NAIDOC: “National Aborigines and Islanders day Observance Committee”. Initially the name of the committee originally responsible for organising the national NAIDOC Week activities, over time, the acronym has become the name for the entire festival now celebrating its 50th anniversary. And what a week of celebrations it has been. Kicking off with a special AFL match recognising and celebrating our indigenous football players, memorable classical music performances have been a feature. Musica Viva Australia brought us Jess Hitchcock and Penny Quartet in a selection of Hitchcock’s songs arranged for voice and string quartet on Monday at the Melbourne Recital Centre, and Friday saw the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and Short Black Opera co-present “Yinya dana: lighting the path” at Hamer Hall.
As part of this landmark iteration of NAIDOC Week, “Yinya dana” not only continued lighting the path but also illuminated some of the musical milestones that have been part of the legacy of Yorta Yorta/Yuin composer, soprano and beloved National Treasure, Deborah Cheetham Fraillon AO. Under the baton of Aaron Wyatt and guest conductor Nicolette Fraillon AM, an outstanding line-up of artists, including yidaki (digeridoo) virtuoso William Barton, Jess Hitchcock, Lillie Walker and Dhungala Children’s Choir, presented a memorable concert to an almost capacity (and very enthusiastic) audience.
The customary announcement regarding electronic devices being silenced came with a special twist. The mellifluous distinctive voice of Cheetham Fraillon herself asked, “Have you switched them off?” Immediately, we were drawn into a friendly personal exchange, which ended with “Now please enjoy!”
Generally, MSO concerts are prefaced by Cheetham Fraillon’s MSO-commissioned Acknowledgement of Country, Long Time Living Here, in an arrangement for string quartet with an orchestra member speaking Cheetham Fraillon’s text, which pays respect to the traditional owners of the land on which the concert is performed. For this concert, we heard the full orchestral arrangement with a soprano singing the text in Belinda Briggs’ Yorta Yorta translation. Making her MSO debut, Yorta Yorta, Kukuyalanji and Girramay soprano, Lillie Walker, impressed with her steady, confident performance, although it took a little time to achieve a proper balance between her microphone and the mighty orchestral weight behind her.
When singing the excerpt from Parrwang Lifts the Sky with Jess Hitchcock, it was much easier to hear the quality of Walker’s voice. Like Hitchcock, she has a clarity and beauty of tone that is most appealing. Their voices blended superbly well in Long Night Chorale, sung in the language of the Wadawurrung people in a translation by Corrina Ecccles. Cheetham Fraillon’s second opera, Parrwang (meaning magpie) was commissioned by Victorian Opera, and became a centrepiece of VO’s 2021 education program. Since then, this colourful, uplifting work about living in harmony with nature has received multiple performances, delighting children (and adults) ever since. For this performance a special arrangement of the Chorale also featured four generations of Short Black Opera artists and current members of the Dhungala Children’s Choir. In addition to being one of the highlights of the evening, it seemed to encapsulate so much of what Cheetham Fraillon aims for – lighting the way for future generations.
Always super articulate and judging just how much information was needed, Cheetham Fraillon spoke about the background and evolution of each work before they were performed via a video projected onto the panels at the rear of the stage. Similarly helpful were her comprehensive program notes that included lyrics in the original English and Indigenous languages translations.
Dutala – Star Filled Sky opened the main body of the program. Commissioned by the MSO as a companion piece for Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony for the 250th anniversary his birth, it was premiered the following year in 2021 – and we do know the reason for the delay. Once again, the MSO Chorus provided the repetitions of Belina Briggs’ Yorta Yorta translations beginning “Do you sense the creator world?” The 18-minute work in which Cheetham Fraillon includes “at least two humble references to Beethoven’s rhythms and orchestral signature” (program note) begins with a quiet drum rumble. Muted trumpets, a solo passage from the oboe and delicate strings create an air of wonder as we consider the spaces between the stars. Many short note patterns recur with frequent sudden crescendos and decrescendos until the work pulses to a quiet close with those same recurring rumbles, a horn echoing the oboe and a familiar motivic cell from the orchestra. A strikingly atmospheric work, it was given a powerful, controlled performance by the orchestra and a committed performance by the singers.
Following the enchanting excerpt from Parrwang, we heard two movements from Eumeralla, a war requiem for peace (2018) – Cheetham Fraillon’s stunning oratorio commemorating the events and lasting effects of the Eummerella War. With Gunditjmara translation by Vicki Couzenz and Travers Eira, the clarinet led a miked Jess Hitchcock, followed by the MSO Chorus and lower strings for the Liber scriptus. The dramatic opening of the energetic Confutatis was in stark contrast, the MSO Chorus and the orchestra excelling in a fine display of disciplined energy.
The final work before interval, Nanyubak (To Dream) (2021), is the first movement of a viola concerto premiered by Noongar violist Aaron Wyatt with the MSO. This time, Wyatt was the conductor with the MSO’s superlative Principal Viola as soloist. Although Cheetham Fraillon wrote the concerto during those dark days of COVID-19 lockdown – reflected in the sharp “slammed door” percussive blow that begins the concerto before the unaccompanied viola enters – much of the work has a lyricism that is immediately captivating. There is a romantic yearning in the viola line as “his voice is subsumed by the forces around him. Straining to break free and be heard until finally joining forces with the ripieno (full orchestra) to acknowledge the combined effort of a community.” (program note)
The impetus for Ghost Light (2021), another work created during extended periods of lockdown, was Cheetham Fraillon’s yearning for the time when we could again enter what she called “the most intimate communion of the spirit that is live performance”. Lower strings, echoed by a clarinet and punctuated by an eerie chime evoke haunting empty theatre spaces lit only by ghost lights. An eerie chime is heard near the beginning and the end of the work with a drum rumble conclusion. Within this 18-minute work there are periods of quiet meditation and arresting passages for solo instruments – chiefly for cello but with also for horn, flute and an undulating harp. For this reviewer, the many crescendos and diminuendos created a sense of a pulse, sometimes quickening but generally quietly surging. Commissioned by the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Ghost Light is striking in its variety of orchestral colour, coherence and romantic rapture.
Understandably, enthusiastic cheers greeted William Barton as he came onto the stage with his yidaki (didgeridoo). In fact, the concert would not have been complete without him. Baparripna (Dawn) (2021) begins with soft breath and clicks then a violin provides the softest high-pitched drone. The gradually unfolding dawn slowly gains momentum, with solo instruments conjuring up an awakening landscape that culminates in a brass fanfare and a thrilling explosion of joyous sound with Barton creating a riot of impossible colour on his yidaki. More cheers; the audience loved it.
And then more cheers as Deborah Cheetham Fraillon entered with conductor Nicolette Fraillon for a performance of Earth, the seventh work composed for the MSO musicians. Because Earth is the only planet in our solar system inhabited by humankind, the human voice is featured in this 8-minute work. It begins with yawning brass, and a drum rumble that seems so much a part of Cheetham Fraillon’s musical language. It is an exciting work that, perhaps unexpectedly, incorporates almost warlike sounds of dominant timpani, and brass featuring a mighty tuba. It ends on a sustained high note – in both senses – as the soprano proclaims, “this shining world is our home”.
It was the perfect conclusion to a concert with the subtitle “The Music and Legacy of Deborah Cheetham Fraillon”, which celebrated not only First Nations achievements, but also her relationship with the orchestra. Her five-year tenure as the MSO’s Composer in Residence and First Nations Creative Chair has shown us that this extraordinary artist is not only part of the MSO family, but also a singularly important part of Australia’s wider cultural landscape.
Photo credit: Nico Keenan
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Heather Leviston reviewed “Yinya dana: lighting the path”, presented by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and Short Black Opera at Arts Centre Melbourne, Hamer Hall, on July 11, 2025.
