Shoppers are turning up to concerts that feel like community gatherings, RESPECT brings newly commissioned songs and queer life stories to the stage, showcasing regional heroes, intergenerational pride, and powerful live connection at Hawthorn Arts Centre on 29 August.

Essential Takeaways

  • Community-centred: RESPECT commissions new works drawn from regional Pride festivals and real community stories.
  • Fresh soundworlds: Six voices and a string quintet create rich textures, from rollicking engines to fluttering treble lines.
  • Emotional range: Pieces move from joyous found-family anthems to tender life reflections; expect laughs and tears.
  • Local impact: The project highlights regional LGBTQIA+ elders and raises awareness of issues like supportive aged care.
  • Event details: Strings and Voices, Homophonic! with Elysian Blues, Hawthorn Arts Centre, doors 7.30pm, 29 August.

Why RESPECT feels like more than a concert

This project leans into the warm, immediate power of live music to tell human stories, and it lands with a pleasing intimacy. Miranda Hill of Homophonic! frames RESPECT as an act of cultural preservation, turning ordinary lives into musical snapshots you can hear and feel. The result is a programme that behaves less like a recital and more like a series of lived confessions, sung in close harmony.

Backstory matters: Homophonic! grew the idea from regional touring work and conversations with Pride festivals about whose stories hadn’t been told. The pieces are commissioned specifically to honour those people, which gives each work an authenticity you can’t fake on stage.

Standout pieces and what to listen for

There’s a joyful variety across the set. Kym Dillon’s Robbie’s Daydream uses verbatim text from fighter-pilot Robbie Haywood and even transcribes the sound of her favourite aircraft engine into strings, so expect an urgent, buzzing propulsion. Meta Cohen’s Swerve treats roads as a metaphor for life, with delicate treble voices that mimic butterflies; it was even an APRA AMCOS Art Music Awards finalist.

Louisa Trewartha’s Shimmer celebrates found family with distinct musical characters and a bit of affectionate silliness, inspired by radio stalwart Max Primmer. Each composer builds a unique soundworld from the same ensemble, which makes for a programme that feels eclectic yet cohesive.

How the collaboration process deepens the work

Miranda describes a highly personalised creative practice: composers, librettists and subjects swap stories, memories and laughs until the piece takes shape. Some collaborations are rollicking and literal, others are more poetic and elliptical , whatever suits the subject. That bespoke approach means the music often captures small, intimate truths about love, community and ageing that you won’t see in mainstream histories.

This method also creates rare intergenerational moments. Older community members hear their lives honoured in a new medium, which can be profoundly moving for performer and audience alike.

Why live performance still matters for queer history

Music has long been how cultures remember; set a story to melody and it survives. RESPECT deliberately writes queer and trans lives into that lineage, pushing back against the idea that only big, dramatic stories get archived. According to Miranda, many LGBTQIA+ histories live in quiet, everyday moments and deserve the same attention as headline events.

There’s also the visceral effect: six voices and a string quintet produce a timbral richness that connects an audience to emotion almost instantly. Hearing someone’s life sung back to them can be electric and humbling in equal measure.

What audiences should bring and expect

Bring tissues and a sense of curiosity. This isn’t background music; it asks you to listen closely to language, nuance and small gestures of joy. Expect moments that make you laugh, cry and think , and perhaps leave you wanting to chat to the person next to you afterwards.

If you’re interested in supporting regional arts and queer elders, this show is a small, celebratory way to do it. Also, keep an ear out for Elysian Blues’ guzheng crossover with Kym Dillon , Miranda hints at a few surprises best experienced live.

It's a small change that can make every story feel remembered.

Source Reference Map

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