Jess Hitchcock & Penny Quartet - Newcastle

Singer songwriter Jess Hitchcock and Penny Quartet perform her songs, arranged for voice and strings by some of Australia’s finest composers. Dreams and memories, grace and groove.

Jess Hitchcock is an opera singer, a jazz singer, a singer-songwriter, a writer, a composer. A storyteller. Her endlessly versatile voice can make itself at home in a studio, on a stage or in a football stadium.

Penny Quartet is an award-winning Australian string quartet with an appetite for the new. From regional touring to festival appearances to international performances, Penny Quartet is up for anything.

Together, Jess and the Pennies present an evening of music through the looking glass of 11 Australian composers, each commissioned to take one of Jess’s songs and arrange it for voice and string quartet. It’s no small challenge: indeed there is perhaps nothing more difficult than honouring the directness and simplicity of these deeply personal songs.

The result is an exquisite song-cycle for the here and now, interwoven with solo quartet repertory, showcasing a generation of creative voices.