Recitals Australia in collaboration with Esmond Choi presents:
The Adventurous Project: Music of Austin Engelhardt, with Esmond Choi (synthesizer), Maria Zhdanovich (flute), and Derek Pascoe (saxophone)
Nexus Arts venue – Lion Arts Centre, 68 North Terrace, Adelaide SA 5000
Concert on 24 April and 1 May
From 7:00 p.m. to 8:15 p.m.
About the Program:
“We’re gonna try something… we’re gonna make music. Because it’s called playing music — not working music.” Esmond Choi
Recitals Australia is in collaboration with Adelaide artist Esmond Choi to present The Adventurous Project; a music series presenting rarely performed 20-th century and contemporary works through lecture-concerts in a relaxed setting.
Each program combines performance with discussion and conludes with a Q&A, fostering direct engagement between audience, musicians, and composers.
The program Music of Austin Engelhardt presents an improvised performances of graphic scores from composer Austin Engelhardt. Esmond will be on the synthesizer, joined by flautist Maria Zhdanovich on 24 April, and saxophonist Derek Pascoe on 1 April.
Click here or on the button below to read more about the program and watch an interview with the composer.
Composer/Artists Biography
About Austin Engelhardt
Austin Engelhardt is a composer, improviser, and visual artist whose work explores new modes of musical communication through sound, notation, and collaborative practice. Raised in rural Kansas, he entered the musical world later than most, learning to read music at the age of 20. This unconventional path has shaped his artistic voice, fostering a curiosity-driven approach to composition that prioritizes listening, experimentation, and performer agency. Deeply influenced by the aesthetic and physical qualities of sound, his work often draws from abstraction and graphic notation, inviting performers into an active, interpretive relationship with the music. Across his practice, Engelhardt views composition as a shared process of discovery for both composer and performer. He holds degrees from the University of Missouri–Kansas City and the New England Conservatory and is currently pursuing a DMA at the University of South Carolina.
About Esmond Choi
Esmond Choi is an Australian pianist/composer who has completed his undergraduate studies and continue his studies with Lucinda Collins. He is currently studying Master of Philosophy on researching Ives’s approach on being a musician. For this project, he travelled to New England Conservatory and had a short intensive study with Stephen Drury. In early 2024, Esmond performed Julia Wolfe’s East Boardway for solo Toy Piano at She Speaks Festival. And with the help of the Recitals Australia fellowship program. Esmond received a 5-star rating from Barefoot Review on two solo fringe recitals focusing on George Crumb’s complete Metamorphoses cycle.
About Maria Zhdanovich
Maria Zhdanovich is a sonic artist, collaborator, chamber musician and classically trained flutist currently completing her third year at the Australian National Academy of Music with Alison Mitchell. Throughout her studies, she has won multiple awards, including the Adelaide Eisteddfod Concerto Competition and 5MBS Young Virtuoso Award. In 2021, she was honored to be nominated for the Freedman Fellowship while completing a Bachelor of Music Performance Advanced at Elder Conservatorium. Maria has vast performance experience ranging from orchestral work across Australia and New Zealand, to performing in experimental jazz fusion outfits. As a musician she is passionate about curating evocative concert experiences that interweave western art music tradition with 21st century Australian composition and high-level improvisation.
About Derek Pascoe
Derek Pascoe is a saxophonist, composer and leading proponent of contemporary Australian improvised music. Over a diverse career spanning 50 years in music, Derek has forged a reputation as a unique and profound artist of genuine note; a relentless musical collaborator and staunch experimentalist whose ongoing work exemplifies a deep commitment to personal melodic expression through improvisation. Derek’s singular musical voice has been honed through an unconventional career as an artist both in the UK and Australia. At the age of 17 he was a member of pop group Flintlock, who produced 5 albums and were featured weekly on UK national television including Top of the Pops and Tomorrow’s People. Derek has since committed himself to improvised music, forging a reputation for rigorous experimentalism and a commitment to free improvisation.