Recorder virtuoso Genevieve Lacey has no problem playing solo. It’s just that, for her, the single player recital is the least creative option when it comes to sharing music.

In Soliloquy, which has its Sydney premiere as part of the 2024 Sydney Festival, Lacey will be centre stage of the City Recital Hall playing Baroque composer Georg Philipp Telemann’s Twelve Fantasias for Solo Flute. But she won’t be alone.

In her radical re-invention of the recital, Lacey shares the spotlight with contemporary dancer and choreographer Stephanie Lake and a scratch chorus of 32 people who will create a choreographed performance around her, a living extension of the music, a demonstration of collective engagement.

“I like to think of them as forming a bridge between the audience and the player,” Lacey explains. “They are active listeners on stage, a group of people who are participating in the performance while also doing their own listening – as are the people in the audience watching them.”

Genevieve Lacey: Soliloquy. Photo © Pia Johnson

Inviting people to join her on stage is Lacey’s way of saying that the stage can be a communal place, not...