Where was your first Adelaide gig, and how did it go?
My first Adelaide gig happened before my memory really started to work – my mother was also the music teacher at my tiny primary school out in Paracombe and had the drive (as any good Swiss expat would!) to put together a folk music recorder ensemble for the Year One and Two class. We played at either a festival or a competition at the Scott Theatre – I’ve only got hazy images of how the music went, but vividly remember the aprons and kerchiefs she sewed for us to wear!

What is your artist origin story?
I grew up in a big family with musician parents, and was very strongly encouraged toward a musical path. I initially wasn’t very enthusiastic about the violin – too scratchy, scales too hard, practice too boring – and wanted to be a singer; I always loved singing in choirs as a child. I was about to quit the violin at age 15 when my dad asked me to take ‘one last lesson’, which was with Keith Crellin, an amazing Adelaide musician who I admire and love very much to this day. I don’t remember what he said in the lesson, but I remember coming out of it going “Oh, maybe I want to practice!” I still pursued singing, when I began at The Con a couple of years later, but he and my wonderful vocal teacher Guila Tiver confabbed and got me to swap my degree over to violin – and I haven’t looked back since!

What was your impression of the Adelaide creative scene when you first started, and how has that changed?
I think – like a lot of Adelaide creatives I’ve spoken to – that I grew up in this town with an acute feeling of how small it was, of everything it lacked creatively, and how I wanted to move on to bigger and better things. In short, I wanted to get away! I was 23 when I moved to Switzerland to study, and was surprised by how immediately and how much I missed this city. My opinion of the creative scene shifted a great deal in the five years I lived in Zurich and has continued to shift in the year since I’ve moved back home.

I think Adelaide has a lot to offer and space for people to give and explore new things. I feel lucky to be a part of many creative endeavours here – my solo work, freelancing with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, finding people to play chamber music with, conducting a community choir and a children’s choir, and helping to run a literary bar and live music venue in Magill (Ern Malley). I feel that the Adelaide creative scene runs off community – which can lead to feelings of smallness at times, as I felt growing up, but also leads to serious fulfillment when people come to support or be part of a creative venture. I think we have a responsibility as artists to make our city better by filling it with art and widening community through art, and I look forward to many more years of doing that here.

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How has your own work evolved since you first started?
I had a very set idea of what my life would look like as a musician – become the best violinist I could possibly be, get a job in an orchestra, and go from there. To where? I wasn’t sure. It was near the end of my first Master’s degree in Zürich that I seriously toyed with the idea of singing and playing violin at the same time. I was really encouraged to develop that practice by my teacher there, and was also encouraged to include my own writings and improvisations in my concert programs. It kind of spiralled from there to the point where I am now, creating solo recital programs to tell personal stories through classical music, song, and poetry. I think now I’m far more comfortable with arranging, improvising, and being myself while I perform these works.

What is it about your next project that you’re most excited or nervous to share with the world?I
I’m working on a recital for next year that doesn’t have a name yet but it’s based around a long poem I wrote while walking through Portugal on the Camino de Santiago. The poem is the first half of the concert, framed with a solo Vilsmayer partita – a contemporary of Bach but lesser known, full of wonderful folky dance movements. But I recently decided the perfect second half of the concert is Bartok’s Solo Sonata for Violin – I’m terrified! It’s such a behemoth work in the violin repertoire and I’m truly excited and nervous to tackle it.

Who are the artists around you that inspire or challenge you?
I recently did some recording for Sydney artist Kirin J Callinan, which was wild and wonderful. He has an infectious excitement and energy for music that makes working with him a pure delight. I’m inspired every day by my great friend and artist Paul Gallasch, who started Ern Malley (the bar, not the hoax) and who views the whole city of Adelaide as his canvas to make art, make community, and make things better. Finally, I’ve spent my last month assistant producing a feature film made by another great friend, and comedian James McCann, whose larger-than-life visions are truly inspiring (even if I can’t condone his poetry!).

Favourite Adelaide venue to play?
I love playing at the Calvary Hospital Chapel in North Adelaide – a tiny place with incredible acoustics.

Dream artist to perform alongside?
The violinist Shunske Sato – he’s so joyful!

Favourite artist to collaborate with?
I recently did a duo concert with Adelaide cellist Thomas Marlin which was so much fun. Look out for us with more collabs to come!

Where is your next Adelaide performance, and how do you hope it will go?
I’m giving my solo recital LABYRINTH – a look at winter and coming out into spring, at AGSA on October 9 as part of Monet to Matisse Friday Nights. I’m both excited and a little nervous – it’s a concert I know really well and is one of the last outings of it before I move onto a new program, so I’m hoping that it can stay as fresh and strong as when I first conceptualised it. I love playing in the Gallery, and am really delighted I get to give this concert surrounded by such beautiful works of art.

Anna Freer performs at the Art Gallery of South Australia on Friday October 9 as part of AGSA’s Monet to Matisse Friday Nights.