Come and join the Artemis Orchestra to celebrate their 5th birthday, which will take place at the Sewing Room on November 26, 2022, exactly 5 years after their very first gig in 2017! The band will be playing two sets of new works and old favourites. We will also be celebrating our recent WAM Song of the Year win. Hope to see you there!

The Artemis Orchestra was founded by Gemma Farrell in 2017, with the hope of promoting people of marginalised genders in jazz as musicians, soloists and composers. Less than a quarter of all professional jazz musicians worldwide are female, and even less are non-binary and transgender and this is something which we hope will change for the better in future. The goal is that having an ensemble like this, which is predominately made up of professional female musicians, and also includes non-binary musicians, will inspire young people of marginalised genders in Perth to consider taking on a career in jazz. The Orchestra has performed at the Charles Hotel, at the Four5Nine Bar, the Ellington Jazz Club, His Majesty’s Theatre, Somerville Auditorium and the Rechabite. They have collaborated with the Perth Jazz Society, and with the WA Youth Jazz Orchestra, twice making up a band of WAYJO’s young women and non-binary members, with Artemis’ professional musicians. They have also performed for the 2018, 2019 and 2020 Perth International Jazz Festivals. In 2021 they released their debut album “The Elephant in the Room” with 10 original works by Western Australian women. The album was RTRFM local feature album for a week in June and their album launch was sold out. The title track, “The Elephant in the Room,” composed by Kate Pass, won the 2022 WAM Song of the Year in the Jazz Category. The orchestra have performed the music of Shannon Barnett, Kristin Berardi, Meg Burstow, Jenna Cave, Eliza Davis, Louise Denson, Sandy Evans, Gemma Farrell, Sally Greenaway, Alice Humphries, Maddie Ivy, Amelia Jutilane, Andrea Keller, Ellen Kirkwood, Alana Macpherson, Linda May Han Oh, Kate Pass, Vanessa Perica and Candice Susnjar. The band has also hosted composition workshops and reading sessions for band members, and will continue to do so in future.