Featuring:
Nat Bartsch
Nat Bartsch is a three-time ARIA Award nominated pianist, composer, producer and advocate based in Melbourne. She creates immersive music that blends neoclassical composition with jazz harmony, improvisation and ambient textures. Known for her gentle, expressive piano style, her work is characterised by lyrical melodies and a warm, intimate sound.
Her music is heard by audiences around the world and is often embraced during significant life moments, from birth to end of life care. Nat has released nine albums, toured throughout Australia and internationally, and collaborated with leading artists including Luke Howard, Grigoryan Brothers, Back to Back Theatre, Inventi Ensemble, Teeny Tiny Stevies, Playschool and Plexus Collective.
Nat is the founder of Amica Records, an independent record label that also includes Amica Familia, an initiative supporting mentoring and professional development for emerging artists. She is proudly neurodivergent.
GroooveTones
Performing uptempo jump blues and jazz, GroooveTones brings together Lindsay Davies (double bass and vocals), Adrian Sims (tenor saxophone), Alexander W. Sims (four-string guitar) and Gerry Nelson (piano). With driving rhythm and infectious energy, the quartet delivers a dynamic live performance. This quartet will certainly immerse you in the GroooveTones spirit.
Dux Qtet ft Damon Grant
Damon Grant is a Melbourne-based saxophonist, composer and educator.
Born in New Zealand, Damon began his professional career in the late 1980s before relocating to Australia in 1998. He has performed with a diverse range of artists including Arturo Sandoval, Georgie Fame, David Clayton-Thomas, Dianne Schuur, John Paul Young, Craig David, Don Burrows, TV on the Radio, Bert Newton, Kylie Auldist, Harvey Sutherland, the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, The Bamboos, Southside of Bombay and House of Shem.
As a composer and arranger, Damon has written music for The Bamboos, Kylie Auldist and his own ensembles, Dux and Wairua. He has performed at jazz festivals and toured extensively throughout Australia, New Zealand, the Pacific, Asia, Europe and the United States. Following a diagnosis of Guillain-Barré syndrome in 2020, Damon has continued to perform, compose, teach and tour. In 2023, he toured Spain, France, Germany and the UK with The Bamboos. He has taught music at Caulfield Grammar since 2007.
Dux began life as Dux Deluxe, a contemporary jazz band featuring a vocalist, founded in New Zealand by drummer Kere Buchanan in the late 1980s. Towards the end of the decade, the band relocated from Brisbane to Melbourne under the musical direction of keyboardist Larry Martinez and vocalist Jerson Trinidad. Dux Qtet emerged from the band's instrumental lineup as an outlet to further explore original compositions and contemporary jazz repertoire. Recently, the group has focused on performing a blend of new and established works by Lance Sua and Damon Grant.
The current incarnation of Dux Qtet features:
- Chris Paraha – bass
- Ryan Menezes – drums
- Damon Grant – saxophone
- Lance Sua - guitar
This event is proudly part of Alter State - Arts Centre Melbourne and Arts Access Victoria’s disability-led arts initiative engaging artists and audiences from around Melbourne and across Australia. The festival’s ambition is to alter the current state of the arts by investing in Deaf and Disability Leadership as creative intervention to bring about significant cultural and structural change. This show will be Auslan interpreted.
