People

Pianist Gabriella Smart is one of the leading advocates of new music in Australia – through performance, improvisation, collaborative composition, commissioning and curation. She is the recipient of three prestigious awards in 2019: The Paris Residency and an Artist Grant from The Australia Council for the Arts, and a South Australian Government Creative Fellowship. In 2018 she was awarded a Prelude Composer Residency and a UNESCO City of Music residency in Katowice, Poland. Gabriella received a Churchill Fellowship in 2010, and a Helpmann Award in 2009. As an improviser she has collaborated and performed with such luminaries as Lisa Gerrard (Dead Can Dance, Academy Award winner for film music: The Gladiator), Brian Ritchie (Violent Femmes, MOFO), Alvin Curran, Cat Hope, Derek Pascoe and Johannes Sistermanns as part of the UnPiano Trio, and Paul Grabowsky. With a background as a multi-award winning pianist specialising in classical and new music, Gabriella has performed extensively in Australia and internationally, premiering over forty new works for solo piano by Australian and international composers in Australia, Europe and China, and collaborating with musicians as diverse as Brett Dean, Elena Kats Chernin, Erkki Veltheim, Jon Rose, and Tamara Anna Cislowska.

Gabriella’s performance of Alvin Curran’s solo For Cornelius on 9/8/17 was described as ‘meltingly beautiful’ and ‘mesmerising’ (The Australian). She has performed widely as a soloist throughout Australia, and internationally, promoting the works of Australian composers. Gabriella has performed in the Melbourne and Adelaide International Festivals, MONA MOFO, TURA (Perth) and in Europe and China. In 2010 she represented Australia at the World Expo in Shanghai. Gabriella has given numerous live and recorded broadcasts for ABC Classic FM.

Jesse is a composer-performer, sound artist, producer and arts entrepreneur based in South Australia.

With an interdisciplinary creative practice ranging from the concert hall and theatre to installation art and community collaborative projects, Jesse’s projects traverse the metropolitan, regional and remote landscapes and soundscapes of Australia and further afield.

A graduate of Elder Conservatorium of Music (BMus(Hons) 2013, PhD 2019), Jesse is a previous recipient of a Carclew Fellowship and Helpmann Academy Grants.

In 2012, Jesse received Australia Council funding for a JUMP National Mentorship Scholarship where he was mentored by Gabriella Smart in artistic direction and curation as part of that year’s Soundstream Collective program and Festival. He was also Residency Manager for Alvin Curran’s 2013 residency with Soundstream, and supported in the production of the 2014 and 2016 Emerging Composers’ Forums.

Georgia practises as a musician and producer on Kaurna land. Currently completing a Bachelor of Music in Sonic Arts at the Elder Conservatorium. Making use of their broad skills in electronic composition and utilising their voice, their sound circles many influences from the avant-garde, electronica, traditional folk, and hip-hop. Active in the local arts community through work with Three D Radio, Girls Rock! and Tutti Arts.

Georgia was selected as one of COMA’s emerging artists of 2021. Recent performances include “100,000 Subtle Kinds of Music”, a collaboration with Stephen Whittington and musicians from the Chinese School of Music for Chinese Music Day at OzAsia festival 2023. “A Civic Space” (Julian Day) and “Untitled (Death Song)” (Megan Cope), both during Monster Theatres Biennale, Art Gallery of South Australia.