Composer-pianist Elena Kats-Chernin and pianist Tamara-Anna Cislowska have long been friends and professional partners.

From times when a teenage Cislowska would premiere Kats-Chernin’s pieces, today, they perform and improvise together on one or sometimes two pianos.

Now, their relationship has taken a new turn with the duo collaborating on a project Human Waves in which Cislowska is the librettist to Kats-Chernin’s score. Writing has always been a part of Cislowska’s career. Human Waves, however, is her debut as a librettist.

Elena Kats-Chernin and pianist Tamara-Anna Cislowska. Photo supplied

Human Waves was to have premiered live in September 2020, commissioned by Sydney Philharmonia Choirs for their centenary. With limited choral singing through most of 2020 thanks to the pandemic, Human Waves was instead filmed in a two-piano and percussion version and broadcast to an audience of thousands.

Its live, orchestrated mainstage premiere is scheduled for 9 September in the Concert Hall, Sydney Opera House, sung by Sydney Philharmonia Choirs in a program featuring Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana and Murrgumurrgu by First Nations artist James Henry.

Human Waves is a cantata in nine movements which pays homage to Australia’s rich migrant history....