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 Biography

Photograph of Robyn leaning against a wall by Robyn Lea

Robyn Archer is a singer, writer and Artistic Director who has performed throughout Australia and the world. Her specialty of the songs of Brecht /Weill /Eisler and Weimar culture generally have marked her out internationally, and her landmark recordings with the London Sinfonietta ,Songs For Bad Times Vols 1 and 2 , are now available as digital downloads . She continues to sing an eclectic repertoire including her own songs and much of the back catalogue is also now available through Chaos Music from this site, or as digital download. In May ,Robyn and Paul Grabowsky presented iprotest! in its first duo version as part of the Canberra International Music Festival's Sounds Alive, curated by Lisa Moore. A combination of Dylan, Eisler and original songs , it was jubilantly received. Robyn is an exponent and a champion of music theatre and the classic European cabaret tradition, and is always writing in various forms from songs to shows to essays, articles, speeches and verse. In 2007 she and Michael Morley gave a recital of the Brecht repertoire at the Norfolk and Norwich Music Festival and they will repeat this in Canberra in November. Robyn's new play Architektin, about the first woman architect in Vienna, will premiere at the Dunstan Playhouse August 29th as part of the State Thetare SA season. She has recently embarked on a new theatrical project with Kate Cherry, Artistic Director of Black Swan.


Robyn is currently the Program Curator of The Alfred Deakin Innovation Lectures ( MelbourneJune 4-15 2008) and Artistic Director of The Light in Winter, a celebration of light at Federation Square ( Melbourne June 5- July 5) and Artistic Consultant to Luminato ( Toronto). She is frequently called upon to speak about the arts and recent speeches and keynotes have been in Pittsburgh ( Carnegie Mellon), Philadelphia ( Temple), the Prague Quadrennial, the Zurich School of Fine Arts, Push Assembly ( Vancouver) and in Perth, Adelaide and Melbourne. In April 2008 she was a juror for Culture France's Caribbean Contemporary Dance Rencontre in Havana, Cuba and soon afterwards was a participant in the Prime Minister's 2020 summit in Canberra.


She is currently working on a report for the SA Government on the Adelaide Centre for the Arts and developing new events for Perth and Canberra. She is also on the judging panel for the Victorian Premier's Literary Awards ( Music Theatre) and has been invited to Chair the new Development Fund in WA.


Robyn was Artistic Director of the National Festival of Australian Theatre in Canberra for three years and of the Adelaide Festival in 1998 and 2000. She was chair of the Australia Council's Community Cultural Development Board, a consultant to the new Melbourne Museum for three years and advisor on the Australian cultural content for EXPO 2000 in Hannover. She created a new celebration of the arts for Tasmania: Ten Days on the Island . Robyn was artistic director of the Melbourne International Arts Festival 2002, 2003 , 2004 and created a trilogy of festivals there : TEXT BODY VOICE. For two years Robyn has worked on Liverpool European Capital of Culture . She was made an Officer of the Order of Australia in 2000, and Chevalier du l'Ordre des Arts at des Lettres in 2001 and holds honorary doctorates from Flinders and Sydney Universities .In 2006 in New York she was awarded the International Citation of Merit by the International Society of Performing Arts. In May 2008 she was appointed to as Officer of the Order of the Crown ( by Royal Decree of the King od Belgium). She is the Patron of The Australian Art Orchestra ( Melbourne), Brink Productions ( Adelaide), The Australian Script Centre ( Hobart) and The Arts Law Society( Syndey) and an adviser to RMIT's Globalism Insititute
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CV

Education B.A. (Hons Eng), Dip. Ed. (Adelaide University) Honours Doctor of the University (Flinders University) Officer of the Order of Australia ( Australia) Chevalier du l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres ( France) , Officer of the Order of the Crown ( Belgium) , International Citation of Merit ( International Society of Performign Arts) , Federation Medal Awards The Sydney Critics' Circle Award (1980),The Henry Lawson Award (1980), Australian Creative Fellowship(1991-93), ARIA Awards (Best Soundtrack - Pack of Women 1986; Best Children's Album -Mrs Bottle 1989); AFI nomination for Lowering the Tone (Don Featherstone's TV biog); AWGIE nomination for best children's play (Mrs Bottle) Australian Women's Network Executive Woman of the Year ( 1998) SA Great's Arts and Culture Award ( 1998 and 2000) Roles : Patron - Brink Productions , Consultant-Liverpool European Capital of Culture( 2004-2006), Artistic Director - Melbourne International Arts Festival ( 2002-5) Creator and Advisor to the Artistic Program of Ten Days on the Island ( 2001- 5) ,Member - Australian International Cultural Council ,Member of the Board of Directors- International Society of Performing Arts( 2000-2006 ), Member of Council - Victorian College of the Arts ( 2002-2004), Inaugural Ambassador- Adelaide Festival Centre, Trustee - The Don Dunstan Foundation, Patron - The National Script Centre ,Official Ambassador - the Adelaide Crows, RMIT Global Sustainability Leader ,Artistic Director Adelaide Festival (1998 and 2000) Artistic Advisor Australia Day, Hannover EXPO 2000 Artistic Director National Festival of Australian Theatre ( 1993-95) Chair Community Cultural Development Board, Australia Council (1993-5) Commonwealth Appointee to the Centenary of Federation Advisory Committee (1994) Artistic Counsel Belvoir Street Theatre ( 1986) Patron- National Affiliation of Arts Educators, Member of the Board - Helpmann Academy


Performance - Roles Annie I, The Seven Deadly Sins ( Adelaide 1974,1993 and Sydney Opera House 93) ; Jenny,The Threepenny Opera ( 1976) ; Brecht Compilations , Never The Twain (Adelaide Festival Centre,Sydney Opera House , To Those Born Later &Sung and Unsung (National Theatre of Great Britain) Brecht & Co (Sydney Opera House, Hong Kong Arts Centre) ; Pierrot Lunaire(Sydney) ;Out of the East (Paris, London, New York ); Mrs Peachum, The Threepenny Opera(1999) One woman shows: Tonight Lola Blau (Australian Tour) ; A Star is Torn ( 2 Australian tours, Theatre Royal Stratford East, Wyndham's Theatre London West End); Five Nights in the Monsoon (Mount Gambier) Theatrical Caberets The Pack of Women (London); Kold Komfort Kaffee and Scandals (Australian tours); Cabaret Passe (London's Live Radio Show and Paris Theatre,London) Cafe Fledermaus (to open the Merlyn Theatre for Playbox, Melbourne ;Sydney) Le Chat Noir (Inaugural Brisbane International Music Biennial, Australian Theatre Festival Canberra, Adelaide Cabaret Festival ) See Ya Next Century ! ( Festivals of Sydney, Perth, Performing Lines Melbourne) , Whispering ( Adelaide 2004)


National Concert Tours The Ladies Choice (1977), Rough as Guts (1980), Robyn Archer Sings Brecht / At Large (1982), Robyn Archer National Tour (1985) , Robyn Archer and The Mambologists (1988/89), Ancient Wonders (1993/94), Concerts for Melbourne Music Festival (94), Composing Women's Festival (Melbourne 94), Keep Up Your Standards ( 95-2000) Brisbane, Adelaide, Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra) Songs of the Weimar period (96/97/98) The New York Gig (Brisbane,Adelaide 2002) , iprotest! ( Adelaide , Melbourne 2005)


International Concert Tours South East Asia - Rangoon, Dhaka, Singapore, Bangkok,Chiang Mai (Dept of Foreign Affairs) , Vienna (with composer Wilhelm Zobl), Holland - Hertigen Bosch (1989) Mexico - Guanajuato, Mexico City (Department of Foreign Affairs), UK -Warwick Arts Centre, Donmar Warehouse London, 1989), Canada -Halifax (with Symphony Nova Scotia, 1991) South America-Bogota (1996), Netherlands/UK -Amsterdam , Hertigen Bosch, London (1998) , New York City, Guggenheim Museum ( 1998) The New York Gig ( with Paul Grabowsky ),( New York October 2001) ( Zurich, Berlin 2002) ( Slovenia 2003) , Oxford ( 2005)


Television Performance Songs For Bad Times (Channel 4,UK) ; Cabaret (BBC2 UK) , The Pack of Women (ABC, Australia); The Great Debate (ABC) (Respect Men) (Arts End) commentator inaugural broadcast Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras (ABC, Australia) ; Once in a Blue Moon (ABC, Australia) ; Lowering the Tone - 45 Years of Robyn Archer (one hour documentary ,Don Featherstone Productions, ABC ,nominated for an AFI award); Three of a Kind (ABC); Solidarity Song - a biography of Hanns Eisler (Rhombus Media / ZDF Berlin): The One That Got Away (ABC) . Frequent guest appearances including The Michael Parkinson Show, Clive James at Home Good News Week (ABC); Adelaide Festival 1998 ( ABC national 3 part series) , David Frost New Year Special, The Midday Show, Tonight Live, Review, Dateline, Denton, Express


Recording The Ladies Choice (Larrikin, LRF 023), The Wild Girl in the Heart (Larrikin,LRF 027), Rough as Guts (Powderworks,RCA,ARM 5003/4) ,Tonight Lola Blau(Powderworks,RCA,ARM 5002) A Star is Torn [soundtrack](Powderworks),[e.p.] (Cube,London) , Robyn Archer Sings Brecht (EMI OASD 4166), [Volume 2] (EMI OASD 270049), [CD Compliation] (EMI CDC 7 47576), Ancient Wonders (Larrikin LRF 276) The Pack of Women (ABC Records,L38639)- won the ARIA soundtrack of the year 1986, 0 - 9(ABC Records for kids), Mrs Bottle's Absolutely Blurtingly Beautiful World-Beating Burp (ABC Records 846 218 1/4/2)- won Children's Record of the year 1990 ARIA awards. Boojum (Sounds Australian), Once in a Blue Moon (ABC records), Keep Up Your Standards ( Walkabout Larrikin LRF 483), Old Songs New Century ( unreleased ) Songs For Bad Times Vols 1 & 2 ( Festival Records)


Writing: Theatre Kold Komfort Kaffee (Sydney,Adelaide), The Pack of Women (London,Australia,Auckland), Cut and Thrust Cabaret (London), Scandals (Sydney,Melbourne,Adelaide), A Star is Torn(Australia,London,Sweden, Norway), Songs From Sideshow Alley (Adelaide ,Sydney,Perth), The Conquest of Carmen Miranda (Adelaide, Sydney, Perth, Brisbane), Il Magnifico (Sydney), The Three Legends of Kra (Adelaide Festival commission, Opening Festival for Queensland Arts Centre), Akwanso Fly South (Adelaide Festival & tour), Cafe Fledermaus (Opening production Merlyn Theatre, Malthouse - Melbourne; Belvoir Street, Sydney), Comes a Cropper (commission Monstrous Regiment - London, UK tour) Mrs Bottle's Absolutely Blurtingly Beautiful World-Beating Burp (Adelaide, AWGIE nomination for Best Stageplay 1990) Poor Johanna (with Judith Rodriguez, Adelaide 1994) The Hanging of Minnie Thwaites (with Judith Rodriguez, unproduced), Club Nocturne (commission for Understudies, Aust, unproduced) Le Chat Noir ( for The Seymour Group, premiere Brisbane Biennale May 1991, Australian Theatre Festival, Canberra ), Cuisine Africaine (for Dorinda Hafner, Adelaide) Winter in Paris, Summer in Nohant (unproduced) The Bridge (Perth) See Ya Next Century ! (Sydney,Melbourne,Perth), Ningali (Fremantle, Canberra, Melbourne, Vic Country tour, Berlin, Bonn, Edinburgh, London, UK regional tour,Sydney,Wellington ), Sappho Sings the Blues ( Fremantle and WA tour), Architektin Writing: Lyrics & Libertti Mambo opera in one act (music Javier Alvarez), Sahara Dust song cycle (music Lindsay Cooper), The Last Decade cabaret song cycle (music Allan John) The Big Picture (music Agostin Fernandez), approx 150 APRA registered songs Writing: Television Songs For Bad Times (assistant writer,Channel Four,UK), The Conquest of Carmen Miranda (SBS, Australia) The Pack of Women (ABC, Australia) , Songs From Sideshow Alley (ESTV unprod) New Theatre For a New Australia (SBS), The One That Got Away (ABC) Writing: Radio A Colonial Cabaret and Cabaret Passe (Both BBC) Cafe Fledermaus(ABC) Livewire (ABC) Writing: Books The Robyn Archer Songbook (McPhee Gribble,Melbourne,1980) Mrs Bottle Burps (Nelson,Melbourne,1983) The Pack of Women (Penguin Australia,Melbourne 1986) A Star is Torn (with Diana Simmonds; Virago,London 1986;Dutton,USA 1987;Japan 1990) Contributor to : Australia Fair (ed. Braddon,Methuen,London 1984) ; The All Australian HaHa Book (Oxford University Press,Melbourne,1983) ; Mrs Bottle's Absolutely Blurtingly Beautiful World-Beating Burp (ABC Books, Sydney 1990); various journals, magazines, newspaper; Cafe Fledermaus(Currency Press,Sydney 1990); Poor Johanna in The Penguin Anthology of Contemporary Australian Women's Writing (Penguin, Melbourne, 1991); Loaves and Wishes (Virago 1992); Hope and Fear (Flinders University Press 1995) Fortnightly column for Advertiser newspaper(1999) , The Myth of the Mainstream ( Currency House 2005),Reflecting Identity : the inevitable role of culture( Menzies Lecture 2006 - King's College London)


Directing Theatre: The Pack of Women (Australian tour) ; Cut & Thrust Cabaret (London) ; Scandals ( Australian tour) ; On Parliament Hill by Noel Greig (Sydney) ;ABC by David Holman (Sydney); Akwanso Fly South(Adelaide Festival,Australian tour); Mayday & Labour of Love (large-scale community projects, Darwin, for NTTLC and Hobart for TTLC); Le Chat Noir (Brisbane,Canberra); The Bridge (Perth); Accidental Death of an Anarchist by Dario Fo (Adelaide,Sydney); Boy Hamlet (Brisbane)

 

  
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