NAARM | MELBOURNE
Musical Directors: Andrew Byrne & John McCaughey
The new and
the unusual from Australia and beyond.
Astra Concerts - The Astra Choir - Astra Publications
ASTRA IS MUSIC - for voices, instruments and other media.
From a long history over 80 years in choral and orchestral music, the journey continues through music of the times, its relation to other forms of art and to the wider world.
Astra '25
Passages through the music of the times.
Eleven concerts of choral and chamber music,
interdisciplinary collaborations, electronic
landscapes and improvisation—where past
narratives meet radical experimentation
and poetic reflection.
Upcoming Concerts
-
![]()
8pm, Friday July 18
Church of All Nations, CarltonInland and Astra present a special collaboration featuring Anthony Burr, one of today’s foremost interpreters of the music of Alvin Lucier (1931–2021). The program explores acoustic phenomena, interference patterns, and resonant spaces through works for instruments and electronics by Lucier and Burr.
-
!["Commas and Twisted Runways One, 27 Premieres by Andrew Byrne" text on blurred background, July 25 announcement for ASTRA event.]()
8pm, Wedesday July 23
Hall of St Mary’s, North MelbourneGenevieve Lacey (recorder), Anthony Burr (clarinet), Erkki Veltheim (violin), Anna Pokorny (cello), Joy Lee (piano) and Dan Richardson (percussion) perform new works by Andrew Byrne alongside canons by J.S. Bach. An evening where mathematical rigour meets the creative spark.
-
![]()
8pm, Friday August 8
Hall of St Mary’s, North MelbourneThis concert launches the JOAN EVENTS, a multi-year project of new impulses in performance and composition, supported by the Joan Pollock Creative Fund.
-
![]()
8pm, Saturday August 30
Church of All Nations, CarltonPatterns—human and machine-generated—explore connections between systems, technology, and music-making. In algorithmic structures and through live interaction these new works reshape the experience of performance.
-
![Event poster with text "6 Sept." "poetic intelligence," "Astra Choir," on blurred brown background.]()
8pm, Saturday September 6
Church of All Nations, CarltonPOETRY INTO MULTIPLE VOICES: premiering two vocal-poetic cycles for choir and solo voices.
The Astra Choir and Soloists
John McCaughey, conductor -
![Event poster for "Twisted Runways Three" featuring Kelly & Balzac with piano and processing, quote "Water is the product of burning," date October 4, logos at the bottom, abstract aqua background.]()
8pm, Friday October 3
Church of All Nations, CarltonBalzac’s Gambara (1837) follows a demented composer, his long suffering wife Marianna, and their scheming patron, Count Marcosini. This performance, a prototype for a larger theater/dance work, explores the novella’s vision of ‘music’—from ‘the sublime chorus of angels’ to a ‘hideous cacophony’—played on piano and a panharmonicon, a proto-synthesiser.
-
![Poster promoting an event called "Cabinet of Curiosities" by Astra Choir with a date of October 19, featuring a blurred abstract background of warm tones.]()
3pm, Sunday October 26
Hall at St Mary's, North MelbourneThis concert places the worlds of the fearless Abbess Cozzolani of Milan and the opera celebrity and English immigrant Handel among more recent British experimental performance pieces, and a new ensemble communication by Naarm composer Charlie Sdraulig.
The Astra Choir and Soloists
John McCaughey, conductor -
![Promotional graphic for "Continuing Curiosities," featuring the text "ASTRA," "Oct./Nov.," and "Three Performance Labs" against a black background.]()
October / November
3 Performance Laboratories at JOLTED Performance Space, Northcote
in partnership with Jolt Arts
MORE INFORMATION TO COME.
-
![Event poster for 'Patterns of Plants in Tasmania' from November 25-27, featuring green foliage and composer name Mamoru Fujieda; hosted by ASTRA.]()
November 25, Hobart Town Hall
November 26, Princess Theatre Launceston
November 27, Burnie Arts CentreNew arrangements of PATTERNS OF PLANTS by Japanese composer Mamoru Fujieda (2024, commissioned by Astra) for a 7-piece ensemble of traditional Japanese and Western Baroque instruments are presented for the first time in Tasmania as part of Van Diemen’s Lunchbox Series.
in partnership with Van Diemen’s Band
-
![Event poster for Astra Choir titled "Cosmic and Terrestrial Dialogues" with a date of December 14.]()
5pm, Sunday December 14
St Mark's Anglican Church, FitzroyChoral music shows its unique attributes in expressions beyond the immediate moment, and conversations across great distances in time and space.
The Astra Choir and Soloists,
John McCaughey, conductor
with string quintet and
Linda Kent, organs
