Celebrating inspirational women in music

Posted on 11 April, 2019

Two highly successful local musicians with big reputations, Jess Green and Bree van Reyk, will star in this year’s Canberra International Music Festival.

One a jazz guitarist, the other a percussionist; both are Canberra born and bred. One of the most exciting elements of this year’s Festival, taking place from 2-12 May, is the recognition being given to women composers.

Bree explains why she’s delighted. “This festival is geared around the celebration of Bach. I’ve taken the opportunity to create a tribute to women in music who don’t get the same airtime as Bach, but who’ve had a positive influence on my career including Canberra Youth Orchestra percussion tutor Peg Mantle right through to Anna Magdalena Bach and Hildegarde von Bingen – a medieval composer who is one of the few women composers celebrated in the western canon.”

Jess is excited to be writing a piece to be performed for five nights running in the Turrell Sky Space at the National Gallery of Australia, saying she loves the light there and finds the space inspirational.

She has created a piece for solo voice, to be sung by Australian countertenor Tobias Cole, and says “we had great fun finding the spaces between the notes that really resonate in a beautiful way.”

Jess Green. Image supplied.

Bree and Jess first met as teenagers at the ANU School of Music. Jess says the jazz school had a big reputation.

“It was very competitive to get in, and it was like a hot house, we didn’t have anything else to do but to jam. My peers were at such a high standard and at the same time people like Bree were just mind-blowing even as undergraduates. We’ve known each other since then.”

Jess has come a long way since those early days at the School of Music, playing instrumental jazz, rock, indie pop and experimental music alongside artists including Jim Conway, The Catholics, Petulant Frenzy, Nick Wales, Katie Noonan, Deborah Conway, Kate Ceberano and more.

She has performed on many of Australia’s great stages and festivals and toured through Europe and Asia. Most recently she performed as part of an all-female band led by Katie Noonan for the closing ceremony at the Commonwealth Games.

As for Bree, as long as she can remember she wanted to do something loud, with rhythm, and gave up studying piano for percussion and drum kit.

“I always played in bands from when I was a teenager. The main band I had was with my best friends, it was called The Rebel Astronauts and we wrote all of our music together.”

Bree van Reyk. Credit: Heidrun Lohr.

Bree realised early on that one of her greatest inspirations was percussion tutor Peg Mantle. Peg was an early pioneer on the Canberra music scene, playing timpani and percussion in orchestras at a time when it was rare to see women in the ranks. As a musician, Peg joined the Canberra Orchestral Society in 1948, and became a life member of its successor body, the Canberra Symphony Orchestra. Later she became a teacher, tutoring the percussion section of the Canberra Youth Orchestra until her retirement in 1985.

“My work, ‘To Peg Mantle, with Thanks’ is really celebration of Peg,” Bree explains. “I’ve taken my inspiration from the fact that Peg was a maverick and she did what she wanted to do. She, like me, would have had so many people saying it was unusual for a woman to play timpani and percussion. But she followed her dreams and instincts and trusted herself. In writing this piece I’m probably doing things that Peg would think are ‘anti-music’ and shocking, but I just have to trust myself like she did.”

Bree van Reyk. Credit: Heidrun Lohr.

Bree’s music is warm-hearted and celebratory as well as being focused on issues of equality, a mix of contemporary classical, indie-rock and performance art.

She has toured and performed with artists such as Gurrumul, Paul Kelly, the Australian Chamber Orchestra, Synergy Percussion, Katie Noonan and Ensemble Offspring and she has been commissioned by many organisations including as the Sydney Festival and the Sydney Dance Company.

the essentials 

What: Sunset Serenade: Tobias Cole sings Jess Green
When: Every night from May 6 to 10, at 5.15 pm
Where: Turrell Sky Space at the National Gallery
Cost: Free
More information: cimf.org.au

What: Bree Van Reyk’s new piece for the Canberra Youth Orchestra as part of Bach for All, a special concert for families.
When: Sunday 12 May from 11 am
Where: Fitters Workshop
More information: cimf.org.au

Feature image: Peter Hislop