Adam Manning

Composer, percussionist, painter, educator and proud Kamilaroi man Adam Manning brings First Rhythms to life — an evocative exploration of rhythm as a bridge between culture, Country and contemporary performance, featuring members of the Australian Art Orchestra (AAO).

Commissioned and presented by the Melbourne International Jazz Festival, the AAO and Songlines Music Aboriginal Corporation, First Rhythms is a striking new work in which Manning reimagines clapsticks — not just as instruments, but as vessels of memory, movement and deep connection to Country.

Manning’s creative practice lives at the intersection of music, art, and land. Over the years, he has collaborated with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and continues to share his knowledge as an educator at the University of Newcastle. Guided by the Indigenous understanding that everything is alive and carries a pulse, First Rhythms weaves traditional percussive language with modern instrumentation, visual art and a fluid interplay of improvisation and notation.

Expect chamber textures, jazz improvisations, meditative soundscapes and visual responses in a work that transcends performance and emerges as a living, breathing dialogue between sound, movement and Country.