Adelaide Symphony Orchestra | She Speaks
20 June, 2026, Elder Hall, Adelaide, SA
Since the She Speaks program started in 2024, it has presented 14 concerts, 3 symposiums and a film screening – a testament to its growing cultural impact.
The numbers are impressive:
- 77 works composed by women, including 4 Australian Premieres and 4 World Premieres
- 43 composers from 14 countries
- 30 living composers
- 23 Australian composers, 20 actively composing today, and 7 currently call Adelaide home.
I love nested narratives because they create many ways to connect, and life is generally like that. The World Premiere of Anne Cawrse’s The King Walks in the Orangerie at the second concert in the She Speaks program is a great example of this complexity. I had travelled to Adelaide for the World Premiere and enjoyed the whole concert. Hearing the connected stories around She Speaks made the trip to Adelaide feel especially significant.
The King Walks in the Orangerie started as a poem written by Kathryn Purnell (1911-2006), an award-winning writer who left a fine legacy of works. She strongly believed in the need to encourage women writers and felt the constraints herself, a sentiment also at the heart of She Speaks.
Kathryn’s daughter, Irene, and son-in-law, John Garran, have been addressing some of the gaps by publishing her works and commissioning a composition based on this poem. The creative journey of this work, like many, was not simple; it took five years to complete and was sparked by a conversation at McLaren Vale’s Coriole Festival. Anne Cawrse composed the music for the libretto by Emma Muir-Smith based on Kathryn’s poem. The 35-minute work follows the story of the original poem, with additional depth on King Louis XIV. What it brings to life is the complexity and many facets of the Sun King. A good story needs these opposing elements. I’m looking forward to seeing more orchestras perform it.
One of the best components of seeing a live performance is the interaction between those on stage—their emotion and connectedness. The Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Sara Duhig, with Tenor Kyle Stegall, communicated not just the story of the work, but also great exchanges with the other musicians and connections with the audience. It was a conversation, and that is always fabulous to experience.
The concert alternated between full orchestra and smaller ensembles, with introductions from Anne Cawrse. The bookend pieces were a perfect introduction and conclusion. Starting with Grażyna Bacewicz’s Overture, which was full of joy and energy. Then Imogen Holst’s Persephone, an Australian premiere, alternated between floating and celebration to draw us to the conclusion.
If you’re wondering about the title referring to a celebration worth the travel, I travelled from the Southern Highlands (NSW) to Melbourne on the XPT, then on to Adelaide on The Overland. It was great to see the countryside and stitch along the way. After that journey, hearing such a celebration of music and narrative was the perfect reward.
