Arts & Culture
17 February, 2026
Highlands music under a collective prism
The Highlands Music Collective is looking forward to presenting their ‘Australian Prisms’ concert this Friday February 20 at the Bowral Memorial Hall.
The Highlands Music Collective is looking forward to presenting their ‘Australian Prisms’ concert this Friday February 20.
Music will be performed from seven Australian composers, one of whom is Southern Highlands and Robertson local, Andrew Ford, who the Southern Wire spoke to last Friday morning.
His piece, ‘Cradle Song’, written for violin and piano, will be performed alongside a series of other pieces in a 75-minute concert at the Bowral Memorial Hall.
“I started writing Cradle Song because I was asked to by Belinda Webster, who runs Tall Poppies Records and she was putting out an album of ‘berceuses’ - a French word for a cradle song or a lullaby written primarily for violin and piano,” Mr. Ford told The Southern Wire.
“She asked me at the time because I had recently become a father, and I wrote a series of chords with a repeating ground bass line. But I had other things to do, and it sat there on the piano for a while.”
But it was some terrible news that he heard about the son of a friend of his, Patricia Pollett, who was suddenly killed in a car accident, that shocked him back into writing the piece again.
“Patricia is a viola player, and we had worked together many times, and her son Richard had been killed in a road accident,” Mr. Ford added.
“He was a violinist and a brilliant student, and suddenly this piece on my piano which wasn’t going anywhere became associated in my mind with Richard (Ms. Pollett’s son). So, I wrote the song and it’s dedicated to his memory – a cradle song for a child who has been killed.”
Mr. Ford also indicated that when the album came out, entitled “Close Your Eyes and I’ll Close Mine” - Cradle Song was recorded by Australian violinist Anna McMichael and concert pianist Tamara-Anna Cislowska, and it had also been performed by quite a lot of other violinists, too.
“I turned it into the third movement of my String Quartet which I was composing for the Brodsky Quartet as well as being performed by the Shanghai Quartet,” Mr. Ford added.
The piece will be performed this Friday night by local violinist Myee Clohessy, alongside Catherine Barnett on cello, Andrew Rumsey on piano and 2026 Eva Pascoe Award recipient and harpist, Paul Nicolaou.
The other pieces they will perform are: Stuart Greenbaum’s ‘9 Candles for Dark Nights’ (for solo harp); Anne Cawrse’s ‘Sanctuary’ (for violin and cello); Paul Nicolaou’s ‘Between Darkness and Light’ (for harp and piano); Nigel Westlake’s ‘Beneath the Midnight Sun’ (for harp and violin); Sally Greenaway’s ‘IMOGEN’ (for cello and piano - premiere); and another piece by Paul Nicolaou, entitled ‘Night Shift’ - premiere) for harp, violin, cello and piano.
“Myee is a magnificent violinist and also a very important part of the Highlands music community,” Mr. Ford said.
“She’s a person who makes things happen, helps other people and has great ideas, is full of energy and enthusiasm and imagination – Bowral would be a duller place without her.”
The concert will start at 6:30pm in the Bowral Memorial Hall, 24 Bendooley St, Bowral.
“We can't wait to see you all again for another fabulous year of HMC music performed by passionate locals, for locals,” a spokesperson from the HMC said.
“Bring your children, your sweetheart, your grandma, your neighbour. Live music experiences are for everyone!”
Members of the Highlands Music Collective can get their 15% discount on subscription tickets by visiting the link at https://events.humanitix.com/hmcollective-2026.../tickets.
It will also kick off the start of the HMC’s ‘Australian Prism’ 2026 concert series.
Tickets are $140 for a family (two adults, two children), $60 for adults, $55 for concessions, $35 for full time students and $20 for children (under 18).
Australian Prisms Tickets can be purchased by visiting https://events.humanitix.com/hmcollective-presents-australian-prism/tickets.
Read More: Bowral, Southern Highlands, Robertson