BUNGENDORE musicians John Shortis and Moya Simpson —‘Shortis and Simpson’— have been working for several months with members of the Canberra choral community on a project called “One River – Life Giver” that will be seen in the middle of Lake Burley Griffin this Sunday.

The project is part of the Centenary of Canberra’s national project “One River”, which tells the story of the Murray-Darling Basin and of Canberra, the largest city in the Basin.

The musical duo have created a suite of original songs that explore Canberra’s links to rivers in the Basin. One of these new works has been written for the National Carillon and a massed choir of 80 voices, made up of community choirs Worldly Goods and The Cyrenes.

The piece will be performed this Sunday on Aspen Island, with the carillon played by lead carillonist Lyn Fuller. It will be part of a recital, compered by Shortis and Simpson, which will include works by Larry Sitsky, Elena Kats-Chernin, Lyn Fuller, and the piece commissioned for the opening of the instrument in 1970.

With the choir on the ground and the carillonist in the tower, linked by microphone, this is a recital with a difference.

The culmination of the One River project will take place next weekend with all the artists that have been working with their communities throughout the Murray-Darling basin  coming to Canberra. Watch this space.

“One River – Life Giver” on Aspen Island,  Sunday,  August 18 at 12:30pm, free, all welcome.