Australian pianist and composer Sophie Hutchings is well known to European audiences where she regularly performs in sold-out venues, yet she is almost unknown in her own country.

Sophie was named one of the top five live instrumentalists of the year at the National Live Music Awards and has been twice nominated for the Australian Music Prize. Her music has  received glowing praise from numerous media outlets including The Guardian, Wonderland, and MOJO, who described it as “stirring, vigorous, grandly melodic.”

Sought after as a composer and pianist, Sophie has been involved with a number of films (most recently Baby Teeth and True Spirit), toured internationally through Japan and Europe, and opened for artists such as Olafur Arnalds, Hauschka, Federico Albanese and Lambert.

On Saturday, February 24, Orange audiences will be treated to one of just three local performances, before Sophie heads once more to Europe where she is touring her latest album, ‘A World Outside’.

“My new album ‘A World Outside’ is based around a very unique road trip I embarked on last year,” Sophie said of her Northern Territory adventure, resulting in some very cinematic tunes; almost a musical travelogue.

“Road trips have always played a pretty large role in my life. They have this amazing ability to transport us elsewhere. There’s a sense of freedom and adventure that is pretty hard to match.

“I love the challenge of the unexpected, and this one was that… I wanted to douse myself in this landscape’s wild and untamed openness, interpreting that experience through music. It’s a way of making lasting memories and this album is my way of documenting that. I look forward to taking you there.”

The concert combines stunning visual presentations of Sophie’s outback road trip, with live piano and supporting strings, in a total audio-visual experience.

Her first of just three Australian performances, at Sydney City Recital Hall in December, received a standing ovation.

Sophie will perform next at the Melbourne Recital Centre on Friday, February 16, and then at Orange on Saturday, February 24 before departing on her European tour.

Sophie Hutchings has been brought to Orange by the locally based Incy Wincy Promotions.

See this unique one-off performance at the Orange Civic Theatre on Saturday, February 24 at 7:30pm.

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