Sunday 24th May | 5pm
Piccolo Family Farm, Mallinson Road Lake Wyangan
Presented by ArtFarm, Hilary Geddes’ Redleaf merges jazz, indie, and experimental influences in an emotionally resonant set driven by her stellar quartet. With pianist Matt Harris, double-bassist Max Alduca and drummer Alex Inman-Hislop, Geddes delivers bold, improvisation-rich music with heart and nuance.
Hilary Geddes is an award-winning composer and guitarist who grew up and went to school in Griffith, NSW. She is the 2021 Freedman Jazz Fellow and the 2019 Jann Rutherford Memorial Award recipient. In 2021, she released her AIR-award nominated debut album Parkside (ABC Jazz) with Hilary Geddes Quartet. The group have performed at Melbourne International Jazz Festival, as well as at Art Gallery of NSW’s inaugural VOLUME festival. In 2024, she supported Marcus Miller (USA) at his sold-out City Recital Hall concert. Outside of jazz and improvised music, Hilary a member and lead guitarist in the rock band The Buoys.
MALLINSON ROAD ROADWORKS:
Access to Mallinson Road via Lakes Road:
– Brayne Road (past Calabria Wines) ➡️ Lakes Road ➡️ Mallinson Road
Acknowledgement of Country
This event is occurring on unceded Wiradjuri Country. Hilary Geddes Quartet pay their respects to Wiradjuri Elders past and present, and acknowledge their ongoing connection to Country, waterways and Culture. This always was, and always will be, Aboriginal Land.
Hilary Geddes
Hilary Geddes is an award-winning guitarist, improviser and composer based in Eora/Sydney on Gadigal Land. She is the 2021 Freedman Jazz Fellow, a 2021 ABC Jazz Scholarship, and the 2019 recipient of the Jann Rutherford Memorial Award. Hilary is the bandleader of the Hilary Geddes Quartet, and released her acclaimed debut album ‘Parkside’ (ABC Jazz) with the band in 2021. ‘Parkside’ was subsequently nominated for an AIR award for Best Jazz Album, and was also ABC Jazz Feature Album of the Week. In 2025, she launched her latest single ‘First’ (Earshift Music) at Melbourne International Jazz Festival.
Hilary works as an in-demand guitarist in the Australian jazz and improvised music scenes, performing alongside jazz luminaries such as Mike Nock, Lakecia Benjamin (USA) and Jonathan Zwartz. She is a member of Jeremy Rose’s Earshift Orchestra for the project ‘Disruption! The Voice of Drums’, which won an APRA Art Music Award in 2022. The project also performed at London Jazz Festival and JAZZTOPAD (PL) in 2025. Hilary also plays guitar in Ellen Kirkwood’s group Underwards, Ben Lerner’s trio SHEKET alongside drummer Laurence Pike, as well as the trio Sweet Tooth with Chloe Yeajee Kim and Jonathan Zwartz. In 2023, she completed a successful tour of Germany with the Geddes/Haupt Quartet alongside bassist, Michael Haupt, and in 2025 she toured India with The Three Seas.
As a sound composer, Hilary was awarded the Tura Adapts: 2020 No Borders Commission for the multi-media work ‘Upstream, Down River’, which premiered at the Old 505 Theatre, and was subsequently programmed at the Sydney Fringe Festival. Hilary was also a recipient of the Woollahra Municipal Council’s 2018/2019 Community and Cultural Grants Program, through which she was able to launch her soundmapping project SCAPES with a series of pop-up improvisations throughout the Woollahra precinct in March. These performances were recorded and will be released in the coming months.
Hilary also works in rock and contemporary music scenes, having performed with Tim Minchin in his album livestream in 2020. She is the lead guitarist and co-composer in the rock band, The Buoys (Arcadia Records/SONY), whose song ‘Lie to Me Again’ was voted number 85 in the 2021 triple j Hottest 100. They have performed at the Opera House as part of VIVID Festival, Splendour in the Grass, have supported bands such as Arctic Monkeys, Wolfmother, Hoodoo Gurus and the Dandy Warhols, and supported Vacations on the UK leg of their tour. The Buoys’ 2024 debut album, LUSTRE landed at number 7 on the ARIA Australian Album charts, and number 6 on the ARIA Vinyl Charts, and was nominated for album of the year at the 2024 J AWARDS. In 2025, the band completed two tours of the UK/Europe, selling out shows in Paris, London and Glasgow, and performing at showcases at Reeperbahn in Germany.
In 2018, Hilary graduated from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music with First Class Honours, studying under renowned guitarists Carl Dewhurst, James Muller and Steve Brien. She also spent a year living in Germany, studying with esteemed guitarist, Andreas Wahl at the Hochschule für Künste Bremen during 2016 and 2017. After a competitive selective process, Hilary took part in the Australian Art Orchestra Creative Music Intensive in 2018, working and performing with artists such as Il Dong Bae, Daniel and David Wilfred and Sunny Kim. In 2025, she was also a finalist in the APRA AMCOS Professional Development Awards.
Hilary has an ever-evolving creative practice that centres shared learning, collaboration and exploring different processes for improvisation. Over the past three years, her practice has centred around the possibilities of site-specific improvisation, soundmapping, and guitaristic approaches to composition. On these aspects of her practice, Hilary received guidance from Vanessa Tomlinson, Cat Hope and Andrea Keller as part of the Australian Art Orchestra’s and Sydney Improvised Music Association’s 2020 mentorship programmes.
“Geddes shone as both player and composer, guiding the band from ebullient odd-metered themes to more exploratory exchanges where the band members engaged in freewheeling musical conversations.” — Jessica Nicholas, The Age 2022
“Geddes does not shy away from using the guitar as a compositional tool, leaning into the idiosyncrasies of her instrument and exploiting its strengths… Rarely do we hear such a clear artistic concept from a musician’s first solo release.” — Stephen Hornby, Australian Jazz 2022
“…amidst the creak of a double bass and the rush of brushed cymbals and Geddes comes alive. Her dizzying, inventive guitar parts leave jaws on the jazz-club floor.” — David James Young, Junkee 2021