Hilary Kleinig - Alone : Together - album launch

alone : together, the debut solo album by award-winning cellist / composer Hilary Kleinig, explores the sonic possibilities of the cello - bowed, plucked, harmonic and percussive - played alone but together with looping layers and echoes of self. Fusing influences of folk, classical, EDM and pop, alone : together offers listeners music of sublime beauty, symphonic textures, ecstatic grooves and lush harmonies, all created by one multi-layered cello.

Joined by a very special local guest in each city for her national album launch tour, Hilary is thrilled to share the stage with Australia’s ‘sorceress of percussion’ Claire Edwardes in Sydney.

Don’t miss this special performance by these two extraordinary artists, performing alone and together. 

Performers Biographies:

Hilary Kleinig - cello / electronics

Hilary Kleinig is a multidisciplinary musician - cellist, composer, creative producer and educator – based in Tarntanya / Adelaide, Australia. Imbued with a sense of wonder and curiosity, her artistic practice centres on care, collaboration and connection, of and with people, place and planet. A strong believer in the transformative power of music, she is passionate about creating new work with artists and communities that tell vital, current and courageous stories important to us today.

Hilary is a versatile cellist performing on modern, baroque and amplified cello in notated and improvised live and recorded performance, with a broad range of leading ensembles, orchestras and contemporary music & jazz artists including Sia, Jóhann Jóhannsson, Jherek Bischoff, Stars of the Lid, Australian Brandenburg Orchestra, Australian Art Orchestra and Kanye West. For over 20 years Hilary was cellist with and Artistic Director of Zephyr Quartet - ‘Arguably Australia’s most lateral thinking and inventive ensemble’ (Music Australia) – an award-winning, bold and adventurous string quartet, delighting in the exploration of diverse music and forging dynamic collaborations. With Zephyr Quartet she performed in festivals in Australia and overseas, collaborated with leading musicians and bands, commissioned and played new contemporary music and produced and curated complex multi-artform collaborations.

Hilary’s compositions have been commissioned / performed by ensembles such as the Canberra Symphony Orchestra, Silk Strings Ensemble, Muses Trio, Clocked Out, Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, Adelaide Chamber Singers and the Adelaide Youth Orchestras and are often heard on ABC Classic. With a passion for collaborative composition, she is Co-Director of and a Teaching Artist for Connecting the Dots in Music, an innovative organisation which utilises the power of music to connect arts, health, government sectors in creating community-led projects for positive social impact including Lullaby Project Australia, where she creates new songs with parents and caregivers for their children. Hilary also often writes for theatre and dance productions collaborating with companies such as Restless Dance Theatre, State Theatre Company of South Australia and Brink Productions. 

Claire Edwardes - Percussion

Claire Edwardes OAM is Australia’s ‘sorceress of percussion’ (City News, Canberra) and the only Australian to win the ‘APRA Art Music Luminary Award’ four times. A charismatic percussion virtuosi, Claire leaps between her role as Ensemble Offspring’s Artistic Director (Australia’s leading new music ensemble), solo recitals and concerto performances with all of the Australian symphony orchestras including recent premieres of works by Anne Cawrse, Natalie Williams and Iain Grandage. In 2022 Claire was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia for her indelible contribution to Australian music and in 2023 she was the recipient of the Australian Women in Music Award for Creative Leadership.

Recently described in Limelight as a ‘unique treasure of Australia’s musical community’ and in The Age as ‘an invigorating musical life force’, Claire has hosted Play School, been an ARIA Award finalist twice and has performed as a soloist all over the world – from Vancouver to Amsterdam, the Gold Coast to Malta, and Huddersfield to Alice Springs. Widely known for her genre-spanning solo concerts, plus commissioning and premiering hundreds of new works for marimba, vibraphone, drums and more unusual instruments such as the waterphone, she passionately advocates for gender equity and diversity in all that she undertakes. As a true trailblazer Claire breaks down barriers between art music and audiences with her famous on-stage infectious enthusiasm for bringing new music to new audiences.