This August, as winter settles softly across Melbourne’s inner east, Hawthorn Arts Centre will glow with song, strings and shared breath as Strings and Voices unfolds, a luminous new concert series with atmospheric music over four of the Saturdays in the month.
Curated as an immersive celebration of the relationship between the voice and string instruments, Strings and Voices invites audiences into a world of trembling bows, soaring harmonies and cinematic soundscapes. Across four unforgettable evenings, some of Australia’s most evocative and boundary-pushing artists will gather to create performances that are intimate, expansive and guaranteed to keep your soul warm this winter.
From the hushed emotional power of Lior with a string quartet led by Nigel Westlake and the transcendent textures of Xani Kolac in Hymns for Atheists, to the dreamlike chamber-pop of Georgia Fields with Andromeda String Quartet, the genre-defying harp landscapes of Harpedelique Ensemble and the radiant queer storytelling of Homophonic!, the series offers audiences a rare kind of listening experience: deeply human, richly textured and beautifully unexpected.
Winter becomes the perfect companion to these performances, a season for stillness, reflection and gathering close. Within the intimate surrounds of Hawthorn Arts Centre, audiences will encounter music featuring voices, strings and songs that speak to us all.
Opening Night: Lior with String Quartet and Xani – Saturday 1 August, 7:30 pm
Lior with String Quartet | City of Boroondara
Acclaimed singer-songwriter Lior opens the series with an intimate salon-style performance accompanied by a string quartet led by legendary composer and conductor Nigel Westlake. Renowned for his luminous songwriting and emotionally resonant live performances, Lior revisits works from across his celebrated catalogue, presenting a concert of warmth, closeness and quiet power.
Joining the evening is acclaimed violinist and composer Xani Kolac alongside bassist Meg Kolac, presenting Hymns for Atheists, an ethereal and deeply moving exploration of humanity, feminism, nature and love.
Georgia Fields with Andromeda String Quartet and Happy Axe – Saturday 8 August, 7:30 pm
Strings and Voices: Georgia Fields with Andromeda String Quartet | City of Boroondara
In a striking meeting of art-pop and chamber music, Georgia Fields joins forces with Andromeda String Quartet for an evening of storytelling and immersive sound. Expect soaring vocals, live looping and tactile strings, intimate and cinematic. Led by violinist Natasha Conrau, the quartet brings precision, daring and emotional depth to arrangements that blur the edges between indie, folk and contemporary classical music.
Joining Georgia Fields is Happy Axe, whose hypnotic ambient pop blends swooning harmonies, lush strings and unusual rhythms into delicately crafted songs inspired by a deep love of the natural world and the magical power of nature.
Harpedelique Ensemble and Invenio – Saturday 15 August, 7:30 pm
Strings and Voices: Invenio and Harpedelique | City of Boroondara
Amplified harps shimmer, pulse and swell in this immersive sonic experience, which will feature a set from Harpedelique Ensemble and vocal ensemble Invenio. Invenio singers will offer a special preview performance of their third album, Fight Eyes, with the repertoire by founder and award-winning vocalist Gian Slater. Blending classical refinement with cinematic intensity, Harpedelique reimagines the harp as both instrument and atmosphere. Featuring music inspired by composers and artists including Hans Zimmer, Coldplay and Nigel Westlake, the performance is bound to unfold like a dream scored in real time, layered with rich sound design, resonance and movement. Under the direction of Liana Perillo and sound designer Fabian Aravalés, this is a concert that dissolves boundaries between concert hall, cinema and reverie.
Homophonic! RESPECT and QiQi – Saturday 29 August, 7:30 pm
Strings and Voices: Homophonic! RESPECT and QiQi
The series ends with a bold and celebratory finale with Homophonic!’s RESPECT, a powerful collection of newly commissioned works inspired by the stories and lives of LGBTIQA+ elders performed by a chamber ensemble as you’ve never seen before. Led by Artistic Director Miranda Hill, Homophonic! has spent more than a decade amplifying queer voices within contemporary classical music, creating performances that are fearless, joyful and deeply resonant.
Joining the program is Melbourne-based Chinese-Australian composer and multi-instrumentalist QiQi, whose genre-fluid work draws together traditional Chinese instrumentation, jazz and contemporary composition. Their acclaimed work Elysian Blues received multiple nominations at the Melbourne Fringe and established QiQi as one of Australia’s most exciting emerging voices.
Strings and Voices
Hawthorn Arts Centre: 360 Burwood Road, Hawthorn, VIC
Saturday 1 August – Lior and Xani
Saturday 8 August – Georgia Fields with Andromeda String Quartet and Happy Axe
Saturday 15 August – Harpedelique Ensemble and Invenio
Saturday 29 August – Homophonic! RESPECT and QiQi
Tickets on sale now via: boroondara.vic.gov.au/arts
Tickets available online, by phone or via Box Office before performances, subject to availability.
