Pearl Live - The Emerald Ruby x Abhaya Sky

Pearl Live - The Emerald Ruby x Abhaya Sky

Saturday June 15

2pm – 3pm

Join The Emerald Ruby and Abhaya sky for the live premier of “Pearl”. The sonic portion of this multiartform work will be brought to life by Abhaya Sky’s glittering guitar, The Emerald Ruby’s lilting flute and their ethereal voices. This live show also features songs by both Abhaya Sky and the Emerald Ruby, and pieces from her series of work “Folksy Dreams”

About the Emerald Ruby: Imbued with the ethereal textures of folk music, ornate baroque instrumentals, and bardic storytelling, the sonic pallet of multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and ABC Classic commissioned composer The Emerald Ruby share’s musical milieu with Sufjan Stevens, Joanna Newsom and Missy Higgins. Whimsical in nature, her gentle songs are often juxtaposed by dark undertones cultivated in the chaos of late-diagnosed neurodivergence. A kaleidoscope of influences nourishes every performance from this multi-genre powerhouse; The hazy virtuosity of 18th-century French flute music, chaotic abstractions of a moonlit jazz jam, and trading traditional jigs and reels at a folk session are drenched with a mood only decades of musical adventures along Australia’s east coast can inscribe. 2024 will feature the conclusion and releases of multiple long-term projects including “Finding Fondness” (flute duets), “Folksy Dreams volume 3” (instrumental folk music), Patchwork (folk songs) as well as premier new commissions for Backstage Music, Ekstasis Ensemble and Maitland Regional art gallery.

About Abhaya Sky: Abhaya Sky is the moniker of Newcastle composer, performer and choir leader Christopher Sutherland. In this project, he traverses the lands between dreamy folk and expansive electronic fields, alternately singing songs of the depths of human life, and weaving electro-acoustic instrumentals that offer space and perspective. Beneath all his varied musical expressions lies a yearning for truth and a restless sense for the bittersweet aesthetic. Chris is preparing to release endless, an album of electronic music that will continue to evolve over the rest of his life, and early in 2025 he will release another album of songs in the style he calls dream folk. Chris is one third of cello/flute/guitar trio Hidden Strings, which performs fully improvised music born of the moment, and sings around the world with cult-choral darlings The Spooky Men’s Chorale. He is the musical director for Newcastle’s Petrichor Play Choir and facilitates the Newcastle Songwriter’s Workshop.

Photo Credit The Emerald Ruby and Kate Binnie