I last heard singer-songwriter Jess Hitchcock in this same venue in WA Opera’s 2024 spectacular production of the Noongar language opera, Wundig wer Wilura. She was as magnificent then as she was on this occasion.

A very different occasion here, I hasten to add. For in commissioning 11 Australian composers to arrange 12 of Hitchcock’s songs for voice and string quartet, Musica Viva, its Artistic Director Paul Kildea and the Hildegard Project have given birth to a subtle and inventive amplification of the original material which traverses almost the full spectrum of human experience – love, heartbreak, family, country, identity – while retaining the songs’ personal intimacy.

Jess Hitchcock & Penny Quartet. Photo © Artshoot Media

Developed as part of a residency at South Australia’s UKARIA Cultural Centre, the project teamed up Hitchcock with Penny Quartet (Glenn Christensen and Madeline Jevons violins, Anthony Chataway viola and Jack Ward cello). On the strength of tonight’s performance, presented in partnership with Perth Festival, it’s a match made in heaven.

As indeed are the matching of songs with the composers. Between them employing a rich panoply of colours, techniques and textures, from pizzicato, sul...