BALLADS OF THE BUSH Held October 13th At City Recital Hall, Angel Place

The World Premiere of Ballads of the Bush will be held on Tuesday 13 October at the City RecitAl Hall, Angel Place. The profits from the opening night will be given to the Royal Flying Doctor Service.

Gavin Lockley composed Ballads of the Bush in 2008 while he was engaged in PHD studies at Magdallen College, Oxford. Lockley selected poems he has loved since childhood, that reflect his urgent belief that the great Australian poets and balladeers need to be performed and brought off the page, to as wide an audience as possible.

Lockley believes it is vital in an age of global information saturation that we, as an Australian society, continue to celebrate our truly rich, exciting and unique cultural heritage. Ballads of the Bush is the first in a series of musical settings of the great Australian poets, and is Gavin's effort at preserving our cultural history.

Ballads of the Bush includes Clancy of the Overflow composed at the suggestion of collaborative partner Colleen McCullough. Mulga Bill's Bicycle; The Ships Ditty - a set of verses inspired by the story of Richard Morgan, a convict in McCullough's great epic novel Morgans Run; The Man From Ironbark; Paterson's A Singer of the Bush; Cuthbertson's The Australian Sunrise and the rollicking triumph of Bruce Simpson's The Packhorse Drover.

Ballads of the Bush follows the success of Lockley's Symphony of Australia which had its world premiere on November 27, 2007 in the Concert Hall at the Sydney Opera House, performed by the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and attended by a sell-out crowd.

City RecitAl Hall Angel Place 13 - 16 October

Performances: Tuesday 13 October 8pm (Benefit in aid of The Royal Flying Doctor Service) Thursday 15 & Friday 16 October 8pm (with the Sydney Welsh Choir)

Matinees: Thursday 15 & Friday 16 October 2 pm

Prices: Gala Benefit Opening Night: All Tickets $65
Evenings: Adults $55 ? Concession $45 Matinees: $35 ? $20 Students under 16

Bookings: 02 8256 2222 ?1300 797 118 ? www.cityrecitalhall.com

Information: www.symphonyofaustralia.com