Lunchtime Concert: Maria Lurighi and Andrew Legg

Make the most of your lunchbreak and enjoy our series of free concerts at the Hedberg performed by students, staff and alumni of the School of Creative Arts and Media. Bringing exceptional music to the local community, all are welcome at these 50-minute recitals designed to provide space for contemplation in our acoustically renowned Ian Potter Recital Hall.

Maria Lurighi and Andrew Legg have been making music together for over 20 years. They create beautiful and arresting musical soundscapes that both transverse and seek to honour the great music traditions of African America.

In this concert they explore the connection between the voice and piano in the context of our place now in this world. Featuring songs from across the classical/contemporary traditions, Maria and Andrew create a new and unique narrative, working with beautiful melodies and harmonies, reconstructing and deconstructing them, constantly exploring new and alternate meanings, perspectives, ideas. They weave poetry, prose and spoken word into and in between their music, questioning the traditional boundaries between lyric, text, and melody, attempting to forge new connections between these elements, all the while hoping to bring to light our feelings of isolation, rejection, inclusiveness, and love.

• Please arrive between 12:30pm - 12:45pm via the University of Tasmania entrance to the building on 19 Collins Street Hobart. Please note there is a strict lockout for the concert and no latecomers will be admitted at the request of the musicians.
• You will be greeted by our Front of House staff on arrival and asked to use the temperature scanning system to check in.
• Tickets are FREE but registrations essential as seating is limited.
• From 15th January 2022, anyone coming to our campuses, facilities and events is required to be fully vaccinated or have an exemption. Masks must be worn in indoor public settings, including all university venues, from 12:01am, Tuesday 21 December 2021.

• The Ian Potter Recital Hall is located on the ground floor with level access from the street. Should you require mobility assistance of any kind, please advise us via email or phone 03 6226 2332. One of our staff will be organised to assist you.

Maria Lurighi has over 45 years’ experience as a singer and musician. Maria is in her 23rd year of teaching at the Conservatorium of Music and is currently the coordinator of voice. She has been the vocal coach for the Southern Gospel Choir since 2000, and for the past five years has worked closely with young Indigenous artists studying at UTAS. Maria has also been a company artist with Big hART having been a part of the music ensemble for Hipbone Sticking Out at the 2014 Melbourne Festival and Blue Angel for the 2015 Ten Days festival. Maria is a champion for new orchestral works for voice having been the featured artist for new commissions by David Young (Overheard at Inveresk), Constantine Koukios for Olympic Spirit with TSO and Let Freedom Ring by Andrew Legg. Maria worked as Business Development Manager for Ten Days on the Island from 2004 – 2009 and was a past Chair of the Individuals panel and a member of the arts advisory panel for Arts Tasmania. Maria was also a board member for TYO and worked as an assistant to the chair of AbaF Tasmania, Peter Althaus. She was the Business and Sales Manager for Domaine A from 2001 to 2010. Maria is currently on the board of Ten Days on the Island. Maria’s passion for the development of young people in Tasmania remains at the front of her commitment to her life on the island.

Associate Professor Andrew Legg is the Coordinator of the National Sonic Research Facility at the University of Tasmania’s School of Creative Arts and Media. He was born in Hobart in 1964, trained as a classical pianist, composer and educator but is best known for his work as a powerhouse gospel and soul pianist, steeped in the African American tradition and cultural practices of that community. Andrew was Director of the Conservatorium of Music until the end of 2017, where he and his team developed a world-leading, practice-led research higher degree/PhD program for UTAS. Andrew's research has focussed on the effects of the transculturalisation of African American gospel and soul music into Australian popular culture and contexts. Andrew has released many recordings over his substantial performance career and has worked with musicians such as Kristian Dentley (Take 6) and Myron Butler (Levi). In 2001 Andrew founded the iconic Southern Gospel Choir, whose debut CD Great Day was nominated for an ARIA in 2005.

Know what’s Happening Next — before everyone else does.

Get App

Host or Publisher UTAS Conservatorium of Music