The last time acclaimed didgeridoo artist William Barton was in Wollongong he was performing with Midnight Oil, this week the multi-instrumentalist and composer returns unplugged.
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Barton will join the region's key chamber orchestra, Steel City Strings, to perform his most notable works as well as blending the oldest culture in the world with Europe's rich musical legacy on May 21 and 22.
"Like the nationalistic composers of Europe we are too creating that legacy in our mother country," he said.
Barton's performances with Steel City Strings won't be improvised, but rather written into the score like any other instrument, a dialect of the universal language of music.
The concert program was conjured up after the South Coast bushfires with all pieces drawing on natural themes and the human spirit.
It also features music by First Nations composer, Brenda Gifford, as well as Paul Stanhope's Dancing on Clouds and Max Richter's Nature of Daylight, as well as the late Peter Sculthorpe's Port Essington and Songs of Sea and Sky.
It's quite a treat for the Illawarra to host the proud Kalkadunga man, having previously performed with the Philharmonic Orchestras of London and Berlin to historic events at Westminster Abbey for Commonwealth Day 2019, Anzac Cove and the Beijing Olympics.
Barton grew up on a cattle station near Mount Isa, in northwest Queensland, and started learning the traditional instrument around the age of seven from his uncle Arthur Peterson and admits to "wagging school" at times just to practice for hours on end.
Growing up his home was filled with an array of sounds like his songwriting mother Delmae Barton, or Elvis Presley to Beethoven and Vivaldi mixed between Thunderstruck by AC/DC - all shaping his long-lasting musical career.
"I'm just someone who wanted to be part of the mystery of this instrument that holds so many thousands of years of knowledge and soundscape of the land," he said.
"How it made me feel I wanted to feel like that forever."
Barton and the chamber orchestra have already played to a sold out audience in Burrawang in the Southern Highlands on Sunday, with people of all ages attending.
"We sat children on the floor at the front and William did a special solo with hand miming at the same time for the children - they were spellbound," said Lyndall Fowler.
Catch William Barton in concert with Steel City Strings at Wollongong Town Hall on May 21 at 7.30pm and again at Berry School of Arts on May 22 at 2pm.
For more details, visit: https://steelcitystrings.com.au/
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