Robbie James: The Marree Sisters Bentley String Quintet & George Ellis

• Robbie James (b. 1953): The Marree Sisters:
• 1 James: The Marree Sisters: I. Across the Spinifex to Marree 04:01
• 2 James: The Marree Sisters: II. To the Big Smoke 04:42
• 3 James: The Marree Sisters: III. Love to Be Found 02:46
• 4 James: The Marree Sisters: IV. They Loved 05:05
• 5 James: The Marree Sisters: V. Five Farewells 01:40
• Total Runtime 18:14

Info for Robbie James: The Marree Sisters

The music of Robbie James has been described as "a journal through time and space with deep respect for our vast and varied land."

With The Marree Sisters, Robbie takes us deep into the heart of Australia, to the outback town of Marree, at the starting point of the Birdsville and Oodnadatta tracks, a tiny community of European, First Nations and Afghan cultures on the edge of the central deserts.

The music evolves from the isolation and harsh conditions of those stark plains, and follows the five teenage Marree sisters – the composer’s own mother and aunts – as they take the culture of their little town to the big city in search of work, love and their own families.

The Marree Sisters frames the love and friendships carved from hardships that would imprint authenticity into the lifelong bonds they would make.

Bentley String Quintet:
Brendan Joyce, violin I
Benjamin Greaves, violin II
David Collins, viola
Danielle Bentley, cello
Chloe Williamson, double bass
George Ellis, conductor

Bentley String Quintet
Dr. Danielle Bentley is an award-winning cellist specialising in Australian art music. Danielle was the Australian Arts Fellow at Omi Music Residency, New York (2018) & is a recipient of an APRA-AMCOS Art Music Award for Excellence. Danielle has performed, toured and recorded with some of Australia’s and the world’s most popular musicians, as well as working for flagship classical ensembles and independent creative projects across the nation. Alongside being a cellist, Danielle has managed and curated seven multi-day art music festivals at Brisbane Powerhouse, Metro Arts, and QLD Conservatorium, including four editions of her own event, Restrung.

Orchestral experience includes contractual work with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra (8 years), Camerata of St John’s (5 years), Opera Australia, Paris Opera Ballet, Opera Queensland, Australian Ballet, and Cologne Philharmonic. She is Principal Cello in Queensland for Philharmonia Australia (12 years) and was a Director of critically-acclaimed art music ensemble Collusion (2011-2017). Bentley Strings performed for Queen Elizabeth II & the Duke of Edinburgh during their Brisbane visit in 2011. Danielle has also performed with a long list of popular international and Australian stars including Jimmy Barnes, Kanye West, Harry Connick Jnr, Diana Krall, Missy Higgins, Kate Miller-Heidke and Sarah Blasko.

George Ellis
conducted the Sydney Symphony Orchestra at the Opening Ceremony of the Sydney Olympic Games 2000. He has since conducted the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra in Kula Lumpur, Queensland Symphony, West Australian Symphony, Orchestra Victoria, Tasmanian and Canberra Symphony Orchestras in concert as Guest Conductor. He is Musical Director of the Australian Symphony Orchestra and Chief Conductor of the Australian Session Orchestra. With his own George Ellis Orchestra he has given concerts at the Sydney Opera House, Hamer Hall at the Victorian Arts Centre, Melbourne Recital Centre, Queensland Performing Arts Centre Brisbane, Adelaide Festival Centre and Perth Concert Hall.

He has conducted for major international festivals and awards ceremonies including the Jakarta Arts Festival, Sydney Festival, Adelaide Festival, Perth International Festival Greek Festival of Sydney and the ARIA Awards on national television. He has presented concerts with international icons including Lou Reed and Hans Zimmer. He has given concerts in tours around Europe, USA and South East Asia.

He has conducted for the stage including the operas La Traviata (assistant to Simone Young) for Opera Australia and Little Women for the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. His Music Theatre credits include the national touring production of Man of La Mancha starring Anthony Warlow and Caroline O’Connor, Sugar – Some Like It Hot for the Production Company Melbourne and The Adventures of Snugglepot and Cuddliepie for Belvoir Street Theatre.

His composition and film work includes music for the Bruce Beresford films Ladies in Black and An Improbable Collection, commissioned works Celebration Overture for the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra and The Light for the Lights of Christmas Festival for the City of Sydney. His Pop Mass received first prize in the Composition section of the Sydney Eisteddfod. He has done orchestral arrangements for artists including Kate Miller-Heidke, Josh Pyke, Megan Washington, The Church, Steve Kilbey, Art vs Science and Alex Lloyd. He also appeared on screen for the film Mao’s Last Dancer conducting Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring.

Television appearances including conducting for Queen Elizabeth II on live national television, The Justine Clarke Show for ABC TV, the ARIA Awards as well as numerous appearances on Sunrise, the Today Show and the Midday Show with various orchestras. He conducted his own George Ellis Orchestra for an episode of The Bachelor.

He was the Musical Director of the Education Proms concerts at the Sydney Opera House for ten years and has presented many concerts for young audiences at City Recital Hall, Angel Place, including Peter and the Wolf with Murray Cook, The Conductor and the Clown with George Washingmachine and Beatles Orchestrated for Kids. His new creation Mimi’s Symphony, written with celebrated performer Justine Clarke, received its world premiere at City Recital Hall, Sydney, before touring Australia.

Since 2020, the George Ellis Orchestra has performed around Australia for Metropolis Touring – presenting the orchestrated music of Queen, David Bowie, Fleetwood Mac, Elton John, George Michael, Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, The Beatles and Metallica in venues including the State Theatre in Sydney, Palais Theatre in Melbourne and Adelaide Festival Theatre.

In 2021, George Ellis arranged the music and was Musical Director of the NRL Grand Final entertainment at Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane – where he worked with Ian Moss, from Cold Chisel, and Kate Miller-Heidke.

In 2022, he conducted Australian singer/songwriter Lior in a concert with the Canberra Symphony Orchestra featuring his latest compositions.

A portrait of George Ellis by artist Evert Ploeg received the People Choice Award for the Archibald Prize in 2007.

Robbie James
has been the guitarist with seminal Australian band GANGgajang since 1985. He has also toured the world several times with Yothu Yindi. His previous three solo albums display the breadth and depth of his artistry: the semi-orchestral song cycle Suzannah Suite, reflecting on the early colonisation of Australia and its effects on the First Nations Peoples; the pop album Secrets in the Sand, and the jazz guitar and voice recording 24 Hours a Night. His string quintet arrangement of GANGgajang’s iconic Sounds of Then (This Is Australia) was performed at the London Paralympics in 2012, and he has twice been commissioned by the City of Perth to compose extended arrangements of his own song Nomadsland and Yothu Yindi’s Treaty for their Australia Day Sky Shows. His string quintet Dreaming in the Sand was performed to great acclaim by the Bentley String Quintet at the 2021 Restrung Festival in Brisbane.

Robbie is also a member of Scattered People, a group of musicians who arose out of the Brisbane Asylum Seeker Centre. He produced, performed on and co-wrote their third album, Sugarmill Road, the subject of the 2021 documentary film Scattered People.

GANGgajang: The songs of GANGgajang were an integral part of the contemporary music revolution of the 1980s. The band continues to tour and record to present day. The timeless Sounds Of Then (This Is Australia) is one of the all-time classic Australian songs. GANGgajang is regarded as one of Australia’s most iconic bands, and have a multi-generational fan base throughout Australia and overseas – most notably in Brazil.


YOTHU YINDI: Robbie toured Australia and the world for five years as guitarist with Yothu Yindi after joining them in 2001 when they and GANGgajang toured Brazil together. Yothu Yindi was the first band to put First Nations culture on the world stage, their song Treaty is regarded as one of Australia’s most important songs. Treaty was the first mainstream hit to integrate Aboriginal Manakay with western music, sung in the language of both cultures.



WENDY MATTHEWS: Robbie was one of the principal songwriters on Wendy’s first two platinum selling albums, contributing the songs, Square Moon, As We Speak, Mother Can’t Do and Homecoming Song. And on her third album, The Ruins Live On.



SCATTERED PEOPLE: Since 2012, Robbie has been a member of Scattered People, a group of musicians who rose out of the Brisbane Asylum Seeker Centre in 1998. He produced and co-wrote their latest album Sugarmill Road, the subject of the 2021 documentary film, Scattered People. Bentley String Quintet also performed on this album.

CLASSICAL: Robbie’s string quintet arrangement of GANGgajang’s iconic Sounds of Then (This Is Australia) was performed at the London Paralympics in 2012. He has twice been commissioned by the City of Perth to compose extended arrangements of his own song Nomadsland and Yothu Yindi’s Treaty for their Australia Day Sky Shows. His string quintet Dreaming in the Sand was performed to great acclaim by the Bentley String Quintet at the 2021 Restrung Festival in Brisbane. And the classical album, String Quintet No. 4 The Marree Sisters, released July 2022 through ABC Classic.

This album contains no booklet.