'Complex chords contrasting with the crystal quality of Noonan’s vocals, lilting and yielding before descending into mystery...' The West Australian

Availability

Score and parts in preparation

Programme Notes

Australian singer-songwriter Katie Noonan commissioned musical settings of poetry by the extraordinary indigenous writer Oodgeroo Noonuccal from several Australian composers. I chose Oodgeroo’s poem Then And Now for its stunning demonstration of forbearance from a woman who had been mistreated for so much of her life, but who decided that racial tensions would only ever improve through reflection and tolerance.
 
A disappointing proportion of white Australians still choose to believe that the mistreatment and denigration of our country’s first nation either never happened or has now evaporated. Oodgeroo’s light but firm tone in this quiet reminiscence is an object lesson in generosity of spirit.
 
Carl Vine, January 2018

Reviews

'Then and Now drew an ominous voice from strings, complex chords contrasting with the crystal quality of Noonan’s vocals, lilting and yielding before descending into mystery; prayerful at the close.'
The West Australian (David Cusworth), 8 November 2019

 

Then & Now

12 date national tour - 30 Oct to 10 Nov

Sydney Opera House (Sydney, NSW, Australia)

Katie Noonan/Australian String Quartet