Graeme Murphy and Janet Vernon curate Obscura
20 September 2025.
This October, we present one of our most exciting collaborations of the year. Australian dance legend Graeme Murphy AO and his creative and life partner, Janet Vernon AM are joining us as co-curators of Obscura | Sequenza.
The program pairs dancers from the Queensland College of Dance with TSO musicians performing Luciano Berio’s astounding Sequenzas.
The extremely talented young dancers, who are on the cusp of professional careers, will perform with the musicians as they play some of the most challenging solos.
‘Berio pushes instruments to the extremes – it’s a Mt Everest for the musicians,’ Graeme says. ‘With the dancers, I’m trying to do what Berio does with the music – find new ways to challenge the body.’
Graeme and Janet with dancers from the Queensland College of Dance.
Images by Adam Robins.
For over three decades at the helm of the Sydney Dance Company, Graeme and Janet created some of Australia’s most distinctive and enduring productions.
Together, they built a body of work that bridged ballet, opera, film and contemporary dance.
So why Berio? Why now?
The concert marks the 50th anniversary of Graeme and Janet’s connection to composer Luciano Berio, whom they met in Europe in the early 1970s.
That encounter led Murphy to choreograph Berio’s Sequenza VII for The Queensland Ballet in 1975.
Both Murphy and Vernon performed in the work.
Berio's Sequenzas stretch instruments to their limits, demanding acrobatics of breath, bow, and finger.
To listen to the works on recording, Graeme and Janet argue, is like ‘watching Gone with the Wind on an iPhone’.
‘By seeing/hearing/feeling Berio's Sequenzas live, we discover whole new sound-worlds where everything appears primal and unpremeditated,’ Graeme and Janet say.
'By throwing human bodies into this world, we witness both musicians and dancers engaging in the eternal battle of the survival of the fittest and the finest.'
The TSO musicians who will take turns performing as soloists in five of Berio’s remarkable Sequenzas are Jonathan Békés on cello, David Robins on trombone, Andrew Seymour on clarinet, Lily Bryant on flute and Rachel Bullen on oboe.
For both orchestra and guest curators, Obscura Sequenza is a deeply Tasmanian collaboration.
Graeme grew up in regional Tasmania before training at The Australian Ballet School, where he met Janet – then a fellow student.
They divide their time between Beauty Point in Tasmania and Sydney, while jetting off regularly to Brisbane to mentor their young dance protegees for this program.
‘I think half of Beauty Point is coming to the concert,’ laughs Janet.
Images by Adam Robins.
The couple has extended a warm invitation to the entire Tasmanian community to witness this new collaboration.
‘We reach out to you, dear audience, to thank you and we celebrate your curiosity and courage in joining us on this wild journey. Ears on alert! Eyes on stalks!’ they say of what will be a ‘rich visual and aural event’.
Experience Berio's Sequenzas live with the TSO
‘Through the music's brutality and tenderness we have bonded in the extreme technical, physical and artistic challenges.'
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