Floods of Fire

Floods of Fire is an artist-led community-building project drawing on the cultural heritage of a wide spectrum of communities living in South Australia.

Thematically, Floods of Fire will focus on our environment and the impacts of climate change, stemming from flood and fire stories associated with creation, destruction and re-creation.

From left to right: Noriko Tadano, Julian Ferraretto, Farhan Shah, Elizabeth McCall, Lorcan Hopper and Zhao Liang in Adelaide. Picture Matt Turner.

Watch the short film to learn more about Floods of Fire and its collaborators.

A film by Randy Larcombe

Over the course of 12 months, ASO worked with a number of partners and community groups through workshops and rehearsals to create music with the ASO. Lead composers collaborated with a number of musicians and artists to create new compositions for the ASO. The music created from Floods of Fire will be performed in 2022, but audiences will get a sneak peek at three of the compositions at Festival of Orchestra.

Conceived by European participatory theatre director, Airan Berg, the ASO is engaging in two creative development phases with the following key creatives and partners:

Chris Drummond, Artistic Director, Brink Productions
Dr. Julian Ferraretto, collaborative composer
Dr. Luke Harrald, composer
Jakub Jankowski, composer
Hilary Kleinig, collaborative composer
Zhao Liang, composer
Adam Page, collaborative composer
Belinda Gehlert, collaborative composer
Grayson Rotumah, composer
Dr. Jared Thomas, William and Margaret Geary Curator Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art and Material Culture, South Australian Museum
Open Music Academy, Elder Conservatorium
Nexus Arts
Tutti Arts

The lead composers collaborated with musicians Noriko Tadano, Nancy Bates, Farhan Shah, Iran Sanadzadeh, Alain Valodze, Lazaro Numa, Zuhir Naji, Maryam Rahmani, Bortier Okoe, as well as artists from Tutti Arts including Thank God It’s Friday choir, Quirkestra, Tutti Choir and the Tutti Arts Creative Writing Group to create new compositions for the ASO. Workshops also involved musician David Dai, Yidaki Player Robert Taylor and conductor Luke Dollman who distinctively brought the project to life.

We are also grateful for the contributions of the CFS and SES in this creative development stage.

The project is being evaluated by Dr. Tully Barnett with LabAdelaide.

Airan Berg is an internationally working theatre maker and artistic director, who specialises in large scale participatory and inclusive projects.

He is currently the artistic director of: Festival der Regionen, one of Austria’s most prestigious festivals, Orfeo & Majnun a Creative Europe music theatre project in 7 European Countries, and Floods of Fire, commissioned by the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra.

Julian Ferraretto, Adam Page and Chris Drummond at a Floods of Fire workshop

“Floods of Fire is an example of how ASO reflects the issues and concerns affecting our community today, by listening, connecting and learning. This inclusive engagement is finding expression in the development of new music and a new way of working for the orchestra, which is very exciting.”
ASO Managing Director, Vincent Ciccarello.