FLINDERS QUARTET
Elizabeth Sellars • violin
Wilma Smith • violin
Helen Ireland • viola
Zoe Knighton • cello

with Eric Avery ericavery.com.au

AGATHA YIM, P OLYPHONIC PICTURES filming and editing
THOMAS GRUBB, MANO MUSICA sound engineering, editing and mastering

Filmed May 2026 in the Primrose Potter Salon, Melbourne Recital Centre, Wurundjeri Country/Southbank

This project was made possible through support from Creative Victoria and FQ’s Fifth String donors

ERIC AVERY
Sacred Medicines (composed 2026)

Devised and created by Eric Avery and Flinders Quartet, and comprising:

J.S. BACH Violin Sonata No. 1 in G minor BWV 1001, Adagio
(arr. Paul Cassidy, adapted by Flinders Quartet)

ERIC AVERY
Wirraningtungiyil
Sojourn of Kii
Galinga
Scribbly Gum

This collaboration begins with Bach, not as a point of origin, but as a shared reference point. From there, the work opens into Eric Avery’s practice, where sound, movement and language are closely connected, and where music carries memory, identity and relationship to Country.

Sojourn of Kii, meaning “journey of the heart”, became a catalyst for this project. Its connection to the human heartbeat speaks to the role of rhythm in shaping a sense of balance and wellbeing. Galinga, a rain song, reflects an ongoing relationship between people and the natural world, while Scribbly Gum, originally developed through the Ngarra-Burria program, continues to evolve through performance.

Across this program, music moves between centuries, from Bach through Ravel to contemporary Australian voices. Rather than placing traditions side by side, Sacred Medicines allows them to meet through listening. Eric’s work brings together violin, voice and movement in a way that invites us to hear both the instrument and the quartet differently, extending the form into new expressive territory.

Eric Avery is a Ngiyampaa, Yuin, Bandjalang and Gumbangirr artist whose work continues the tradition of Ngiyampaa language through song. A largely self-taught violinist from the age of 11, he later studied classical performance at the Australian Institute of Music, alongside training as a dancer with NAISDA and the Australian Ballet, and performing with Marrugeku. His practice moves across disciplines and contexts, using the violin to share the stories of his ancestors and express his identity as a contemporary Aboriginal man.