SHORT BIOGRAPHY

 Lamorna Nightingale is a freelance flautist, concert presenter, educator and publisher who is passionate about the future of art music in Australia. She is a core member of the new music group - Ensemble Offspring and has been performing with them since 2007. Lamorna has many years experience working in the orchestral sector performing regularly with many of Australia’s finest ensembles. In January 2016 she performed with early music ensemble Brugge Anima Eterna at the Sydney Festival and then the Lincoln Centre in New York. Since 2017 Lamorna has curated and produced a new concert series dedicated to new music in Sydney ‘BackStage Music’.  Lamorna has created several recordings of new Australian flute music with repertoire selected to suit flute players with less experience with new music. This music is now widely performed by students and professionals Australia wide and internationally, transforming for many flute players their experience of new Australian music. She has recently created an album of new Australian music for flute and electronics ‘Other Voices’ with an associated education kit designed to introduce school students to electroacoustic music. Lamorna has also created several pedagogical volumes of repertoire for young flute players through her publishing company, ‘Fluteworthy’.

CURRICULUM VITAE

EDUCATION

MASTER OF PERFORMANCE (M.Perf) at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, studying with Margaret Crawford and Geoff Collins. Completed February, 2000.

BACHELOR OF MUSIC (B.MUS) Graduated from the Canberra School of Music in 1994, studying with Vernon Hill and Virginia Taylor. 

HIGHER SCHOOL CERTIFICATE (HSC) completed in 1990

SECONDARY EDUCATION. Between 1985 and 1990, Lamorna attended the Sydney Conservatorium of Music High School, studying flute with Rosamund Plummer and Jane Rutter, piano with Alexandra Vinakurov and Baroque flute with Howard Oberg.  

PERFORMER

ENSEMBLE OFFSPRING : Lamorna is a core member of Ensemble Offspring, performing with them since 2007. Recent Highlights for Ensemble Offspring; Sydney Festival 2020 ‘Bird Song at Dusk’ ; 2020 ‘Mesmerism’ for the Sydney Opera House digital program ‘From Our House to Yours’; 2019 Sidney Myer Performing Arts Group Award; 2019 showcase performance at the international music market, Classical:NEXT (Rotterdam); 2019 Nominated for ARIA Award in the Best Children’s Album category; 2016 APRA Art Music Award for Excellence by an Organisation. Recent tours to Amsterdam, Berlin, Glasgow, Hong Kong and Shanghai.

ORCHESTRA : Since 1997 Lamorna has worked regularly in the orchestral sector as a casual flute and piccolo player, performing with the Australian Chamber Orchestra (ACO), Sydney Symphony Orchestra (SSO) and Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra (AOBO). ACO Highlights include all Beethoven Symphonies, Mendelssohn and Schumann Symphonies and several Huntington Festivals. AOBO Highlights: seasons of many of Puccini’s operas, Strauss Der Rosenkavalier, Brett Dean Bliss, Shostakovich Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, Prokofiev Romeo and Juliet and many of Tchaikovsky’s ballets. SSO highlights include Stravinsky The Rite of Spring. Mahler Symphonies, Wagner’s Act Three Die Walkure, Adams Short Ride in a Fast Machine, Debussy La Mer, Shostakovich Symphony #5.

EARLY MUSIC : Lamorna has an interest in early music performance and has performed on period instrument piccolo with the  Australian Chamber Orchestra and the Australian Classical and Romantic Orchestra (ARCO). In 2016 she performed with early music ensemble Brugge Anima Eterna at the Sydney Festival and then at the Lincoln Centre in New York.

MUSIC THEATRE : Lamorna has also performed in several long running professional productions of music theatre including Cameron Macintosh productions of Miss Saigon (Sydney 1995 -1996 , Asian Tour 2001, Sydney 2007), Les Miserables 2016, The Wizard of Oz 2018 and Porgy and Bess 2006.

CHAMBER MUSIC : Lamorna has performed extensively with many chamber music ensemble in Australia - particularly those with a focus on new music including Sydney Chamber Opera (opera’s by Rometelli, Saariaho and Mary Finsterer); Seymour Group/Sonic Art Ensemble; Kurrawong Ensemble; The Song Company  and Synergy Percussion. 

SOLO RECORDING PROJECTS : Lamorna has created several albums of new Australian flute music including Eat Chocolate and Cry and Spirit of the Plains with associate artists Christine Draeger and Jocelyn Fazzone and Other Voices with associate artist Jane Sheldon (project supported by APRA/AMCOS Art Music Fund Commission and Australia Council). Ensemble Offspring’s Lone Hemispheres solo performance project of 2020 involved video recordings of solo works Liza Lim’s Bioluminescence and Tristan Murail Unanswered Questions. In 2020 Behind Doors Phoenix Central Park video recording of Amanda Cole’s Oracle Chamber for bass flute and baritone saxophone with James Nightingale (commissioned by performers.) 

MANAGEMENT SKILLS and LEADERSHIP

Lamorna has skills in many of the ‘behind the scenes’ tasks involved in running small arts organisations including website development, curation, event management, budgets, grant writing and team leadership. 

BACKSTAGE MUSIC : Since 2017 Lamorna has curated and produced a new concert series dedicated to new music in Sydney - BackStage Music. This series was initiated to create a community that supports, encourages and fosters a culture for living music. As Artistic Director director Lamorna has curated, produced and presented three seasons of programs featuring emerging artists alongside more established artists from Australia and internationally. Since then BackStage Music have presented over 50 performances at various venues around Sydney showcasing over 100 performers and 60+ new Australian compositions.  In 2021 BackStage presented Now You Hear Her a month long festival in a pop-up shopfront venue in Sydney’s World Square shopping precinct. 

FLUTEWORTHY PUBLICATIONS : The Fluteworthy partnership began in 2009 with a single recording project and has developed into a thriving business with direct sales through their website and retail through music shops throughout Australia. Lamorna manages all aspects of the business including managing stock, sales and shipping, website development, marketing and promotion.  

104 FLUTES: In 2015, Lamorna produced and performed as a soloist in the Australian Premier Performance of Sciarrino's, Il cerchio tagliato dei suoni. This work is for 100 massed flute players plus 4 soloists and involved a staged performance in the foyer of the High Court of Australia for the Australian Flute Festival.

FLUTE SOCIETY OF NSW : From 2010-2017 Lamorna was actively involved as a committee member of the Flute Society of NSW.  From 2012-14 she was President and 2015-17 Vice-President. 

EDUCATIONAL PROJECTS 

Lamorna performance career is closely intertwined with her work in the education sector as a flute teacher, examiner, mentor, content creator and publisher. 

FLUTE TEACHING : Private teaching studio and various school teaching positions including  Double Bay Primary School, Newtown High School for the Performing Arts, Sydney Conservatorium of Music High School  (Chamber Music),  MLC Burwood and Australian Institute of Music  (Young AIMs program from 2000 and tertiary teaching from 2004 including acting Head of Wind Department in 2004.)

EXAMINING/ADJUDICATION : Examiner for the Australian Music Examinations Board (AMEB) since 2002. Currently Senior examiner.  Adjudicator for the Flute Society of NSW Eisteddfod and Wollongong Eisteddfod. 

OTHER VOICES Education Kit : Based on music by Australian composers Cat Hope, Tristan Coelho and Fiona Hill this education kit was designed to introduce school students to electroacoustic music and contemporary Australian classical composition. The concept and development of the kit was led by Lamorna with content created by the composers and specialist high school music educators. (Supported by NSW Education Department Creative Projects Grant and distributed through the the Education Department to Government Schools.) https://emagined.com.au/learning-assets/nsw-department-of-education/other-voices/

OFFSTAGE (BACKSTAGE MUSIC) : To help sustain creative Australian musicians through the COVID19 crisis, BackStage Music paired freelance composers and performers to collaboratively create new work and accompanying digital musical resources forming a growing, invaluable resource for composers, performers, students and educators interested in living music. https://www.backstagemusic.com.au/offstage

FLUTEWORTHY Fluteworthy is a highly successful sheet music publication business dedicated to the production of flute teaching resources for Australian students. Materials are created in partnership between experienced flute teachers Jocelyn Fazzone, Christine Draeger and Lamorna Nightingale. Resources include 

  • two albums of Australian music appropriate for young performers with a particular focus on the HSC core topic Australian Music of the last 25 years

  • Lamorna’s Beginner Flute Book (over 2,000 copies sold between 2017-2021)

  • Graded collections of repertoire and etudes and technical workbooks.

Fluteworthy have presented workshops for teachers at numerous events including several Australian Flute Festival Professional Learning Days, Flute Society of NSW Gala Days and AMEB Professional Learning Days.  

 http://www.fluteworthy.com.au. 

MENTORING : BackStage Music aligns an early career artist alongside an established artist and includes mentoring the development of their program including choice of repertoire, presentation style and audience development. One-on-one mentoring of young performers and composers is also provided through Ensemble Offspring’s Hatched HOME Academy - a new program developed to assist Australian musicians affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. 

COMPOSER WORKSHOPS :  As a performer Lamorna has shared her experience though numerous composer workshops. Ensemble Offspring has presented at MLC Australian Music Days, Richard Gill Presents at the City Recital Hall, Santa Sabina’s Australian Composition Seminar as well as many workshops with tertiary students at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, ANU School of Music and WAAPA/University of Western Australia. Ensemble Offspring’s Hatched Summer School  provides practical, hands-on experience to a new wave of elite young Australian composers. 

SCHOOLS and CHILDREN SHOWS : In her early career Lamorna performed in Musica Viva In Schools Education concerts with wind quintet The Chambermaids;  Sydney Opera House Babies Proms; Sydney Symphony’s Sinfonia Schools Program with Richard Gill and Sydney Symphony Family Concerts. More recently Ensemble Offspring regularly presents family friendly shows including their annual event Sizzle at local bowling clubs. In 2018 they presented two programs at the Sydney Opera House in collaboration with ABC Classic Kids including Sounds of Australia and  Music for the Dreaming (music by Brenda Gifford) which was nominated for and ARIA award.

SUPPORT OF AUSTRALIAN and UNDER REPRESENTED ARTISTS 

Lamorna has a strong commitment to supporting and nurturing Australian artists and in particular women composers and First Nations artists. 

AUSTRALIAN MUSIC Lamorna has worked directly with hundreds of Australian composers through her work with Ensemble Offspring, nurturing composers at all stages in their careers. She has created three albums of Australian Flute music collaborating with composers to create idiomatic flute music that can be performed by young players.  This has involved commissioning new work and finding innovative ways of sharing these works so they can be performed and enjoyed by other flautists and in the classroom. BackStage Music provides opportunities for Australian artists to perform innovative new work with a strong focus on Australian content. In 2020 Lamorna and her husband, saxophonist James Nightingale commissioned three new works for flute and saxophone to celebrate wedding anniversary and birthdays. 

FIRST NATIONS : In recent year’s Lamorna has become fascinated by Indigenous culture and how through building ongoing relationships with First Nations Peoples though music we can address the disparity in opportunity that exists in Australia. She sits on the Ensemble Offspring Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) committee and has been actively involved the Ngarra-Burria: First Peoples Composers program. In 2021 Lamorna worked with First Nations Composer Nardi Simpson on a show ‘Yugal Mudhaybaraay’ (Possum Song) for the Canberra International Music Festival. In 2021 she presented a solo set as part of Ensemble Offspring’s Musical Microparks at the Sydney Festival with music by Brenda Gifford (Yuin) and dance by Emily Flannery (Wiradjuri)

WOMAN COMPOSERS The BackStage Music Now You Hear Her festival at World Square in 2021 provided a space for Sydney artists to celebrate the women in their lives. Women from diverse backgrounds performed and presented workshops, films and panel discussions in over 30 events over the course of the month long festival. Ensemble Offspring has an active commitment to gender parity in its programming. In 2017 the group only programmed the music of woman and a bold move to highlight the quality of work by female composers.