Melbourne pianist/composer Nat Bartsch performs her ARIA-nominated album ’Hope’, In collaboration with local strings musicians. Released in 2021 on ABC Classic, Hope is an abbreviation of hopefulness and hopelessness, responding to the Black Summer bushfires and long COVID lockdowns in Melbourne. Nat will be joined on stage by the Ballarat-based Amber Duo: Lucy Price and Sarah Nieuwkerk.

It is an immersive and cathartic listening experience, for piano, string quartet and ambient electronics. Hope creates the space for us to collectively acknowledge all we endured through 2020/2021, but also be left with a sense of quiet optimism. It is arrestingly beautiful, gentle piano music that has wide appeal to different audiences.

Nat has worked for many years in the Melbourne music scene in jazz, classical and children’s music. Nat’s music is played by people of all ages, across the world: from the birthing suite to the final hours of life. She is known for her inimitably ethereal, lyrical and gentle piano playing. She uses her emotive music to respond to our collective experiences, simultaneously sharing her personal stories behind the music.