The Adelaide Symphony Orchestra has revealed Floods of Fire, a series of collaborative compositions that tell the stories of numerous South Australian communities, their environment and the impacts of climate change.

Noriko Tadano (Kimono), Julian Ferraretto, Farhan Shah (sitting), Elizabeth McCall, Zhao Liang (white dress) and Lorcan Hopper (Tutti Arts Artist) in Adelaide. Image © Matt Turner.

Floods of Fire is in many ways an unusual project for an arts organisation to undertake, not least that the actual performance outcomes are arguably less important than the devising process. The orchestra’s Managing Director, Vincent Ciccarello, said that the process was important to allow South Australians to come to terms with the devastating fires and then floods of 2019/2020. Through a process of storytelling and cultural exchange, the community was able to start to process those traumatic events by sharing stories of creation, destruction and re-creation.

“The project reflects everything a modern day orchestra should be in 2021, accessible for all in the whole community, enabling the community to connect with and learn from other cultures in the development of new music for the orchestra,” says Ciccarello.