NAARM | MELBOURNE
Musical Directors: Andrew Byrne & John McCaughey
The new and
the unusual from Australia and beyond.
Astra Concerts - The Astra Choir - Astra Publications
ASTRA IS MUSIC - for voices, instruments and other media.
From a long history over 80 years in choral and orchestral music, the journey continues through music of the times, its relation to other forms of art and to the wider world.
Astra '25
Passages through the music of the times.
Eleven concerts of choral and chamber music, interdisciplinary collaborations, electronic landscapes and improvisation—where past narratives meet radical experimentation and poetic reflection.
For the first events in April and May:
Revisiting Experimental Histories: A celebration of the Clifton Hill Community Music Centre from the 1970s paired with new experimental works from Melbourne.
War and Passion: Choral music under duress - from the 30 Years War, the French Resistance, the Chilean coup.
Upcoming Concerts
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![Event poster featuring the text '11/12 April, we called it new music, a celebration of Clifton Hill Community Music Centre' with a blurred black and white image of a person playing an instrument on the right side. The word 'ASTRA' is at the top right.]()
8-11pm, Friday April 11
3-11pm, Saturday April 12
Lithuanian House, North MelbourneWe Called It New Music is a two-day celebratory performance event featuring experimental artists from the Clifton Hill Community Music Centre (1976-83), with contemporary musicians responding to its legacy. Curated by David Chesworth with Liquid Architecture
Essendon Airport/Mia Alexander/Ernie Althoff/Judy Annear/Jessica Aszodi/Arsam Samadi Bahrami/Ros Bandt/Bodies of Infinite Divine and Eternal Spirit/Warren Burt/Who Cares?/David Chesworth/Carolyn Connors/→↑→ /Les Gilbert/Clinton Green/Helen Grogan/Kassie Junkeer/Joy Lee/Levi Liauw/Rainer Linz/Sachin de Silva/Silzedrek/Ron Nagorcka/James Rushford/Bridget Small/Paul Fletcher/Jayne Stevenson
In partnership with Liquid Architecture -
![Promotional image for Astra Choir featuring a quote: "In us are all passions and all vices," with a date "11 May" and two PREMIER icons.]()
5pm, Sunday May 11
St. Mark’s Anglican Church, FitzroyMusic amid disorder, cruelty and obliteration: a polyphonic Passion from the heart of the 30 Years War is joined by a graphic Mass after the military coup in Chile, and a choral-poetic cycle from the French Resistance in the last winter of World War 2.
Christoph Demantius, León Schidlowsky, Francis Poulenc, Philippe Hersant, Jean Ockeghem, Nuevo canción chileno: Violeta Parra, Victor Jara, Sergio Ortega
The Astra Choir and Soloists
John McCaughey conductor,
with Helen Ayres violin, Timothy Phillips percussion, Niels Bijl & Jason Xanthoudakis saxophones, Linda Kent organ -
!["Commas and Twisted Runways One, 27 Premieres by Andrew Byrne" text on blurred background, July 25 announcement for ASTRA event.]()
8pm, Friday July 25
Hall of St Mary’s, North MelbourneSince returning to Australia in 2019, Andrew Byrne has taken his music in new directions. Recent pieces explore systems—cellular automata, spirals, tilings, and canons—where mathematical rigour meets the spark of creativity. This concert premieres a selection of his latest works.
Andrew Byrne, FORTY-EIGHT: FALLING & RISING, GLINTS, COMMAS, TILING CANONS, SPIRAL STUDIES
with canons by JS BachEnsemble of winds, keyboard, percussion
Twisted Runways - sound in motion through improvisation, radical compositions, and creative exchanges
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8pm, Friday August 8
Hall of St Mary’s, North MelbourneThis concert launches the JOAN EVENTS, a multi-year project of new impulses in performance and composition, supported by the Joan Pollock Creative Fund.
Creative exchanges, improvisations
with Ruth Crawford, STUDY IN MIXED ACCENTS (1930)
Helen Gifford, OBSESSION for Joan Pollock (2005)Kim Bastin, piano; Jessica Aszodi, voice; Elizabeth Drake, piano; Jaslyn Robertson, synths, Chloë Sobek, violone & electronics; Iran Sanadzadeh, pressure-sensitive floors
Twisted Runways - sound in motion through improvisation, radical compositions, and creative exchanges
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8pm, Saturday August 30
Church of All Nations, CarltonCREATURE PATTERNS
Patterns—human and machine-generated—explore connections between systems, technology, and music-making. In algorithmic structures and through live interaction these new works reshape the experience of performance.
Andrew Byrne, ANTS with dancers and percussionists
James Hullick, DISRUPTIVE CRITTERS with live video and recorded vocal sounds
‘Musical intelligence' is explored in this pair of concerts. The automated processes of this program are followed on 6 September by the particular intelligence of poems, entering into choral sound. -
![Event poster with text "6 Sept." "poetic intelligence," "Astra Choir," on blurred brown background.]()
8pm, Saturday September 6
Church of All Nations, CarltonPOETRY INTO MULTIPLE VOICES
Premiering two vocal-poetic cycles for choir and solo voices: Andrée Greenwell THREE PIECES (2021) (Felicity Plunkett, Rilke, Ross Gibson), David Howell INTO THE NIGHT BEFORE THE SUN SONGS OF TRAVEL (2022) (Dan Christie)
with choruses of: Keith Humble (Wen Ting-Yung), György Ligeti (Hölderlin), Graham Hair (Alan Gould), Peggy Glanville-Hicks (Wallace Stevens), Helen Gifford (Akhmatova, Kathleen Raine, Elizabeth Riddell), Rainer Linz (John Jenkins, Ted Hopkins, Paul Greene), Carl Vine (Thomas Campion), Philippe Hersant (diverse poets)
The Astra Choir and Soloists
John McCaughey, conductor -
![Event poster for "Twisted Runways Three" featuring Kelly & Balzac with piano and processing, quote "Water is the product of burning," date October 4, logos at the bottom, abstract aqua background.]()
8pm, Friday October 3
Hall of St Mary’s, North Melbourne
A new work after Balzac by Neil Kelly (2025)Balzac’s Gambara (1837) follows a demented composer, his long suffering wife Marianna, and their scheming patron, Count Marcosini. This performance, a prototype for a larger theater/dance work, explores the novella’s vision of ‘music’—from ‘the sublime chorus of angels’ to a ‘hideous cacophony’—played on piano and a panharmonicon, a proto-synthesiser.
Michael Kieran Harvey, piano
Michael Hewes, audio processingTwisted Runways - sound in motion through improvisation, radical compositions, and creative exchanges
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![Poster promoting an event called "Cabinet of Curiosities" by Astra Choir with a date of October 19, featuring a blurred abstract background of warm tones.]()
3pm, Sunday October 26
Hall at St Mary's, North MelbourneThis concert places the worlds of the fearless Abbess Cozzolani of Milan and the opera celebrity and English immigrant Handel among more recent British experimental performance pieces, and a new ensemble communication by Naarm composer Charlie Sdraulig.
Behind the cathedral: Chiara Margarita Cozzolani, CONCERTATO PIECES (1642),
In the ducal chapel: George Frideric Handel, CHANDOS ANTHEM, "As Pants the Hart" (1719),
In art rooms: Laurence Crane, COME BACK TO THE OLD SPECIMEN CABINET, JOHN VIGANI (2007),
John White, DRINKING AND HOOTING MACHINE (1968)
Charlie Sdraulig New work (2025), solo voices, choir and live electronicsThe Astra Choir and Soloists
John McCaughey, conductor -
![Promotional graphic for "Continuing Curiosities," featuring the text "ASTRA," "Oct./Nov.," and "Three Performance Labs" against a black background.]()
October / November
3 Performance Laboratories at JOLTED Performance Space, Northcote
in partnership with Jolt Arts
MORE INFORMATION TO COME.
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![Event poster for 'Patterns of Plants in Tasmania' from November 25-27, featuring green foliage and composer name Mamoru Fujieda; hosted by ASTRA.]()
November 25, Hobart Town Hall
November 26, Princess Theatre Launceston
November 27, Burnie Arts CentreNew arrangements of PATTERNS OF PLANTS by Japanese composer Mamoru Fujieda (2024, commissioned by Astra) for a 7-piece ensemble of traditional Japanese and Western Baroque instruments are presented for the first time in Tasmania as part of Van Diemen’s Lunchbox Series.
Astra Ensemble: Miyama McQueen-Tokita & Brandon Lee, kotos; Henry Liang, sho; Laura Vaughan, gamba; Julia Fredersdorff, Baroque violin; Ryan William, recorders; Alexander Ritter, countertenor
Directed by Andrew Byrnein partnership with Van Diemen’s Band
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![Event poster for Astra Choir titled "Cosmic and Terrestrial Dialogues" with a date of December 14.]()
5pm, Sunday December 14
St Mark's Anglican Church, FitzroyChoral music shows its unique attributes in expressions beyond the immediate moment, and conversations across great distances in time and space.
Antoine Brumel, Livia Teodorescu, Gianandrea Pauletta, Giovanna Dongu, George Balint, Dan Dediu, Max Reger
The Astra Choir and Soloists,
John McCaughey, conductor
with string quintet and
Linda Kent, organs
