Music / Spark, Bloom! Canberra Symphony Orchestra. At the National Museum of Australia, March 26. Reviewed by SARAH BYRNE.

You know you’re in for something a little out of the ordinary when you’re greeted at the concert venue by the original, giant and creepy AF doll from Squid Games.

As it turns out it also fit the very female-forward vibe of the evening, a clever collaboration between the Canberra Symphony Orchestra and the National Museum for the latter’s Hallyu! The Korean Wave exhibition currently running there. A more age-diverse audience than usual was in evidence for this program of percussion-based short pieces – some of them even put their phones away.

MC and CSO Chief Conductor Jessica Cottis introduced us to the theme as Spark! as the concept of the moment of inspiration, and Bloom as what comes after, and it provided a lovely context for appreciating the music that followed, curated by guest artist, percussionist Claire Edwardes.

The program opened with a short piece by Katy Abbott (arranged by Eric Willie) called Taking Chances, with Edwardes and CSO Principal Percussionist Veronica Bailey, on assorted percussion, with high-octane drumming punctuated by bells and cymbals, beautifully performed.

This was followed by Edwardes again, this time on glockenspiel, for a wonderful Robert Davidson piece, the Spark of the concert’s title, meant to evoke a bonfire. A scintillating cascade of treble arpeggios was underpinned by plangent lower notes, for a lovely, melodious effect.

Interesting, if less pretty, was the following miniature percussion duet by Michael Askill, A Complete 180 – composed in 180 minutes and driven at 180 beats per minute. Bailey was joined by CSO stalwart Wyana O’Keeffe on a variety of instruments including gongs, drums and metronomic wood blocks over a form that swells and fades, focusing for the most part on a span of only two tones. Mesmerising.

The longest piece on the program was Holly Harrison’s Creature Feature – described as “loosely” inspired by the Venus Flytrap, but wholly suggestive of one.  I love this piece, which I heard previously when it premiered here in 2024.  Performed by Edwardes, Bailey and O’Keeffe, on glockenspiels and marimba with other percussion, buzzing and fluttering is interrupted at intervals by terrifying snaps worthy of Audrey 2. This is compulsively enjoyable but must be diabolical to perform – Edwards explaining afterwards that in addition to wielding two mallets in each hand she was also managing a kick drum below our sightline.

Next was a featured piece of the evening, a commissioned Inprovisation between Korean-Australian vocal artist Sunny Kim, and Edwardes on temple bowls (provided by Kim). Kim’s clear, lovely voice used very little ornamentation to complement Edwardes’ spacey, echoing sounds, for an overall effect both intriguing and relaxing.

Next was an extract – Emberstrike – from the solo vibraphone concerto Steeling Fire,  composed by Natalie Williams for Edwardes in 2022 to celebrate the women of Port Kembla who fought for the right to work in the steelworks there. For such a grounded story, the piece is a gorgeous ethereal scrap of a thing, with lovely cascades of notes and a modernist feel.

The program concluded with the world premiere of a new work (Pu:M – Holding Space) commissioned by the CSO for this collaboration, by Kim and cellist Hilary Kleinig, using a full ensemble of six (the sixth being percussionist Louis Sharpe, the only Y chromosome of the performance). Kim and Kleinig described their process, including four hours of recorded improvisation, from which their favourite 40 minutes were extracted, and then further distilled and scored by Kleinig to around 12 minutes of music. Their inspiration was the “creative space” that is the womb.

I have to confess I did not love this, perhaps because it all felt a bit Mullumbimby, and as the owner of a womb I think of it as a messy, practical thing rather than a sacred, mystic wonder. I might have enjoyed the piece more without the context, in fact.

The music was easy and pleasant to listen to, Kim’s soaring vocals providing definition to the cello and percussion rumbling beneath (at times I was reminded of the Game of Thrones theme – a certain Celtic feel, at least). But this was not for me.  It was, however, a great settler after an hour of highly entertaining music, and a welcome example of thinking outside the box in putting together an appealing program.