Justine Clarke bringing Mimi’s Symphony to Canberra for audiences both little and big

Posted on 30 April, 2025

What does an earthworm sound like*? It’s just one of the things you may learn during a magical orchestral performance of Mimi’s Symphony when it tours Canberra at the end of this month.

For the city’s legion of Justine Clarke fans, the performance will also allow you to hear the much-loved voice of this treasured children’s entertainer as she narrates a story she has written about a baby magpie who falls out of the nest and searches for her family.

Mimi’s Symphony is a collaboration between Justine and composer and conductor George Ellis. The actor, singer and Playschool presenter wanted to connect young audiences with classical music and was encouraged by George to write the story, for which he pledged an accompanying orchestral score.

The result is a modern Australian version of Peter and the Wolf in which animals give expression to parts of the orchestra (brass represents dogs, strings represent possums, woodwind represents birds and percussion represents insects).

And if you’re wondering what the earthworm sounds like, it’s a *xylophone.

“George and I had worked together for years and had a conversation about a space that we wanted to fill, connecting young audiences to the orchestra. George said, ‘Write a story and bring it back to me’…So I did! And we had many conversations and back-and-forth in a creative process which took the best part of 18 months,” says Justine.

“I have always felt very passionate about introducing children to any type of music, but most importantly to live music, where they can see musicians playing and hear the sound of the instrument as it is played.

“I also wanted to write something accessible for under-5s, and Kindy to Year 3s, and to set the story in a familiar landscape of a local park with animals they recognise.”

Justine, whose screen career began with a Vegemite commercial at age 7, and who has featured in everything from Home and Away to Mad Max (more recently receiving rave reviews for her performance of former Prime Minister Julia Gillard in Julia), has also won two ARIA awards for her children’s albums.

She has been a Playschool fixture since 1999 and said she felt “an enormous responsibility to use my public profile to introduce children to classical music and the wonder of an orchestra.”

Accompanied by the Canberra Symphony Orchestra for her six performances over two days, Justine said she was honoured to think that for many young listeners this would be their “very first experience of 18 musicians performing on stage together”.

“It is the most unique and heavenly sound. It is rare and special and needs to be protected. I mean, we need to introduce young people to all music, but a symphony sound is particularly primal. To hear those extraordinary instruments is a rare gift, and if just one little person in the crowd connects to that music, then my job is done.”

Justine traces her own love of music to a performance by Australian jazz band Galapagos Duck in the 1970s when she was kindy-aged herself. As a result, she likes to sing (la la la la la)!

The show includes a 20-minute story of Mimi, who falls from her nest in a storm and lands in a park and meets different animal groups as she searches for home.

After the story is told (tissue warning for parents for the parts where Mimi recognises the sound of her own heartbeat and also learns to fly) Justine then takes audiences through an interactive celebration with the orchestra, which includes big-screen animations created by Sydney Studio Gilay.

“I am conscious of it not being too long and of letting the kids have a bit of a party at the end. I am so proud of it and hope that the production has another life beyond me and that other symphonies and other actors will continue to help bring it to life for new audiences in the future.”

But right now, there are plenty of Canberra kids and their parents keen to see the one and only Justine Clarke give Mimi her melodic voice.