some…their lives or lives of dear ones. And now, as I sit here reflecting, my birth-town Kiev in my home-country Ukraine is invaded and bombed.

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In times of deep heartache, where do we turn? Where do we shelter? For me – in art, music, poetry, nature. In Glass Gardens, created lovingly by the wonderful students of UNSW New Music collective, we’ve done exactly that. Like a bowerbird, we’ve collected objects, sounds, words, poems, and images to create a world, a refuge, a place to shelter – a Glass Garden.

 

It's a world of shimmering insects and buzzing bugs, glistening dew and quivering leaves, lonesome birds and distant bells. It’s a world  where mysterious critters dwell.

 

And you, beloved audience, get to be the architect of that world, curating your own, unique, and singular choose-your-own-adventure Garden.

 

Created during Sydney’s 2021 lockdown and made in isolation, this is a homage to our times, our precious world, our power of collective imagination.  

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Sonya Lifschitz

Ensemble Director

Lecturer in Music