PREVIEW

Melbourne Women’s International Jazz Festival 2025
7-14 December

The Jazzlab

As the year rushes madly towards its end, we should not forget all the music Sonja Horbelt has put together in the Melbourne Women’s International Jazz Festival for 2025. Program and artist details are available on the festival website, but here’s a quick guide to what’s in store this year.

A missing hyphen should not keep us away from the Gender Defying Jazz live performance at 4pm on Sunday 7 December. It will showcase the results of six annual term 4 workshops in a program run by Andrea Keller, Head of Jazz & Improvisation at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music, University of Melbourne.

Later that night the MWIJF delivers great value in the first of a series of double bills, some with bonus openers. At 7.30pm, trombonist and vocalist Ashling O’Farrell leads a quartet in which she aims to share light and joy as well as radiating hope with her jazz-influenced compositions. We could do with lots of that.

In set 2, Melbourne saxophonist, improviser, composer and band leader Flora Carbo teams with ensemble Virago (Michigan, USA) comprising Sofia Carbonara vibraphone, BethAnne Kunert saxophones, Magnolia Rohrer violin and Wesley Hornpetrie cello. This set of original music will feature a premiere by Carbo developed for and with the ensemble.

On Monday 8 December, in another another double bill, Australian artist Lena Douglas (keys/piano/vocals) joins Danish vocalist, songwriter and improviser Sara Flindt in a new, collaborative duo. In the second set, Melbourne singer, songwriter and guitarist Maeve Grieve will perform with Jethro Anderson on bass and Alex Siderov on drums, fusing jazz, folk, and alternative rock.

On Tuesday 9 December, innovative composer and powerhouse bassist Tamara Murphy leads students from Monash University’s Sir Zelman Cowen School of Music and Performance in “Sounding Change”, featuring two ensembles.

On Wednesday 10 December there will be another double bill. In an Australian debut performance, harmonica player and composer Ariel Bart, now based in Berlin, will collaborate with Sydney musicians Lauren Tsamouras on piano and Freya Schack-Arnott on cello. In the other set, Angela Davis will direct the MWIJF Big Band featuring tertiary students from Monash University and the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music playing the music of Australian composers, plus classic big band arrangements from the swing era and beyond.

First up in the double bill on Thursday 11 December, dynamic vocal jazz ensemble The Wardells, named in honour of the great Anita Wardell, will play a mix of jazz standards and original works by local and international female composers and arrangers. These eight young vocalists have emerged from South Australia’s Elder Conservatorium. Next on the bill, internationally acclaimed trombonist Shannon Barnett visits from Cologne, Germany to perform with a new trio of old friends, Sam Anning on bass and Kyrie Anderson on drums for a set of delicate and deep explorations. It will be great to hear Barnett again, albeit briefly.

On Friday 12 December there is a double bill with a bonus opener, Melbourne jazz vocalist Bella Oates, who is at the end of her studies in jazz and improvisation at Monash University. In the following set, award-winning vocalist, actor, composer and educator Lauren Henderson launches her album Curves of the Brave. Drawing on jazz and soul influences, the album deals with resilience, introspection, gratitude, love, family, relationships, vulnerability and motherhood. After a short break, Naarm guitarist, singer/songwriter and composer Stella Anning joins Selene Messinis on keys, Richard Rose on bass and Kyrie Anderson on drums to explore deeply personal storytelling through song, drawing from jazz, neo-soul and folk traditions.

First up on Saturday 13 December will be Melbourne vocalist, composer and bandleader Sophie Nickson, who is studying at the Sir Zelman Cowen School of Music. Next, vocalist Jacinta Caruana whose sound is shaped by R&B, soulful melodies and pop influences over 22 years, will perform in a quintet. In the final set, Phillip Island artist Elly Poletti, who is regularly performing around Melbourne covering the likes of artists such as Amy Winehouse, Adele and Aretha Franklin, is leading a fresh new quintet, performing original songs.

In the Sunday 14 December opener, saxophonist, composer and bandleader Bernie Ramos, who is studying jazz and improvisation at Monash University, will perform in a quintet. Next up, Jann Rutherford Memorial Award winner Lauren Tsamouras (piano and compositions) teams with Harry Birch double bass and Theo Carbo guitar in Another Green World. This promises an intimate and meditative experience for musicians and audience through pulsatile and improvisation-led compositions.

The closing set will feature Old Country, New Country – the collaborative ensemble of Peggy Lee cello, Paul Williamson trumpet, and Dylan van der Schyff drums – in a new iteration with internationally renowned saxophonist and composer Sandy Evans. What a treat. This performance will premiere new works that will feature on a new recording to be released in 2026.

Once again Sonja Horbelt has assembled a great lineup of artists for this celebration of gender-defying improvised music.

ROGER MITCHELL