Wrapping up 2024 on a high note, Bloomhouse Projects brings us Homegrown—a celebration of Australia’s finest composers, poets, and librettists. This event showcases an incredible blend of artistry, featuring Co-CEO and Artistic Director Daniella Sicari, alongside both acclaimed international performers and emerging local talent. We spoke with Daniella about the journey behind Homegrown and what’s next for Bloomhouse Projects as they step into 2025.
Homegrown brings together some of our state’s finest talents, including yourself, Niamh Dell, and Tonya Lemoh. How does it feel to collaborate with these performers? How did you come together for this project?
It is really special to collaborate with Tonya and Niamh for many reasons. First of all, they are both great people and wonderful to work with. They are incredible musicians and have been involved in some really impressive projects around the world. As an artist, I feel very honoured to be sharing the stage with them but also from the perspective of Bloomhouse Projects, we are so lucky to have them on board. We were thrilled that they both wanted to work with us!
Niamh and I actually met in high school and got to know each other singing in choirs and often crashing each others singing lessons, geeking out over harmony and music theory. Niamh was always a very inspiring friend through my teenage years. We lived in different cities for a while and then in 2019 found ourselves reconnecting in the north of England. Niamh is a specialist in complex and virtuosic new music and I am so excited to hear the solo oboe piece she will be performing by Liza Lim.
Tonya and I met in Newcastle, NSW last September while we were preparing the world premiere of Closing Time by Ross Fiddes. We will be performing an excerpt of this piece in Homegrown. I really enjoyed working with her and especially enjoyed our conversions about Australian new music and recordings. She is a passionate advocate for Australian music and has dedicated a lot of time and research into this kind of repertoire including works by Raymond Hanson and Henry Handel Richardson.
Homegrown was going to involve new music and very close links to Australian creatives, so I knew Tonya and Niamh would be the perfect artists to approach for this project. Both of them have recently moved back to Perth and are working at WAAPA and UWA respectively.
You’ll also be joined by Bloomhouse Projects’ 2024 Emerging Artist, James Pinneri. What has it been like working with emerging talent like James, and why do you think creating opportunities for collaboration between experienced and emerging artists is so important?
James has been great. He has worked really hard and is doing such a great job. New music can sometimes be tricky to learn because there aren’t always recordings for style reference and you haven’t necessarily heard it ‘here and there’ in concerts, so the process is sometimes slower for practice. With James’ application, one thing we were impressed with was that he was so pro-active, and this has also come through in the way he works in the rehearsal room.
James expressed interest in working with Bloomhouse Projects earlier in the year and sent through an online audition. We then invited him for an interview and working session. We always encourage audition culture and welcome young singers and collaborative pianists/repetiteurs to get in touch. It has also been really nice to be invited to concerts, as this gives us a chance to see performers in action too. Every email is read and every artist is considered with our upcoming season in mind.
We have an Emerging Artist involved in every project and make sure it is a collaborative and active side by side environment, rather than sitting on the side lines and observing. Although in saying that, as we head into our 2025 season, observing will absolutely be part of the programme as well. Holding space for this kind of development allows a mentorship element. Our EAs get guest coaching and mentorship not only in performing but any other skills they wish to develop such as producing, managing yourself as an artist, etc.
Aspiring artists in WA are often advised to seek international experience. To address this, we aim to provide opportunities for young singers in WA who wish to remain rooted in their hometown or may not be ready to move abroad. Our emerging artist program serves as a stepping stone, allowing them to work alongside early career and established artists while preparing for their future and navigating what and when is next. Some of our previous EAs have gone on to do Masters of Music in London (Bella Marslen – Soprano), the Melba Opera Programme in Melbourne (Jesse Linke – Soprano) or go straight into work here in WA (Lydia Lai – Collaborative Pianist).
Daniella Sicari image by Karl Brown Photography
The program features works from Australian composers, poets, and librettists. How did you land on the pieces you’re performing and what is your connection to them?
It originally started because I really wanted to share the first two songs of the Lemon Tree song cycle by Pierre Flasse and poetry by Australian poet and journalist, Rod Moran. These songs tell the story of creating homes at different phases of life – in this instance, for Rod, between Perth and Melbourne in Australia. Pierre and I worked on these pieces for a recital in London. Whilst developing the score, we reflected on how the poetry is indeed Australian. How would this influence the way these are performed? It wouldn’t make sense to sing it with an English or American accent so perhaps it was an opportunity to explore how we could practice Australian Artsong. The Australian accent changes compositional choices with different vocal nuances to consider, reclaiming a space for non-traditional accents within the artsong repertoire. From there, we thought…let’s make the whole programme have home ties.
Homegrown will be showcasing the works of acclaimed Australian composers and poets including Margaret Sutherland, Ross Fiddes, Rod Moran, Chris Milbourn, Emma Jayakumar, Liza Lim and Michael Leunig. The programme has a variety of themes and stories which are relatable and some close to home…literally. I asked each artist in this programme to share Australian composers or poets that they love, have worked with or were interested in. We took it from there and kept exploring until we settled on this final programme.
Some highlights include excerpts of Fiddes’ Closing Time, which had its world premiere in Newcastle, NSW last September (with myself and Tonya) and then in the UK in November. With poetry by a British poet called Karin de Novellis, it has been transformed into a staged song cycle that reflects on everyday situations and some of the feelings she and her husband experienced while living with dementia. We have decided to perform excerpts of this in the concert and hope to programme the full piece in a future season.
Emma Jayakumar is no stranger to the Bloomhouse Projects programme. She is a Perth local and has gifted our city with numerous musical gems such as Bell Birds, Our Little Inventor and The Adventures of Snugglepot & Cuddlepie. James was keen to sing some of Jayakumar’s repertoire and so we are delighted to include The Tree and the Pool in this recital which we guarantee will make you ‘hmm’ with a smile.
Bloomhouse Projects
What do you take into consideration when you’re crafting a program like this?
I guess when deciding what our project is going to be in the first place – it could be anything amongst the performing or visual arts. The repertoire usually sits in artsong, chamber music or opera. Maybe it’s more appropriate to say it ‘stems from’ there, rather than ‘sits in’. I don’t shy away from multidisciplinary programming, conceptual ideas, introducing narratives or even ‘lecture’ recital influences… I’m not sure I like that term itself but what I mean to say is a more conversational and sharing structure.
My process for curating a programme is to get messy, have too many options, have too many ideas, collaborate, consolidate and then don’t do anything just for the novelty of it. I think the most important thing about these recitals to believe every element is there to serve the craft, and how we share time with the audience.
Then sometimes it’s not that deep, and we pick something because it’s just really great music and it absolutely should be performed! 🙂
Can you tell us more about Bloomhouse Projects, what the company stands for, and the inspirations driving your work?
Bloomhouse Projects is an arts organisation that bridges the gap between our wonderful training facilities and our state company here in WA. We work alongside established early career and emerging artists from across the creative spectrum including Performing Arts + Visual Arts.
We also strive to always consider our ex-pat artists in all casting. We have so many talented and interesting homegrown artists, some who flee Perth and end up in Melbourne or London or New York. We create potential platforms for these artists to share what they have been doing overseas with WA audiences while they are visiting home. We value Excellence, Collaboration, Opportunity and The Unconventional but i think our biggest value is to ‘bridge the gap’ for artists, audiences and our industry.
Can you give us a sneak peek into what’s ahead for Bloomhouse Projects in 2025?
So far we have established a ‘wkshp series’ for artists and offered audiences three collaborative concept recitals, Homegrown being our fourth project. These will continue, and we are able to do so by the support of our amazing sponsors and partners, but something that has been driving us from the beginning is a goal to produce the first Opera Festival in WA. A weekend of chamber opera, workshops, recitals, opera scenes, etc, inspired by grassroots arts festivals in the UK/EU that provides platforms for artists and new cultural experiences for audiences. In 2025 our aim is to launch our first mini festival and keep building on our wkshp series.
Is there anything else you would like to add?
A few things worth saying… Homegrown is generously supported by Town of Claremont and Zenith Music. Arrive at 7PM for a complimentary lemon spritz mocktail. The concert is about 50 mins with no interval. There is free parking at the venue.
We are on Instagram and Facebook. We have a mailing list. If you’d like to support us, you can get in touch via our website www.bloomhouseprojects.com.au We look forward to seeing you then!
Homegrown presented by Bloomhouse Projects is on Friday, December 13th, the Banksia Room at Claremont Showgrounds.