Uploaded September 2023 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
The Heidelberg Choral Society (www.hcs.asn.au), Melbourne Australia
Melbourne Recital Centre, July 18th, 2023
Concept: Prof Jenny Graves scholars.latrobe.edu.au/jgraves
Music: Nicholas Buc nicholasbuc.com
Libretto: Jenny Graves, Leigh Hay
Visuals: Drew Berry wehi.tv
Conductor: Peter Bandy
Director: Geoffrey Grinton
Soprano: Lee Abrahmsen
Contralto: Liane Keegan
Tenor: Robert Macfarlane
Bass-Baritone: Adrian Tamburini
Oratorio by evolutionary geneticist Prof Jenny Graves, poet Leigh Hay and brilliant Australian composer Nicholas Buc, performed by the Heidelberg Choral Society, full orchestra and fabulous soloists. A breathtaking libretto inspired by cosmology, evolution, genetics and anthropology describes our origins from the Big Bang to the emergence of humanity.
About ORIGINS:
Every human culture on earth has its creation story. Origins tells the creation story from science; cosmology, genetics, ecology, and anthropology. It belongs to all cultures.
The libretto is in four parts, expressing the Origin of the Universe, the Origin of Life, the Origin of Species, and the Origin of Man. The movements have a range of different feels, from awe and reverence (e.g. #1) to light-hearted banter (e.g. #12), melodrama (e.g.#5), erotica (e.g. #14) and reflection (e.g.# 21).
Despite the wide sweep of subject matter and massive range of emotions, there are common themes in the wonder and beauty of the world, and the simplicity and elegance of scientific explanations. This invites some means of linking these themes musically, via motifs or instrumental statements.
In researching and discussing the work with scientists and musicians, I have become more and more aware of the uniqueness of the subject matter. Astonishingly, nobody seems to have attempted to represent even the most elementary scientific concepts musically. This opens up opportunities to create something absolutely novel, profound, and timeless; for instance musical descriptions of speciation (how one species becomes two), survival of the fittest (the engine of evolution), and the evolution of our complex genome by mutation, inversion, duplication of DNA (obviously a fugue!).
My overarching aim in the whole work is to present science as beautiful and wonderful, sexy, and even fun.
- Prof Jenny Graves, 18 July 2023
Copyright © 2023 Heidelberg Choral Society, Jennifer Graves, Leigh Hay and Nicholas Buc
The Heidelberg Choral Society (www.hcs.asn.au), Melbourne Australia
Melbourne Recital Centre, July 18th, 2023
Concept: Prof Jenny Graves scholars.latrobe.edu.au/jgraves
Music: Nicholas Buc nicholasbuc.com
Libretto: Jenny Graves, Leigh Hay
Visuals: Drew Berry wehi.tv
Conductor: Peter Bandy
Director: Geoffrey Grinton
Soprano: Lee Abrahmsen
Contralto: Liane Keegan
Tenor: Robert Macfarlane
Bass-Baritone: Adrian Tamburini
Oratorio by evolutionary geneticist Prof Jenny Graves, poet Leigh Hay and brilliant Australian composer Nicholas Buc, performed by the Heidelberg Choral Society, full orchestra and fabulous soloists. A breathtaking libretto inspired by cosmology, evolution, genetics and anthropology describes our origins from the Big Bang to the emergence of humanity.
About ORIGINS:
Every human culture on earth has its creation story. Origins tells the creation story from science; cosmology, genetics, ecology, and anthropology. It belongs to all cultures.
The libretto is in four parts, expressing the Origin of the Universe, the Origin of Life, the Origin of Species, and the Origin of Man. The movements have a range of different feels, from awe and reverence (e.g. #1) to light-hearted banter (e.g. #12), melodrama (e.g.#5), erotica (e.g. #14) and reflection (e.g.# 21).
Despite the wide sweep of subject matter and massive range of emotions, there are common themes in the wonder and beauty of the world, and the simplicity and elegance of scientific explanations. This invites some means of linking these themes musically, via motifs or instrumental statements.
In researching and discussing the work with scientists and musicians, I have become more and more aware of the uniqueness of the subject matter. Astonishingly, nobody seems to have attempted to represent even the most elementary scientific concepts musically. This opens up opportunities to create something absolutely novel, profound, and timeless; for instance musical descriptions of speciation (how one species becomes two), survival of the fittest (the engine of evolution), and the evolution of our complex genome by mutation, inversion, duplication of DNA (obviously a fugue!).
My overarching aim in the whole work is to present science as beautiful and wonderful, sexy, and even fun.
- Prof Jenny Graves, 18 July 2023
Copyright © 2023 Heidelberg Choral Society, Jennifer Graves, Leigh Hay and Nicholas Buc
