Trombonist Shannon Barnett and double bassist and vocalist Helen Svoboda.
Shannon Barnett
Born and raised in Victoria, Shannon established herself in the Australian music scene through her work with artists like Vada, Andrea Keller, The Vampires, The Bamboos and the Black Arm Band. After a stint in New York, she moved to Cologne, Germany to take up a position with the WDR Big Band and quickly became a valued part of the German jazz scene. During her tenure with the band she had the opportunity to work with musicians and composers including Ron Carter, Maria Schneider, Vince Mendoza, Maceo Parker, Jimmy Heath and Jacob Collier.
In 2020 Shannon received the WDR Jazz Prize for Improvisation and in 2022 the German Jazz Prize in the brass instrument category. Upon moving to Cologne in 2014, Shannon also began performing in the scene outside of the big band, soon crossing paths with David Helm, Fabian Arends and Stefan Karl Schmid and subsequently forming the Shannon Barnett Quartet. They have since released three albums together (Hype, Bad Lover and Alive at Loft) and have toured throughout Europe and Australia.
Helen Svoboda is a double bassist, vocalist and composer based in Melbourne. Her work explores the melodic potential of the contemporary double bass, intricately weaving extended techniques and overtones with vocal tessitura to explore themes of sonic unity amidst abstract songwriting. Her performance practice emits a childlike, quirky energy, with a flair for “allowing difficult ideas to sound whimsical and free”, according to vocalist Kristin Berardi.
Helen lived and studied in the Netherlands and Germany from 2018 to 2020 and has performed with artists and organisations including Pheeroan akLaff, Sebastian Gramss, the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and the Australian Art Orchestra. Accolades include: 2023-24 Musica Viva Australia FutureMaker; 2023 MOMENTUM Commissions (Australian Music Centre); 2020 Freedman Jazz Fellowship (winner); 2020/21 Australian Art Orchestra Pathfinder; Helsinki International Artist Programme 2023 recipient (supported by Australia Council for the Arts).
In line with her active performance career, Helen has released albums across a substantial number of her own original projects to date, including her latest solo release I Heard the Clouds (2022 through Made Now Music) and 2021’s Since Subito (Earshift Music) by Meatshell, her duo with saxophonist Andrew Saragossi. Her commissions include works for classical guitar ensemble, solo viola, and her largest scale work to date The Odd River (supported by the Freedman Fellowship/Music Trust), a collaboration with filmmaker Angus Kirby, released in September 2023 on Earshift Music. She is currently studying a PhD in composition under the tutelage of Cat Hope at Monash University with a focus on graphic overtone notation.
