1:1 Concerts.

Sally Walker actively participates in socially driven projects including organising 1:1 CONCERTS in Australia (her series curated for the Adelaide Festival gained a 5-star Limelight review), teaching for the Equal Music program (Illumina Festival) and being Ambassador for the Symphony for Life Foundation and findings from these programs have been presented in the International Karajan Symposium, UNSW Forces of Music Series and published in the International Journal of Community Music.

How we need music has been made profoundly clear during the Pandemic. Balcony concerts, online lessons and home recordings prove that what is essential, adapts to survive.^[1] Performing musicians exiled from concert halls due to social distancing policies have found new performance spaces that defy the corona crisis. Consequently, the 1:1 CONCERTS©^[2] have flourished, inspired by the work of performance artist Marina Abramović’s "Listening differently"^[3]. The format involves one musician and one listener at a 2-metre distance, sharing a 10 minute non-verbal musical encounter that incorporates a minute’s eye contact with each other. The concert is facilitated by a host acting as the conduit between the listener and musician. In Australia 456 1:1 Concerts have taken place in 7 cities since mid 2019, in a variety of non-traditional concert venues, including the Australian bush, a painter’s kitchen and next to the Adelaide Oval Score board.

The study investigates the impact of these smallest of concerts on the listeners, musicians, and hosts, in both a festival and community setting. The study aimed to generate insights into the perspectives and experiences of the concert participants, with a view to better understanding the social and emotional impact of concerts, and to informing future innovations in live music performance models. The research paper (Grant, Loxley Slump, Walker) concluded that the model had significant potential to be used as a positive social intervention, such as in aged care, disability, and mental health contexts.

View Sally Walker's Researcher page. 

Grant, Catherine, Walker, Sally & Loxley Slump, Zoe (2022). 1:1 Concerts for a pandemic: Learnings from intimate musical encounters. International Journal of Community Music 15(2), 193-209. DOI: 10.1386/ijcm_00059_1 https://www.intellectbooks.com/international-journal-of-community-music.

Walker, S. K. A., Grant, C. and Loxley Slump, Z. (2021) The social impact of 1:1 Concerts in Australia, Montréal (Canada): International Symposium of Performance Science.

Walker, S. K. A. (2021). 1:1 CONCERTS [curator], Adelaide: Adelaide Festival.

Walker, S.K.A “The C21st Flautist, reimagined in light of being a Covid Concert Hall refugee” in UNSW Forces in Music curated by Lifschitz, S. Sydney https://vimeo.com/442874318.

Walker, S. K. A. (2020). 1:1 Concerts: A diaspora of Concert Hall Refugees find new performance spaces. Sydney: Musicological Society of Australia conference.

Ritter, F and Walker, S. K. A. (2021). 1:1 CONCERTS Simple musical encounters build strong communities. Berlin (Germany): Karajan Music Tech Conference.