The Bark Tin Band

Lu Liu – pipa

Alex Chilvers – bass guitar

Anthony Abouhamad – keyboard

 

The Bark Tin Band is a Sydney-based intercultural ensemble that was born out of our shared experiences as educators at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. Our trio represents a convergence of three distinct musical traditions, reflecting the multicultural tapestry of Sydney. With backgrounds in traditional Chinese pipa solo performance, Western historically informed keyboard performance, and contemporary composition, we are uniquely positioned to explore and bridge these diverse musical worlds.

 

Special guest: Satsuma biwa master – Thomas Charles Marshall

 

Thomas Charles Marshall is a musician based in County Westmeath, Ireland, whose performance career bridges the worlds of European and Japanese musical traditions.

He began his musical training on piano at the Royal Irish Academy of Music, Dublin, and later studied organ at St Finian’s College, Mullingar, under Shane Brennan, as a member of the Schola Cantorum. He was appointed organ scholar of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, where he studied with the renowned organist Peter Hurford.

From 1994 to 2008, Marshall lived in Japan, undertaking extensive research into traditional Japanese music. He studied Satsumabiwa, the historical lute of the samurai, under Master Yoshinori Fumon and received the biwa name “Ranjo” in 1999. He has since performed and lectured internationally, with appearances at SOAS University of London, Columbia University (New York), the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor), the University of Southern California, as well as in France, Denmark, Italy, Korea, and Australia.

 

Upon returning to Ireland, he resumed his work as an organist and completed a Master’s degree in Music Performance at the Royal Irish Academy of Music, studying with David Adams. He is currently Organist and Director of Music at St Ann’s Church, Dawson Street, Dublin, and Director of Music at St Brigid’s Cathedral, Kildare.

 

Marshall remains active as a recitalist throughout Ireland, appearing regularly at venues such as the Dún Laoghaire Organ Concert Series and the Tullamore International Summer Organ Series. His recent collaborations include performances with violinist Bogdan Şofei (leader of the ConTempo Quartet), countertenor Francesco Giusti, and Baroque cellist Norah O’Leary. He has also given solo organ performances in Italy, the Netherlands, the UK, and Japan.

 

In parallel with his organ career, Marshall continues to perform and research Satsumabiwa. In July 2025, he was invited to perform at the Irish Embassy in Tokyo on the occasion of the Seamus Heaney Prize being awarded to poet Sinéad Morrissey. In October and November 2025, he will return to Japan for a concert tour with Irish harpist Tríona Marshall with the support of Culture Ireland, presenting a programme exploring the resonances between Japanese and Irish musical traditions in retelling the story of Miminashi hoichi from Kwaidan by Lafcadio Hearn.

 

He recently presented his research on Meiji-era biwa songbooks at the SEAA–SNU Anthropology 2025 Conference in Seoul, South Korea.

 

SHORT COMBINED BIOS: Dr LIU Lu刘璐 (also known as Lulu Liu) is a China-trained pipa performer and Australia-trained scholar. She is a senior lecturer at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music (SCM), and is the discipline leader for intercultural music. Dr Alex Chilvers is a composer, bass guitarist, and lecturer at the SCM. He is the coordinator of the conservatorium’s Aural Perception course and his research focuses on intercultural music engagement and perception. Dr Anthony Abouhamad is a lecturer in music skills at the SCM, where he teaches musicology and historical performance units. As a harpsichordist, he performs regularly with Australia’s leading orchestras and period ensembles.

https://www.instagram.com/scm_intercultural_music/

http://satsumabiwa.eu

 

https://www.facebook.com/share/tcmcharlie

 

https//www.instagram.com/tcmcharlie

 

 

Dr. Lu Liu

 

Chinese-born Dr. Lu Liu is one of the world's foremost pipa players. She has been involved of the creation of over 30 new intercultural compositions, premiering over 20 new pipa works that explore the evolving soundscape of Australian contemporary art music.

 

Lulu has released two solo albums and four collaborative albums. She was the featured instrumentalist on Christopher Gordon's soundtrack for the film Mao’s Last Dancer.

 

Recent career performance highlights for Lulu include premiering the pipa part in Ross Edwards's Vespers for Mother Earth, a major work for eight voices and eleven instruments with The Song Company (2024), and the featured artist in the world premiere of Richard Mills' The Butterfly Lovers with Victorian Opera in 2023. Her collaboration with Alex Chilvers on Tang Suit was funded by ABC Classic and ABC Jazz Composer Commissioning Fund and recorded by ABC Classic in 2024. Two compositions by Damien Ricketson, Hectic Jacaranda and Hectic Peppermint, have been performed in both Australia and China (2019-2020), introducing the pipa's role in contemporary music to new audiences. Lulu has performed for 7,000 attendees at the World Peace Outdoor Festival in South Korea and appeared on the BBC Radio program On the Wire. She was invited to join the production Play Me a Story – Nutcracker at the Sydney Opera House (2015), with subsequent performances in Victoria, rural New South Wales (2016), and a return season at the Sydney Opera House (2017).

 

Dr. Alex Chilvers

 

Dr. Alex Chilvers is a Sydney-based composer, bass guitarist, and lecturer at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. His research is focussed on intercultural creativity and perception, with publications appearing in Psychology of Music, Empirical Musicology Review, Musicology Australia, and Music Education Research. A graduate of both Macquarie University and the Conservatorium, his PhD in composition analysed the influence of folk traditions in modern Polish music. Chilvers’ compositions have been performed around Australia, Europe, and Asia by ensembles including the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, Orkiestra Muzyki Nowej (Poland), and the Luminescence Chamber Singers. In 2023, with colleagues Lulu Liu and Anthony Abouhamad, Chilvers founded the Bark Tin Band. This intercultural ensemble of bass guitar, pipa (Chinese lute), and harpsichord is set to release their debut recording, Tang Suite, on the ABC Classic label in 2025/26.

 

Dr. Anthony Abouhamad

 

Dr. Anthony Abouhamad was born and grew up in Western Sydney, where he first began taking piano lessons at the age of 7. His main musical interests centre on eighteenth-century historical performance practices, and he is particularly fascinated by Italian chamber music as well as sacred music by Austrian composers. Although most often performing on the harpsichord and organ in public, the clavichord is Anthony's favourite instrument; its intimate tone, he believes, comes closest to expressing the highly emotive nature of eighteenth-century music.

 

In 2021, Anthony earned his PhD in musicology from the University of Sydney where he currently Lectures in Musicology and historical performance. Prior to his doctoral research, Anthony studied the harpsichord and fortepiano at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague.

 

In addition to his teaching activities, Anthony enjoys being a part of Australia's classical musical scene. Alongside engagements with symphony orchestras in the country's state capitals, he regularly performs with the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra and the Australian Haydn Ensemble as well as with his own ensemble, The Muffat Collective. With the Bark Tin Band he recently recorded the new Australian work, "Tang Suite",  for ABC Classics.

 

chievement' Award.