Five Things To Say are performing their latest album Connect The Dots at Cygnet Folk Festival in January 2022, and will be conducting a workshop on group imrovisation and collaboration.
about
A group of diverse and accomplished musicians seamlessly blend their expertise in classical, contemporary, jazz, Indian classical, ethno folk, latin and bluegrass musical traditions into a feast of musical flavours and textures that is Five Things to Say. Explore beautiful, complex soundscapes, unusual instrumentation and memorable moments inspired by a rich tapestry of global musical traditions.
The ensemble first collaborated in 2019 at an intensive creative residency at Dreamfarm Eco-Arts Retreat in Tasmania, in which the group composed, performed and recorded five new works. The self-titled first album and the latest album Connect The Dots are available now.
“I was entranced by complex time signatures, improbable tempos, sudden shifts in mood and tension and soaring melodies, all delivered with easy virtuosity and an inspired fresh sensibility.” Steve Gadd, Former Director of Cygnet Folk Festival
MEMBERS
Emily Sheppard
violin, viola
Emily is a violinist/violist, improviser and composer who explores the extremities of violin and viola playing. Written in the depths of caves, in blackened forests and on mountain summits, her music evokes landscapes, imagined and real. Trained in classical music at the Australian National Academy of Music in Melbourne, Emily is a member of the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra.
With a mission to connect deeply with audiences, Elisse has initiated a number of unique musical performance projects. A remarkably versatile flautist, Elisse has performed flute with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, and in tango, choro, folk, 1930s period, and inter- art improvisation ensembles. Elisse studied flute at the Royal College of Music in London. She is a passionate music educator, leading music workshops for children with The Song Room and the MSO's education programs.
Joe is a versatile vocalist, ethnomusicologist, multi-instrumentalist, composer and choral director. He has collaborated extensively across a wide range of stylistic and cross-media disciplines, developing projects alongside dancers, theatre directors, shadow-puppeteers, filmmakers, photographers and musicians from many genres. Trained at the Melbourne Conservatorium, Joe draws on his ethnomusicology expertise to explore aspects of the human voice that are unfamiliar or uncommon. He is Music Director of the Melbourne-based Newlands Choir, and one half of the Trad-Acoustic duo The Grubby Urchins.
Josh is a multi-instrumentalist, singer, composer, and performer with a love of music from all over the world. His ability to attain such expertise across so many instruments and to blend his music into so many genres is astonishing. Equally at home on guitar, sitar, dilruba (bowed sitar), fiddle, mandolin and tabla, he is one of Australia's most versatile musicians. He has performed around the world with a wide range of groups, on guitar at guitar festivals, on mandolin at Bluegrass festivals, and on sitar for Pandit Ravi Shankar in Delhi.
A creative and versatile guitarist, Nico’s musical voice encompasses blues, jazz and instrumental folk styles from around the world. Traversing both acoustic and electric guitar, Nico is most excited by the active dialogue between improvisers and his music projects often inhabit the boundaries between music genres. Nico is an experienced performer and recent music projects have included world fusion band Rising Tide, soul-pop group Rebellious Bird and original Jazz outfit Coalescence Quartet.
