Kaurna Yerta - The Seasons
This work is a spectacular new performance inspired by connection to country and the cycle of the seasons. This 80-minute cinematic concert features stunning visuals, immersive soundscapes, song, dance and ceremony, as well as new music for string quintet and traditional instruments. This is an unmissable, sacred celebration of culture in harmony with nature, and a festival showpiece.
Kaurna Yerta - The Seasons features 24 new works by Australian composer David John Lang, commissioned by the Bowerbird Collective, and directly inspired by two years of knowledge sharing with Kaurna elders and culture bearers, including Aunty Lynette Crocker, Jamie Goldsmith and Taikurtinna Dance. The work received its World Premiere on October 14, 2023, at the Living Kaurna Cultural Centre, SA, supported by Creative Australia and Arts South Australia.
Life on Land's Edge
This new performance work by the Bowerbird Collective will take you on an epic journey alongside migratory shorebirds as they connect continents and cultures. A cinematic concert experience, Life on Land’s Edge draws on art, science, and music from across the ages. Spectacular footage and soundscapes set the scene for two of Australia's most adventurous musicians. Be immersed in one of nature's greatest stories.
Life on Land's Edge features eight new works by Australian composers Anne Cawrse, Chris Williams, Corrina Bonshek, Gambirra Illume and Simone Slattery, co-commissioned by the Bowerbird Collective and BirdLife Australia, as well as works by Philip Glass and Antonio Vivaldi. Winner - Independent Arts Foundation Award for Innovation - 2022.
Where Song Began
Where Song Began is a 50-minute multimedia performance celebrating the evolution of songbirds, and how they shaped the world. Performed more than 100 times around regional Australia and internationally, Limelight Magazine called it "Spectacular" in a 5⭐ review. The production was the 2020 recipient of a Ruby Award from Arts South Australia.
Our Country
Journey through Australia’s breathtaking land, waterways and skies with Australian Geographic: Our Country, a 360° cinematic experience that connects you to the cultural heart of Australia by revealing her diverse species, natural wonders and sacred places like you’ve never seen them before.
Alongside Yolŋu songstress and composer Gambirra Illume, the Bowerbird Collective designed the musical soundscape of this amazing collaboration between Australian Geographic, Northern Pictures, TEG, AAT Kings and Tourism Australia.
Songs of Disappearance - Australian Bird Calls
On this ARIA chart-topping album of pure birdsong you can hear 53 of our most threatened species. The title track celebrates the incredible diversity of the Australian soundscape, and highlights what we stand to lose without taking action. Be immersed in a chorus of iconic cockatoos, the buzzing of bowerbirds, a bizarre symphony of seabirds, and the haunting call of one of the last remaining night parrots.
A collaboration between the acclaimed nature recordist David Stewart, Nature Sound, the Bowerbird Collective, BirdLife Australia, Charles Darwin University and Mervyn Street of Mangkaja Arts, this project, released alongside the 2020 Action Plan for Australian Birds, shows that Australians will not allow these precious avian voices to be silenced.
Songs of Disappearance - Australian Frog Calls
Songs of Disappearance is back at the top of the ARIA charts with an album featuring 43 of our most threatened frogs. The title track celebrates the incredible diversity of the Australian soundscape, and highlights what we stand to lose without taking action. Be immersed in a chorus of croaks singing in all corners of the country, from the mountain streams of Far North Queensland, to the caves of the Kimberley and the last remaining wetlands of our urban centres.
A collaboration between the Australian Museum FrogID project, The Bowerbird Collective, Listening Earth and Mervyn Street of Mangkaja Arts, this project, being promoted as part of FrogID Week, shows that Australians will not allow these precious voices to be silenced.
Highlighting the dedication of citizen scientists all over Australia, the majority of recordings on this album are high-quality public recordings of threatened frog species submitted to the national FrogID project. These sounds are complemented by recordings of Critically Endangered frogs contributed by some of our country's leading scientists. The album concludes with the moving calls of several species we have already lost to extinction, as well as a selection of exquisite, meditative, amphibian soundscapes captured by master nature recordist, Andrew Skeoch of Listening Earth.
Invisible Connections
This online work, supported by the EAAFP & Arts South Australia, is a musical and visual journey from the continental shores and tidal flats of Australasia to the tundra of Siberia and Alaska, tracing the awe-inspiring odyssey of shorebirds as they draw Invisible Connections across the globe. The work was premiered on May 9, 2020 for World Migratory Bird Day, hosted by the Bird Conservation Society of Thailand and the East Asian-Australasian Flyway Partnership.
On the Wings of a Godwit
'On the Wings of a Godwit' is an immersive, online guided meditation of music, birdsong and spoken word that takes the listener on a journey from the continental shores of Australasia to the tundra of Siberia. We invite you, the listener, to become a migratory bird, overwintering between your summer homes, following a flyway path that has been travelled for thousands of years. Stop, listen, breathe, and take flight with this meditative journey created by renowned Australian artist Kate Gorringe-Smith (The Overwinting Project) and award-winning musicians and soundscape designers the Bowerbird Collective, Simone Slattery (violin) and Anthony Albrecht (cello). An Indonesian version was created in partnership with Burung Indonesia and Suara Indonesia Dance, featuring Alfira O'Sullivan.
This project was amplified by Melbourne Fringe through the Ralph Mclean Microgrant program, and supported by the East Asian-Australasian Flyway Partnership.
Click here for details and to listen.
Suggested Donation: $15, donate here.
Duration: 20mins
World Migratory Bird Day | Virtual Choir
The Bowerbird Collective and the East Asian-Australasian Flyway Partnership are thrilled to present the very first World Migratory Bird Day Virtual Choir. Celebrating the 2021 theme of the World Migration Bird Day, "Sing, Fly, Soar - Like a Bird!", participants from twenty countries have joined forces to give their voices for migratory birds.
The work sung by the choir in this video was composed by Simone Slattery. There are no lyrics, enabling people from all over the world to participate.
The video features footage of migratory birds from across the Flyway, including Roebuck Bay, Australia, the Copper River Delta, Alaska and the shores of Southeast Asia.
Finalist in the 2022 Environmental Music Prize.
Winaityinaityi Pangkara - The Country of the Birds
Jeffrey Newchurch and Lynette Crocker, two elders integral to the establishment of Winaityinaityi Pangkara, the Adelaide International Bird Sanctuary, reflect on the importance of this place to the Northern Kaurna people. Joined by Joan Gibbs from the Friends of Adelaide International Bird Sanctuary.
The Adelaide International Bird Sanctuary is one of the southern-most roosting and feeding sites for thousands of migratory shorebirds that annually use the East Asian-Australasian Flyway. For more information visit www.parks.sa.gov.au/parks/adelaide-international-bird-sanctuary-national-park and www.eaaflyway.net.
Produced by the Bowerbird Collective on behalf of the Friends of Adelaide International Bird Sanctuary. Supported by the East Asian-Australasian Flyway Partnership. Filmed with permission from the Department for Environment and Water, the Government of South Australia, and the National Parks and Wildlife Service South Australia.
Film, sound, music and editing: Anthony Albrecht & Simone Slattery
The Remembered Flame
Footage shot on Kangaroo Island after the devastating fires of early 2020 was used to create this petite art film, which celebrates the beauty and fragility of Flinders Chase National Park. With a soundscape designed by Simone Slattery, and poetry by Maggie Slattery, the film is a slow moving meditation, much like the regeneration taking place on the island. The full length film (8 mins) has been featured in numerous art exhibitions, and was selected as a finalist in the South Australian Nature Festival Film Festival in 2022.
If you would like to watch the complete video please contact us.
Simone Slattery - music and narration
Anthony Albrecht - footage
Maggie Slattery - poetry
