Mirabilis Collective call on regional musicians, singers and lyrists to join Her Sound Her Story project

A call to unite regional women’s voices has been put out in the Wheatbelt’s south with the launch of a new female music group project that will feature original songs by regional members.

Her Sound Her Story is a new community music project led by the all female five-piece ensemble Mirabilis Collective, who are in the process of finding women in the southern Wheatbelt district to be part of their three-month project.

Women can get involved through the community choir, small vocal ensemble, or writing an original song which Mirabilis will help compose and perform.

Established in 2022 by best friends, artistic director and oboist/pianist Stephanie Nicholls and flautist Tresna Stampalia, Mirabilis Collective have performed more than 40 times, staging works only by female composers to address the under-representation of women in music.

Nicholls said a big part of Mirabilis’ mission is mentoring emerging female musicians and that this is the first time they have scouted specifically regional talent.

She said members composing their own music is a new expansion of the project, enabling them to develop their ideas and perform with the music ensemble as a “backing band”.

“We chose the Wheatbelt as our first port of call,” she said. “So this iteration of Her Sound Her Story, Narrogin and Wagin are getting the first bite of it.”

Nicholls said after performing at the Narrogin Hay Bales concert in November 2023, the duo saw that a lot of locals wrote their own music.

“We knew there was a really developing group of people who were doing all kinds of music-making — so this is a really good opportunity to take it one step further,” she said.

“I would encourage people to trust that we’re going to look after them, encourage them and give them help to develop their skills in a really warm and supportive environment.”

Project workshops will be held at Arts Narrogin on March 15 and 16, April 13 to 15 and May 4 to 8.

The project will come to a head for two live concerts, performed in Wagin on May 7 and Narrogin on May 8.

For more information visit mirabiliscollective.com or fill out a form here.