Ruthless Jabiru will be a lead collaborator in the inaugural Australia & New Zealand Festival of Literature & Arts in London next month, performing a programme honouring Australian poet and political activist Oodgeroo Noonuccal on Saturday 31 May.

The programme will centre around The Past, an orchestral song for countertenor by Australian composer Andrew Ford, combining Oodgeroo’s poem of the same name with James Cook’s diaries of his contact with the First Australians. The programme will include Altjiranga Mitjina by Chris Williams, its title translated from the Arrernte language as “the timeless dimension of dreams”; an idea at the heart of Oodgeroo’s poem. The two Australian works will be offset by British music in Neoclassical style by Michael Tippett and Tansy Davies, alongside the world premiere of Sandhi Prakash by Egidija Medekšaité, commissioned by Ruthless Jabiru through the Sound and Music Portfolio scheme. The orchestra will perform in the Grade I listed Chapel at Kings College London, joined by award-winning Australian countertenor Russell Harcourt. Booking for the event is now open at the festival website.