When oboist, pianist and arranger Stephanie Nicholls co-founded Mirabilis Collective in 2022 with flautist best friend Tresna Stampalia, it was initiated by the desire to give young female musicians professional experience while also celebrating women’s voices in music.
Nicholls was struck by the idea while sitting in a music room at Methodist Ladies College, where she freelances as the college accompanist, playing piano with music students on instruments including flute, violin and cello.
“I’m given the opportunity to work with some really extraordinary accelerated, talented young musicians,” says Nicholls, who also performs with WA Symphony Orchestra and Perth Symphony Orchestra.
“I was working with one and thought, ‘Where does a young woman like this get her professional chops, her experience, when they’re already far beyond even university entry level?’
“Tresna and I had opportunities to play in what was WA’s second orchestra, the WA Arts Orchestra. We would play in the opera and the ballet, and we would do concerts, I think while we were still at uni, where we would sit next to people who had years of experience. We kind of learnt in the profession on the job.”
Nicholls took on the role of Mirabilis Collective artistic director where she and Stampalia coach and perform alongside emerging musicians, with Nicholls’ two daughters Lucinda and Julia also part of the core ensemble.
Julia works as a violinist, arranger and composer, and sings in the St George’s Cathedral consort with her soprano sister Lucinda, whose talent, much like Kate Miller-Heidke, gives her the ability to sing both contemporary and classical songs.
Nicholls’ own sister was also musical as the siblings grew up in Wembley Downs, and had much to do with Nicholls’ choice for selecting the oboe, which she studied at Churchlands Senior High School.
Told she was never going to be a great trumpet player due to an overbite, she was given the choice of oboe or cello.
“My sister played the violin so there was no way I wanted to play a string instrument,” Carine resident Nicholls recounts, who met her journalist husband John Nicholls in an orchestra.
Mirabilis Collective has two missions, where one is to help young emerging female musicians, and the other is championing music written exclusively by women, taking it centrestage.
“That came from when I was very fortunate to be asked to update the Australian Music Examinations Board oboe syllabus,” Nicholls says, having been appointed AMEB principal consultant for the oboe syllabus in 2017.
“What they wanted was more music written by women on the syllabus for students to learn, and so through that I did a lot of research on music by women and discovered all of this music I just didn’t know existed . . . So that’s where we decided to make Mirabilis kind of a dual stream.”
Up until now, the not-for-profit intergenerational ensemble has performed a series of four concerts per year, alongside workshops, commissioning, community outreach, education and regional work.
This year is mixing things up with Hear Her Now, billed as Australia’s first chamber music festival dedicated to music entirely written by women.
“I felt that doing a festival over a short period of time really highlighted that intensification of scope and scale,” Nicholls says of the October event.
“You’re going to hear concerts by Mirabilis, but you’re also going to see community musicians playing music by women. You’re going to see school students playing music that they’re studying for exams, and you’re going to see a kids’ show.
“We set ourselves this goal of 100-plus works by 100 different women, and we’ve smashed that. I counted them last night and there’s 184 different pieces by 164 different women.”
The festival begins with opening night concert Homegrown at Wesley Church, highlighting WA composers with world premieres by Katherine Potter and Mia Brine, and an arrangement by daughter Julia of The Waifs’ Bridal Train.
The Aussie Carnival Of The Animals at State Library Theatre is a playful, interactive concert for families featuring Australian animals with their Noongar names, storytelling, and music by Australian women composers.
Performed at Tranby Hall, Queen’s Building, Vivid is an intimate and powerful evening of composers from LGBTQIA+ and disability communities, with the world premiere of a new work by Rose Russell.
The Hear Us Roar festival finale at Callaway Auditorium, UWA, brings Mirabilis Collective, Chimera Ensemble and Broken Record Quartet together in a celebration of music by women on the International Day Against Breast Cancer, with proceeds supporting Breast Cancer Care WA.
Along the way there is a host of additional ticketed and free events at various venues.
“When I was programming, it was ‘What do I leave out?’” Nicholls laughs.
“There’s just so much I could have programmed, so I guess if we’re not totally exhausted after the end of this, maybe in a couple of years’ time, we do it again.”
Hear Her Now is on October 8 to 19. Program and tickets at mirabiliscollective.com.
