ARIA Nominee Martha Marlow Announces Performance with 17-Piece Orchestra
As the most important night in Australian music - the ARIA Awards - readies their show for tonight, Sydney-based solo artist Martha Marlow has announced the multi-award winning Australian composer, musician and conductor Nigel Westlake will conduct the 17-piece orchestra that will accompany her highly anticipated performance at the City Recital Hall in Sydney on 14 January, 2022.
Marlow, who hasn’t performed live in Sydney since the release of her critically acclaimed and ARIA Nominated album ‘Medicine Man’ will be returning to the stage.
Her beautifully accomplished debut album sits among albums by Archie Roach, Josh Teskey & Ash Grunwald, Ziggy Alberts and Emma Donavon in the ‘Best Blues & Roots Album’ category at the 2021 ARIA Awards.
Martha Marlow arrives with an artistic vision fully formed. Drenched in orchestral pop, Medicine Man is an evocative, heart-on-sleeve album, exploring recurrent themes of introspection, longing and hope.
Growing up in the same Sydney home where The Bee Gees honed their craft, Marlow was surrounded by music. Her father, renowned jazz bassist Jonathan Zwartz, crafted the album’s string arrangements. Storytelling is central to Marlow’s practice, reaching towards her heroes (Nina Simone, Nick Drake, Billie Holiday) whilst channelling her contemporaries (Radiohead, Laura Marling, Fiona Apple).
Seamlessly blending the glittery, nostalgic sounds of 1970’s Hollywood with lyrics wise beyond her years, Marlow’s debut, which earned her critical acclaim from The Australian, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, The Guardian, The Music, Limelight and more, manages to exist as comfortably in the past as it does in our current age of post-covid anxiety and tension.
With poignant lyrics, Martha explores her unique experience of living with a debilitating autoimmune condition and chronic pain. Medicine Man is a triumph and will be performed in its entirety for Singular Voices, with her band of jazz luminaries, including Jonathan Zwartz, Ben Hauptmann, Clayton Doley and Hamish Stuart and backed by a 17-piece chamber orchestra led by Nigel Westlake.
Bold songwriters. Sublime acoustics. Enthralling solo concerts. Singular Voices at City Recital Hall invites contemporary artists of the highest calibre to step forth on one of the most visually and sonically beautiful stages in Australia, dissolving the boundary between listener and song with only the barest embellishment to their exceptional voices.
MARTHA MARLOW
Live with a 17-piece orchestra
Friday 14 January - City Recital Hall - Sydney, NSW
As part of the Singular Voice series for Sydney Festival
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