Lior Solo

2013 proved to be an incredibly busy year for Australian songwriter Lior, a calendar year which saw him working on his new studio album in parallel with collaborating on a new orchestral work, as well as performing over an extended period at the famed Edinburgh Festival.

Upon his arrival home from Edinburgh in early September, Lior premiered the orchestral work- "Compassion" - over two nights at Sydney's Opera house. The piece, a song cycle for voice and orchestra was written in collaboration with his long-time friend and renowned composer and conductor Nigel Westlake. Having been commissioned by the Sydney Symphony Orchestra some 18 months prior, the pair spent much of the first half of the year writing "Compassion". Musically rich and powerful, the texts of "Compassion" were sourced by Lior from both ancient Hebrew and Arabic poems and proverbs centering on a humanitarian and universal notion of compassion. The premiere widely received rave reviews and garnered such an overwhelming response, that Lior and Nigel were invited to perform the piece with the other major Australian orchestras nationally. Furthermore, a recording of the performance with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra was released in late 2013 with the album "Compassion" debuting at no. 1 on the Classical charts.

In complete musical contrast, 2012 had ended with Lior receiving The Screen Writer Song of the Year Award for his much loved children's song "Lullaby" commissioned by the ABC for "Giggle and Hoot".

The diversity between these projects begins to tell the story of an artist who is able to apply his musical talents in a myriad of different directions without losing credibility along the way. On the contrary, Lior seems to gather acclaim and accolades for whatever he turns his musical focus towards a rare attribute in an industry that tends to pigeon whole artists in a particular box.

Joining Lior, Melbourne singer-songwriter Domini Forster will charm audiences with her whimsical brand of indie folk. Against this playful backdrop, Domini's intimate and evocative lyrics create a blend that is beautifully bittersweet.