NEWS
Melbourne Jazz Co-op 40th Anniversary at Melbourne Recital Centre. Photo: Roger Mitchell
NEWS
Australian String Quartet Commission
Very proud to announce that ‘String Quartet No.1, No Feeling is Final’ will be performed across the country as part of ASQ’s May 2025 national tour.
“A major artistic highlight of next year will be the World Premiere of a new quartet by one of Australia’s most exciting and celebrated jazz composers, Vanessa Perica. We are huge fans of Vanessa’s work and her latest creation, No Feeling is Final, will be a thrilling opportunity to showcase her phenomenal talent and explore a fresh new world of musical possibility.” - Dale Barltrop, violin ASQ
Link to dates and tickets here.
ARIA Award Nominee
‘The Eye is the First Circle’ has been nominated for Best Jazz Album at the ARIA Awards 2024! Read the full list of nominees here.
Music Victoria Awards
‘The Eye is the First Circle’ is a nominee in the 2024 Music Victoria Awards for Best Jazz Work!
APRA Professional Development Awards
Delighted to be named the winner of the 2024 APRA Professional Development Award for the Jazz/Improvised Category.
Read the announcement here.
The Music Show
A real pleasure chatting with the great Andrew Ford, for this week’s episode of The Music Show on ABC Radio National.
I’m in at the 25:25 mark if you fancy a listen.
https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/musicshow/conor-oberst-vanessa-perica/102953474
ABC Jazz Artist in Residence
Delighted to be ABC Jazz’s Artist in Residence this month! I had a great time going back through my catalogue, and selecting some of my favourite tracks.
Thank you for having me ABC Jazz! Link to playlist here.
VPO Album launch announced!
Thrilled to be releasing ‘The Eye is the First Circle’ as part of the Melbourne International Jazz Festival with a live performance from my incredible band.
Thursday 26 October
Elisabeth Murdoch Hall
(Melbourne Recital Centre)
More info and tickets available here.
VPO next album coming soon!
Delighted to announce that the next Vanessa Perica Orchestra album has been recorded. Stay tuned for details re: the launch date!
Photo: Roger Mitchell
APRA Art Music Awards
Very chuffed to be a finalist in the APRA Art Music Awards for ‘Work of the Year - Jazz’. Thank you to APRA AMCOS and the Australian Music Centre for this honour, the Australian National Jazz Orchestra Youth Big Band for their stellar performance of this at PIJF, and to the WA Jazz Project for commissioning this piece. Huge congrats to my fellow finalists!
Link to all finalists here.
Society of Composers Inc. Award
Honoured to be the winner of the 2022 Jazz Composition Award for an outstanding work for large jazz ensemble with ‘Woody’s Lament.’
Thank you to the SCI!
APRA Art Music Awards 2022
Delighted to be a finalist in APRA Art Music Awards!
See the full list of finalists here.
Limelight Magazine
“Vanessa Perica and her two years of temporary madness”
Ahead of Sydney Con Jazz Fest, the composer, arranger and conductor talks about her whirlwind two years. Read the piece by Hugh Robertson here.
Bell Awards
Honoured to have received the Australian Jazz Bell Award for Work of the Year for ‘Spaccanapoli’. Thank you once again to the amazing musicians who brought this piece to life.
Huge congratulations to all the finalists and winners.
ANJO Youth Big Band 2022
I am delighted to be the guest artist for the Australian National Jazz Orchestra Youth Big Band in 2022! The lineup has been announced. Congratulations to these very talented young musicians!
The band sounded smoking hot with guest Will Vinson last year, as you’ll hear in this video. Looking forward to pulling out some new music and working with this band for performances in Sydney and Perth!
*Just announced* Join us as we perform on Sunday 5 June as part of the Sydney Con Jazz Festival. For more info and tickets, head to the website: https://www.sydneyconjazzfestival.com/artists
Australian Jazz Bell Awards Finalist
I’m honoured to be a finalist in the Bell Awards for ‘Work of the Year’ and ‘Best Album Production’. Huge congratulations to my fellow finalists, and thank you to all who made this album possible.
MIJF x MSO Opening NightGala
After the crazy year that has been, I am excited to be collaborating again with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra! The Vanessa Perica Orchestra will share the stage with the MSO for the Melbourne International Jazz Festival's Opening Gala Concert on 26 November.
MC’d by Eddie Perfect and featuring a wonderful line up of vocalists including Kate Ceberano, Vince Jones, Michelle Nicolle, Kylie Auldist, Thando, Harry James Angus and Emma Donovan. Performing arrangements by Christopher Crenshaw (Jazz at Lincoln Center) and myself, it promises to be a fun night at Hamer Hall!
Tickets available here.
APRA Art Music Awards
I am thrilled to have won the APRA Art Music Award for Work of the Year: Jazz!
A huge congratulations to all of the amazing finalists and winners. Thank you to my wonderful orchestra for bringing this piece to life, and to APRA AMCOS and the Australian Music Centre for this great honour. Link to video announcement here.
What the judges said: “The panel felt this work to be a worthy winner of the Award this year. Acknowledged by Vanessa as her most risk-taking work yet, Spaccanapoli is an impressive work for large ensemble that has been recorded beautifully and allows the strong melodies and thematic development to shine. The panel loved Vanessa's wonderful use of the ensemble in the music and orchestration, allowing the cacophony and buzz of Naples' historic main street to come alive through the stand out solos, shifting time signatures and smooth harmonic shifts.”
AIR AWARD NOMINEE
Excited to have been nominated for an AIR Award for ‘Best Jazz Album.’ Huge congratulations to my fellow nominees. Winner to be announced on August 5.
For the full list of nominees, click here.
New Commission
Delighted to be writing an arrangement for the legendary Vince Jones and the Australian National Jazz Orchestra, for the Sydney Con Jazz Festival. Artistic Director David Theak has put together a cracking program for this year’s event on 30 May. Check it out here!
MSO @ Sidney Myer Music Bowl
On Wednesday 10 February, these incredible musicians will perform ‘Love is a Temporary Madness, the Symphonic Suite’ alongside the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, under the baton of Benjamin Northey. For those of you who were unable to get a ticket to the show at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl, the concert will be live-streamed on MSO’s Youtube channel and simulcast on ABC Classic radio.
VPO line-up
Saxophones: Carl Mackey, Bernard Alexander, Julien Wilson, Michael Wallace, Phil Noy
Trumpets: Mat Jodrell, Daniel Beasy, Ross James Irwin, Paul Williamson
Trombones: Jordan Murray, Nick Mulder, Callum Mintzis, Joe O'Callaghan
Rhythm Section: Andrea Keller, Theo Carbo, Sam Anning, Dave Beck
‘Spanish Harlem’
Wednesday 10 February, 7:30pm start (AEDT)
Link to YouTube live-stream here.
The Guardian
Thrilled to be included among The Guardian’s Best Australian Albums of 2020.
Link to the article here.
MUSIC VICTORIA AWARDS
‘Love is a Temporary Madness’ has won Best Jazz Album at the Music Victoria Awards.
A big shout out and congratulations to my fellow nominees. A huge thank you to all who made this possible...the amazing musicians in the orchestra, Producer and mixer extraordinaire Grant Windsor, Mastering wiz Lachlan Carrick, the talented creatives behind the scenes Pia Johnson, Hayley Miro Browne, Elle Deslandes, and last but certainly not least, the Australia Council.
WORLD PREMIERE
Thrilled to announce that the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra will be premiering ‘Love is a Temporary Madness’ The Symphonic Suite, as part of their Sidney Myer Music Bowl series! They’ll be joining forces with the Vanessa Perica Orchestra on February 10 for this special evening. Melburnians, hope you can join us for this socially distanced event.
Read more about the MSO 2021 program here, courtesy of Limelight Magazine.
AUSTRALIAN MUSIC PRIZE
Delighted to be a nominee in the prestigious ‘Australian Music Prize’.
See the list of nominees here.
TED GIOIA’S FAVOURITES
FOR 2020
Honoured to be in the great Ted Gioia’s 100 favourite albums of 2020! Delighted to be amongst incredible company across all genres.
See the complete list, plus honourable mentions here. Happy listening!
HIFI & MUSIK ‘TOP 10’
Grateful to be included in the ‘Top 10 Jazz Albums of 2020’ by Hifi & Musik magazine, one of Sweden’s oldest and largest magazines. Thank you to Douglas Norström, jazz critic and editor-at-large.
1. Kenny Barron/Johnathan Blake/Dave Holland -
Without Deception
2. Carla Bley, Andy Sheppard, Steve Swallow - Life Goes On
3. John Beasley - MONK’estra Plays John Beasley
4. Trilok Gurtu - God Is A Drummer
5. Curtis Stigers - Gentleman
6. Vanessa Perica Orchestra - Love Is A Temporary Madness
7. Emil Brandqvist Trio - Entering The Woods
8. Avishai Cohen/Big Vicious - Big Vicious
9. Kamaal Williams - Wu Hen
10. Andreas Hourdakis - Underworld
Scrivere in Jazz 2020
Excited to have been one of three finalists in the 2020 ‘Scrivere in Jazz’ International Composition Competition! The finals of the 16th edition were held in Sardinia, Italy in December. Link to announcement here.
REVIEWS
“…there's "a new sheriff in town," she's packing heat, and you'd best listen carefully to what she has to say.” 4.5 stars
Read the review by Jack Bowers for All About Jazz here. Also in Jack’s ‘Best Releases’ list of 2020.
“For me, the final two numbers of the evening (both arranged by Perica) provided the night’s most satisfying moments. On The Peacocks, singer Michelle Nicolle revelled in the rich orchestral colours and slid across angular melodic intervals with unerring poise. And Perica’s composition Rebrahmanization made for a majestic finale, the MSO and big band relishing the tune’s joyful propulsion that swept us along in its wake.”
Jessica Nicholas, The Age on MIJF x MSO Opening Night Gala 2021
“Love is a Temporary Madness signals the arrival of a major new voice in the world of large ensemble jazz. Writing for her namesake orchestra—a big band stacked with some of Australia's top musicians—Vanessa Perica makes some serious waves. If jazz bias and press didn't so clearly favor North America, it's likely that this lauded debut would've drawn even more plaudits.”
Dan Bilawsky, All About Jazz. Read the full article here.
4.5 stars “…an ambitious album of great depth…”
Read the review by Eric Myers for The Australian here.
"Not for nothing is her “band” called the Vanessa Perica Orchestra. And boy do they pack a punch alongside so many attractive melodies, swooping and surging thrillingly, while always finding a way to swing. It’s a fantastic sound – and, just quietly, as capable of more intimate “small” moments as the big sound - it’s seen the album longlisted for the Australian Music Prize..."
Read the full story by music journalist, Bernard Zuel here.
“Perica’s compositions warrant comparison with the work of contemporary American composer Maria Schneider… Schneider’s masterful compositions like ‘Cerulean Skies’ or ‘The Thompson Fields’ are full of visual cues, bold and dramatic, as they strive toward narrative or storytelling. In the same way, Perica creates dense, multi-layered works, full of complex shading, that are forever twisting and turning, alternating solid rhythmic foundation with free-flight. At their best, they are brimming with emotional resonance, highlighted by rich sonorities.”
Read the full review of ‘Love is a Temporary Madness’ by Des Cowley for Rhythms Magazine here.
“The imaginative richness of her orchestral writing is evident in these seven medium-length compositions, characterized by arrangements with generally tight tempi and dynamics in constant development. The reference aesthetic is the incisive modern mainstream of Thad Jones and Mel Lewis, combined with the timbrally sumptuous atmospheres of Maria Schneider. “
4 stars - Album of the week
Read the full review by Angelo Leonardi at All About Jazz Italia here.
“Vanessa’s exceptional writing achieves a sensitive balance between involved ensemble composition and providing space for many of the personalities of the all-star band to shine.”
Read the review of ‘Love is a Temporary Madness’ by Rafael Karlen, for The Music Trust.
“…instantly compelling. There is nothing easy about composing and arranging Jazz orchestral charts and few musicians embark on this tortuous path. Thankfully Perica did, and her charts are magnificent.”
Read the full review by John Fenton at JazzLocal32.com here.
4.5 star review in The Age
“Perica’s masterful writing and arranging skills were on neon-lit display in this orchestral setting, which amplified the narrative scope and textural richness of her multi-layered compositions.” - The Age
Read the full review of ‘Spanish Harlem’ with Melbourne Symphony Orchestra here.
PRESS
Feature story in The Age
After many years of listening to Jessica Nicholas on ABC Jazz, it was lovely to finally meet her in person for this interview. Big thanks to Jessica and The Age for this piece. Link to digital version here.
Thank you to The Music Trust for inviting me to contribute some words as part of their ‘Inside The Musician’ series. It was a nice opportunity to reflect on my journey so far. Link to story here.
CHARTS
‘Love is a Temporary Madness’ entered the ARIA Jazz & Blues charts at number 5! Behind Michael Buble, Norah Jones and Pat Metheny. It then re-entered at number 3 a couple of weeks later.
It also debuted on the AIR Independent Music charts at number 2, and returned in top spot weeks later!
RADIO
Delighted to be a guest on ABC Radio National’s ‘The Music Show’.
Hear the interview with Andrew Ford here.
‘Love is a Temporary Madness’ -
ABC Jazz featured album of the week!
Tune in from 6 April to hear tracks from the album.