IMPOSTO - Artist bios
Anna Fraser
Anna Fraser has gained a reputation as a versatile Sydney based soprano. Specialising in the colourful and expressive interpretation of early and contemporary repertoire, Anna performs in a myriad of traditional and exploratory programming in Australia and abroad. Equally at home as a dramatist on stage, Anna is a strong exponent of music education, expertly demonstrating the versatility and virtuosity of a cappella singing to inspire and guide the next generation of young vocal artists and composers. Anna regularly performs with a number of Australia’s professional ensembles: Pinchgut Opera, Sydney Chamber Opera, Ensemble Offspring, ARCO, Bach Akadamie Australia, to name a few. Anna is a Sydney Conservatorium of Music DMA candidate with the Historical Performance unit and part of collaborative research work aiming to ascertain how historical sound effects and colours were achieved in practical terms and how we can actively utilise them in modern creative practices.
Jane Sheldon
Jane Sheldon is a soprano and composer who has established an international reputation for highly specialized contemporary opera and art music for voice. Recent performances include the world premieres of Dylan Mattingly's 'Stranger Love' for the LA Phil, and Mary Finsterer’s 'Antarctica' at Holland Festival and Sydney Festival with ASKO|Schönberg and Sydney Chamber Opera, where she is an Artistic Associate. Jane’s compositions focus on the experience of altered or transformative states. Her latest album is 'I am a tree, I am a mouth', listed in the New Yorker’s Notable Recordings of 2022.
Satsuki Amadura
Satsuki is a koto virtuoso, who has pioneered the teaching and performing of this ancient Japanese instrument in Australia. She has recorded three of her own albums in collaboration with Australian musicians, finding new and exciting contexts for the koto. She performs widely in Australia and overseas, and received the Japanese Foreign Minister’s Commendation Award in 2016.
Audrey Ormella
Audrey Ormella is a young composer working on Wangal Land. Her music is inspired by natural processes, conceptual and visual ideas, and human experiences. In her studies Audrey has had the opportunity to write for a range of instrumental colours, including Pipa and Violin, the Baryton, Children's choir, Orchestra, and String Quartet. These experiences have enriched her musical language, and encouraged broad experimentation. Recent highlights in her practice include performances by the Goldner String Quartet, the Cantabile Festival Combined Choir at the Sydney Opera House, and TheHouseThatDanBuilt's 100 voice women's choir at Sydney Town Hall.
Laura Vaughan
Melbourne-based viola da gamba specialist Laura Vaughan is a dynamic and well-recognised member of the early music movement in Australia. Following studies with Miriam Morris at the University of Melbourne and Wieland Kuijken and Philippe Pierlot at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague, she has established an active performing career as a versatile musician, encompassing a wide range of solo and chamber repertoire on viola da gamba, violone, lirone and baryton across Australasia. As well as a deep and abiding interest in historical performance practice of music involving viols from the 16th to mid 18th centuries, she also fosters new compositions for these venerable instruments from the past. Passionate about the unique sound world of the viol, Laura is committed to bringing this exquisite repertoire to audiences around the world.
Richie Bell
Richie Bell has appeared in concert with Mike Patton, the Song Company, Ensemble Offspring, Cantillation, the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Sounds Baroque and Sydney Antiphony, as well as a number of major motion picture soundtracks.
He now works for the Armidale Tree Group where he propagates native trees and shrubs for reforestation projects and animal habitats.
Angel Grindr
Angel Grindr is a musical group from Sydney formed in 2021. While featuring intense improvised percussive and industrial sounds, their music blends together punk, no wave and noise music. Their performance for Backstage Music consists of a live soundtrack for the 1969 experimental silent film "Palindrome" by Hollis Frampton, and the interplay between rhythm and light that forms the basis of the video. The performance will be rife with thick, percussive textures and the sort of tranquillity that can only be achieved when your head has been placed in a washing machine.