Claire Edwardes

Claire is an internationally acclaimed percussion soloist, chamber musician and Artistic Director of Ensemble Offspring. She has been described by the press as a ‘sorceress of percussion’ and is well known for her powerhouse style of playing and unique stage presence. She is the only Australian musician to win the APRA Art Music Award for Excellence by an Individual three times (2007, 2012, 2016), is the recipient of Australia Council and Freedman Fellowships and the winner of numerous European instrumental and percussion competitions (resident there for seven years) as well as 1999 Australian Young Performer of the Year. Claire has forged a path as Australia’s leading percussion concert soloist with regular engagements with all of the Australian orchestras, including recently the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and a national tour as soloist with the Australian String Quartet. In 2019 she was Artist in Residence at Music on Main (Vancouver) and premiered her original dance show RECITAL at Dance Massive (Melbourne). In 2020 Ensemble Offspring turned 25.

Claire said: "We, as a global community, must nurture emerging as well as established talent in order to increase the visibility of women and gender minorities. Only via this means will equality in opportunities and programming become the norm. This ‘new norm’ will only eventuate through focused efforts such as Keychange, highlighting the current differences in opportunities within the music industry and advocating for gender balance. My group Ensemble Offspring has been at the forefront of this change in Australia. We programmed a complete year of music by female composers in 2017 to highlight how much inspiring music by women exists, that audiences typically don’t get to hear, and since then we have easily met a 50% target in our programming. I am thrilled about further advocating for change in Australia through my position as a Keychange ambassador.”