3MBS Melbourne has announced that Elena Kats-Chernin will be the inaugural artist-in-residence at the fine music station for its 14–18 May Radiothon.

Her residency will feature a series of concerts, interviews and compositional workshops that will be recorded and shared with the MBS network for national broadcast, celebrating Kats-Chernin’s enormous and continuing contribution to Australian music in her 65th year.

Elena Kats-Chernin. Photo © Vicki Lauren

“Our annual Radiothon is a time to reflect on the wonderful music we broadcast and what better way to celebrate this than with one of Australia’s most influential composers,” said 3MBS General Manager, Gail Southwell. “We are delighted and humbled.”

The backbone of the residency will be a series of five hour-long concerts which will see Kats-Chernin collaborate with Melbourne-based musicians (such as saxophonist Joseph Lallo, violinist Sulki Yu, cellist Blair Harris and the members of the Artamidae Quartet) to perform a selection of her compositions – a combination of the familiar and brand-new arrangements of works not previously heard.

“Presenting my work in a series of back-to-back concerts is something I have never ever experienced before,” Kats-Chernin said.

“Being a composer, I...