Cover image: Dancing in the Waves by Steph G (OptiKA Local Youth Award Winner)
The House exists to support girls and women find their voice - to be heard, to connect, to share joy. Our program of activities is a strategic investment toward realising two specific complementary goals:
1 - Generate vocal performances suitable for programming by venues, festivals and events synonymous with artistic excellence; and
2-Unearth and propel the careers of the next generation of female composers, songwriters and performers locally, regionally, nationally.
The House that Dan Built (The House) is forging a national reputation for its groundbreaking investment in the voices of girls and women. We activate cultural and community spaces in surprising ways with original chorale performances. We contribute to a thriving, gender-equitable, arts industry by providing opportunities for female identifying artists to create projects of excellence.
DONATE NOW: OUR VOICES ARE LOUDER WITH YOU!
You can support The House with a fully tax-deductible donation and help us encourage girls across Australia to feel empowered to speak, to feel like they belong, and to participate as a chorus
thehousethatdanbuilt com/support
THE 100 WOMEN INTERVIEWED
1.Brenda - Elizabeth Bay NSW
2. Tracey - Glenview QLD
3.Glenda - Hanford SA
4.Sylvia - Silverdale NSW
5.Cheryl - Glenmore Park QLD
6.Brenda - Paddington NSW
7.Danielle - Arncliffe NSW
8.Maureen - Burnie TAS
9.Meredith - Albury NSW
10.Yvette - Newport NSW
11.Kate - Deniliquin NSW
12.Sarah - Marrickville NSW
13.Jane - Castle Hill NSW
14.Faye - Wilby VIC
15.Melanie - Mount Gambier SA
16.Katrina - Banks ACT
17.Sue - Perth WA
18.Rebecca - Palmerston NT
19.Joey - Oxley QLD
20.Michelle - Kotara NSW
21.Catherine - Turvey Park NSW
22.Leeah - Gravesend NSW
23.Jodi - Salisbury North SA
24.Bronwyn - Port Victoria SA
25.Dayle - South Morang
26.Ruby - Colebee NSW
27.Lynda - Aldgate SA
28.Tahlee - Flora Hill VIC
29.Belinda - Australind WA
30.Tracey - Townsville QLD
31.Julie -Dandenong VIC
32.Eily - Raymond Terrace NSW
33.Pam - Rothwell QLD
34.Katrina - Penguin TAS
35.Zharon - Orange NSW
36.Lauren - Glenwood QLD
37.Lesley - Beaudesert QLD
38.Gianna - Carlton North VIC
39.Karli - Sharon QLD
40.Leonie - Brisbane QLD
41.Julie - Como WA
42.Terri - Caboolture QLD
43.Marcie - Nimmitabel NSW
44.Ariett - Beecroft NSW
45.Jemma - Tuart Hill WA
46.Julie - Townsville QLD
47.Bianca - Moranbah QLD
48.Tracy - Alfred Cove WA
49.Lynda - Salisbury QLD
50.Rosebery NSW
51.Bianca - Morayfield QLD
52.Melissa - Crace ACT
53.Diane - Lara VIC
54.Tina - Ayr QLD
55.Patricia - Warner QLD
56.Rachelle - Kiama NSW
57.Selina - Woolloongabba QLD
58.Sonya - Andergrove QLD
59.Rosie - Waterloo NSW
60.Janine - Wonthaggi VIC
61.Riette - Coolum
62.Dianne - Milsons Point NSW
63.Emma - Tamworth NSW
64.Oriel - Port Fairy VIC
65.Karen - Ashgrove QLD
66.Kristen - Ashgrove QLD
67.Catherine - Ashgrove QLD
68.Jane - Deniliquin NSW
69.Margret Bookaar VIC
70.Jacinta - Hamilton VIC
71.Nina - Deniliquin NSW
72.Jeanette - Port Fairy VIC
73.Ardleigh - Nambour QLD
74.Amanda - Redan VIC
75.Becky - Warrnambool VIC
76.Glenis - Wentworth NSW
77.Jacquie - Condah VIC
78.Bernice - The Hill NSW
79.Ella - Cooloolabin QLD
80.Jools - Woodford QLD
81.Fiona - Alexandra Headland QLD
82.Ash - Sawtell NSW
83.Kelly - Belrose NSW
84.Monica - Toowong QLD
85.Lauren - Summer Hill NSW
86.Amanda - Maribyrnong VIC
87.Joanne - Redcliff QLD
88.Deb - Casino NSW
89.Judy Traralgon VIC
90.Yondette - Melton South VIC
91.Jodie - Adelaide SA
92.Jane Castle Hill NSW
93.Cressida - Urraween
94.Darrah - Telarah NSW
95.Lisa - Railton TAS
96.Hannah - Marnoo VIC
97.Georgianna - Blackburn South VIC
98.Emma - Mount Melville WA
99.Meaghan - Warragul VIC
100.Caitlin - Goondiwindi QLD
During the 2020 lockdowns, Danielle recruited 100 women from around Australia to participate in a multi-faceted community engagement project. They shared stories of resilience, connection to community, and reflections on their lives through one on one interviews and group interactions - and simultaneously stitched together a garment (a red cape) that would be passed onto 100 girls.
Six award-winning Australian female composers knitted those stories into a one-hour moving and poignant choral experience that is today known as 100 Women.
100 WOMEN is a symphony of women’s voices from around the country. This epic performance will bring together 100 female identifying singers from local choirs across the city to sing in one voice.
COMPOSERS
Pru Montin is a Melbourne/LA-based composer and sound designer fast creating a name for herself as a dynamic and inventive composer of film and media scores. With a gift at sampling, she sculpts evolving sonic worlds from any sound source, into meticulously orchestrated emotional journeys. Her unique approach has led to features by ASCAP as Composer to Watch, APRA AMCOS's World IP Day Innovator and the coveted biannual APRA AMCOS Professional Development Award for Film and Television in 2019. Her most recent film credits include the AACTA-nominated Australian family feature Moon Rock for Monday whilst her proudest installation is an immersive soniccollaged multimedia retrospective on Madonna presented in New York.
PRU MONTIN
OLIVIA BRYANT
Olivia Bryant (she/her) is an emerging composer, brass player and conductor from Ipswich, Queensland. Her passion for the arts started young, performing in Wind Orchestras, Jazz Ensembles and Choirs. In her 2nd year of Composition for Creative Industries at Sydney Conservatorium of Music, Olivia loves to write and perform immersive, personal meaningful music. Her works have been performed by Sydney Youth Orchestras, Australian Youth Orchestra as well as Melbourne Youth Orchestra. She was also a finalist in the Women’s Wind Band Composition Award and was recently successful in gaining a place in the 2024 Australian Youth Orchestra Music Intensive as Orchestral Manager. At the end of this year, her 10-minute Wind Orchestra Suite, In the Middle of Nowhere, will be premiered by the Queensland Wind Orchestra.
Audrey Ormella is an emerging Sydney-based composer, living and working on Wangal land. She is interested in experimenting with both live and pre-recorded musical ideas, and has previously worked with ensembles such as the AYO, the Australian Voices, Gondwana Choirs, and TheHouseThatDanBuilt Performers. She is currently in her second year studying Composition at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music
AUDREY ORMELLA
In 2021 Jessica received the top performance award in the APRA/AMCOS AMC Art Music Awards and in 2018 she was the recipient of an Australian Institute of Music Fellowship for her “outstanding contributions” to the nation’s music industry. She harnessed a prestigious classical training that included Sydney University, Victorian College of the Arts and London’s Covent Garden into an extensive and eclectic musical career that spans opera, medieval music, pop, jazz and cabaret. A long-term advocate for the democratisation of music, she is committed to engaging with audiences by creating bold, sonic experiences like no other.
AIJA DRAGUNS
JESSICA O'DONOGHUE
Aija Draguns is a Sydney-based emerging composer. She has a passion for choral music and is heavily influenced by her Latvian heritage. Growing up Aija studied piano and saxophone, and sung in various ensembles in the Latvian community. Aija attended the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, completing a Bachelor of Music (Composition), and a Bachelor of Music Studies (Composition Honours). Aija has since worked with Sydney Youth Orchestra and Ensemble Apex. Aija’s compositions have been programmed by Sydney Philharmonia choir Vox, Sydney Conservatorium choirs, Konzertprojekt, Trinitiy Grammar School choir, the Australian Latvian Cultural Festival, The House that Dan Built, and Melbourne Latvian choir Daina. Aija's work has recently been presented in Sydney Town Hall and at the Sydney Opera House.
Leahannah (she/her) is a composer, vocalist, flautist and performer from Naarm/ Melbourne, Australia. Leahnnah brings with her 20 years of experience as a vocalist and flautist, having performed in numerous bands over the years ranging from jazz, contemporary, to progressive/experimental and folk. Leahannah is passionate about creating unique, emotive music that blends vocals, and acoustic instruments with electronic soundscapes. Leahannah’s sound can be best described as ethereal, emotional, and immersive.
LEAHANNAH CEFF
TOURING ARTISTS
Danielle O'Keefe - Conductors / Soloists
Amy Moore - Conductors / Soloists
Carmel de Jager - Conductors / Soloists
Jayden Selvakumeraswamy - Soloist
ACCOMPANIST
Tina Tao
Finding You by Aija Draguns.
One day Poem by Audrey Ormella.
One day, Yesterday by Audrey Ormella.
Grandma Didn’t Know by Audrey Ormella.
From my mother to Her by Aija Draguns.
Steadfast Heart by Leahannah Ceff.
Nothing Needs to Stop Her by Pru Montin.
Bask by Olivia Bryant.
Returning by Leahannah Ceff.
Weaving Threads:
I. Paths.
II. Choices.
III. We are Here. by Jessica O’Donoghue
Finding You Aija Draguns
Lyrics
Finding you …finding me.
Program notes
This piece offers comfort to young women, as the sisterhood stands strong and united.
We help each other search for who we are as individuals, while finding our voice and place in the world.
It is okay to be lost, and not know who you are yet, as we are all on this search together.
The singers all “call out” to each other, symbolising this search for themselves.
One day Poem
Audrey Ormella.
"One day, you will meet the person you were meant to be."
I could barely hold a needle when she said this to me.
She was a bloody rock, my mum. Solid, grounding, as she guided me through life. I loved watching my mum pulling things apart, to make something new for us.
She loved to sing, and she often did so, as she snipped and sewed, the soft sounds of a seamstress accessorising gentle song.
And she was wise, bursting at the seams with advice and worldly knowledge:
"Comparison is the thief of joy," she declared to her audience of myself and one hundred scraps of fabric. "Ignore what the others think," she added. She said it in many different ways.
For a while I listened to her advice, until cutting remarks were whispered, slicing through me like her scissors.
Constricted. Suffocated
As her words came back to me, I picked up the loose threads from before, joining them together; and it was like breathing fresh air.
She had always said "remember to do something you love. Do what you love and bugger the consequences." So I buggered the consequences and spread my wings, to experience life elsewhere.
As I flew her words blew to me in whistling wind. "Just be yourself,” she said with the strength of a hundred voices. "You won't be everyone's cup of tea. Some people drink coffee."
Mum loved coffee, but I understood what she meant.
One Day, Yesterday Audrey Ormella
Lyrics
One day, you will meet the person you were meant to be. I was just a girl when my own mum said to me And now I give to you the words that she passed down to me
Yesterday I met the person I wanted to be I saw her face in the reflection of my drink.
Framed by scraps of wool, a smile obscured by rising steam. Framed by scraps of wool, a smile obscured by rising steam.
Program notes
One day, Yesterday reflects how knowledge is passed down through generations.
The mature voices of the choir offer the knowledge of their mothers to the young voices.
The message is absorbed into the young voices in a gentle hum, each chorister repeating this wordless mantra in their own tempo.
As it spreads through the choir the young voices adapt this message, adding a new layer of colour and depth.
Warmth envelops the choir in individual humming, messages of old and new blending together in a gentle, comforting colour.
Grandma Didn’t Know Audrey Ormella
Lyrics
Grandma didn't know what freedom was like. Had many regrets in her long life. I wish I learned more when she was alive.
Grandma didn’t know.
Program notes
Grandma didn’t know was inspired by the stories of women who never knew who their grandmothers were outside of the domestic settings they were confined to.
The text is repeated over and over, new layers gradually adding to the unsettled atmosphere, the unrelenting pattern of the piece reflecting the monotony of exclusively domestic existence.
The piece ends without secure resolution, losing the driving pulse and strong dissonance to suggest openness; the cycle will not continue forever.
From my mother, to her Aija Draguns
Lyrics
i.Mother, home when we were young, memories of fresh baked bread. Calming chaos ‘round our house. Had comfort knowing mother's home. Home, home, home.
ii.Guilt around my own pursuits. I’m still mother though I work. Please let me consider my own needs - balance for my family. Guilt, guilt, guilt.
iii.Found our place, but still fighting. Do dream big, you can fly free. She can choose what mother means. Free to be brave, free to choose. Fly, fly, fly.
Program notes
Women have gone from being stay at home mothers, to fighting for the right to work, to having the freedom to choose.
Though societal views on working mothers has changed over-time, is this pressure, judgement, and guilt still present for women today?
This piece explores motherhood and womanhood from three generational perspectives.
Steadfast Heart
Leahannah Ceff
Lyrics
We are, we are, we are standing strong.
I know where I stand. I know who I am.
Program notes
'Steadfast Heart' was written and inspired by interviews with 100 women.
I loved hearing stories from women who described feeling empowered by realising they can express themselves in a way that feels authentic to them and breaking free of societal expectations.
This is a piece of empowerment and strength, a dedication, and a hopeful encouragement to all women on the journey of self-discovery and exploration.
Nothing needs to stop her
Pru Montin
Lyrics
Nothing needs to stop (Stomp) her!
We’re her voices now. Mmhm
Nothing needs to stop her (Stomp, Clap, Shh).
We’re putting our feet down. Ah-ha!
Nothing needs to stop her (Stomp, Clap, Shh)
100 Voices sound!
Ahhhhhhh (x 3)
Nothing needs to stop (Stomp) her!
We’re her voices now. Mmhm!
Nothing needs to stop her (Stomp, Clap, Shh!).
We’re putting our feet down. Ah-ha!
Nothing needs to stop her (Stomp, Clap, Shh!)
100 Voices sound!
Nothing needs to stop her (x3)
Don’t panic
Program notes
100 women came together, and each offered the wisdom they wished they had had when they were younger.
That collective voice is represented in this anthem to let each young woman know that nothing needs to stop her, she has the support and wisdom from the community.
Everyone looks after everyone and together we are those voices.
bask
Lyrics
i pick up the pieces of a girl i once knew like when i picked flowers and plums, a collection I had when I was a child, of happy memories my mother’s recipe, her hands, her spirit passed onto me, like hand-me-down clothes which she mended, for me
Olivia Bryant
she told me “keep your head in the sun” i will forever dance in its light she said “you will grow my dear” and you will know, my dear
happy. heart. girl. you dance in the sunshine. the flowers bloom when you breathe. oh! you breathe - in and out. in. out. women. more than just a girl. danc-ing - free!
you’ll bask in the sun!
Program notes
“I think that to thrive and be happy in life, you need connection [...] to really thrive, is to reach out through your kin through those you love through, you know, your friends, those that excites you through to those that, you know, need to love and support [...] that connection is gonna go right through, you know, your body into the earth into the sky, as well as out into the community...”
There were so many lovely quotes taken from women within this project, but this one particularly resonated with me. Another woman, when asked what advice she’d give to a young girl today, said...” you should keep your head in the sun”. These words became the central theme of “bask” which gets passed down from soloist, mature voices all the way to our young girls all culminating to an immersive, lyrical ritual.
Returning
Lyrics
Ocean, Ocean.
You’re out there and a part of it.
Out there in the water.
Out there in the ocean.
Leahannah Ceff
Program notes
'Returning' was written and inspired by the stories of 100 women. This piece in particular draws on the theme of women's connection to the land and nature.
The piece uses audio samples from an interview taken where a woman describes how coming back to the land makes her feel centred and connected.
I want the piece to have a sense of freedom and expansiveness to create a heartfelt and immersive experience, cultivating a sense of peace and grounding.
Weaving Threads Jessica
O’Donoghue
Lyrics
Paths
Tell these girls to look after themselves. They are allowed to do that. We don't talk enough as women, about what's going on in life and what's important.
Back then when you got married, you had to stop working so you could look after your husband.
You're just a girl.
Choices
We have freedom, we have technology, we have choices.
We are only women working, we are only mothers caring.
You don't have to know. You don't have to go out. You don't have to grow up. You don't have to know. Waking, taking time
We are Here
We are here. Working together. Talking together
We can make up. We can call up. We can show up. We can rise up. We can call up. We can make up. We can show up. We are here.
Weaving Threads Jessica O’Donoghue
Program notes
Paths
This movement reflects on three statements extracted from the interviews from three different women.
Each part embodies a different perspective giving three unique snapshots into the lives of each woman.
Choices
This movement represents three different generations, and again the text is taken directly from women who were interviewed.
The Alto part represents the 'grandmother' generation where women had less freedom, less choice and less agency, access, respect or recognition.
The Soprano 2 part is the 'mother' generation where women are shifting, changing, fighting for a voice, fighting for freedom and fighting to create a safe place for future generations of women.
The Soprano 1 part is the younger generation which appears to 'have it all'. There seems to be so much choice, so much freedom, so much access to information and education, but with the franticness of it all, some women question whether it really is everything we have been promised or all that we were hoping for.
We Are Here
This movement uses text written by myself and is a reflection and meditation on the whole 100 Women 100 Stories project.
It was so powerful listening to the interviews, conversations, and exchanges between women of different generations.
The connection and sharing of wisdom was profoundly beautiful.
This third movement is to remind us that we are all here together. We are here for each other, and we can reach out and show up for all the women of the world.
