Origins Donors Circle

A MAJOR BIG SING McLAREN VALE PROJECT FOR 2026

Sunday 8 November 2026 • Tatachilla Lutheran College, McLaren Vale

Your tax deductible donation will bring ORIGINS to life on stage or colour and movement to the music and words through the ORIGINS film

We are thrilled to announce our most ambitious project to date—presentation of a groundbreaking new oratorio conceived by evolutionary geneticist (and Adelaide girl) Jenny Marshall Graves. Jenny co-wrote the libretto with poet Leigh Hay using the beautiful language and images from science to celebrate our origins from the big bang to the emergence (and extinction?) of humans.

With a score for full symphony orchestra, four soloists and large choir by Australian composer Nicholas Buc, Origins will make you think, despair, laugh and wonder at the role of genetics, and of science, in our understanding and stewardship of our beautiful little planet—the pale blue dot.

Origins was premiered at the Melbourne Recital Centre in 2023 by the 100-strong Heidelberg Choral Society and received a standing ovation from a full house. We anticipate that Origins will take its place in the mainstream choral repertoire, and become known and performed globally.

Watch the original production
More about the 2026 Event
Download the original program

In partnership with the creators, Big Sing McLaren Vale is producing a new ORIGINS Film that will back our performance and any on our little blue planet in the future.

Your financial support can help bring ORIGINS to life on stage in 2026 or, through support of the Origins film, leave a legacy that ensures audiences can experience ORIGINS in colour and movement, as well as music and words.

CHOOSE a level of support that isn’t already allocated to another donor and let us know via the donation form (click the DONATE button below or in the Fundraising menu).

DISCUSS your level of support if you wish with Mark Lloyd 0403 057 700 or Carolyn Colling 0438 859 788 or email hello@bigsing.org.au

All donations over $2 are tax deductible.

THE ORIGINS DONORS CIRCLE

DONATE

GALAXY SPONSORS $20,000

ROZ MARSHALL AND BRIAN MARSHALL are generously supporting the staging of ORIGINS 2026.

THE DOUBLE HELIX $10,000

It’s graceful beauty inspiring artists since its discovery, the Double Helix supports the creative team making the ORIGINS Film.

(Sponsors: MARTIN & JULIE MORGAN IN MEMORY OF ENID HOWARD)

THE 21 AMINOS $1000

The building blocks of proteins, the 21 Aminos support each of the 21 short films accompanying each movement. (The corresponding Amino Acids have been included for the scientifically minded!)

  1. A Universe from Nothing (Alanine Sponsor: LINDSAY AND GEOFF CUMMING)
  2. Rocky Horror (Arginine Sponsor: LIBBY RAUPACH AND MARK LLOYD)
  3. The Pale Blue Dot (Asparagine Sponsor: ALDRIDGE FAMILY ENDOWMENT)
  4. The Warm Little Pond (Aspartic Sponsor: ALDRIDGE FAMILY ENDOWMENT)
  5. The Double Helix (Cysteine Sponsor: JUNIA VAZ DE MELO)
  6. The Immortal Molecule (Glutamic Acid Sponsor: ALDRIDGE FAMILY ENDOWMENT)
  7. The Code of Life (Glutamine Sponsor: GEOFFREY SEIDEL)
  8. Sentinels of First Life (Glycine Sponsor: HACKHAM RECYCLERS)
  9. The Tangled Bank (Histidine Sponsor: ANNE AND BARRY GRATION)
  10. The Struggle for Existence (Isoleucine Sponsor: MICHAEL SNOW)
  11. One Great Law (Leucine Sponsor: CHARLOTTE BRIGHT)
  12. Let’s Multiply (Lysine: ROBERT MENZ)
  13. Selection in Black and White (Methionine Sponsor: HENRY RISCHBIETH)
  14. Dance of the Lyrebird (Phenylalanine Sponsor: GEORGIA MARTIN)
  15. The Ant Queen (Proline Sponsor: MARY LOU SIMPSON)
  16. The Birth of New Species (Selenocysteine Sponsor: HEIDELBERG CHORAL SOCIETY)
  17. Extinction (Serine Sponsor: AKIRA AND TOMOKO NAKAYAMA)
  18. Endless Forms Most Wonderful (Threonine Sponsor: DIANE RANCK)
  19. The Third Chimpanzee (Tryptophan Sponsor: HACKHAM RECYCLERS)
  20. The Dominant Mammal (Tyrosine Sponsor: JUNIA VAZ DE MELO)
  21. Man is the Astronomer (Valine Sponsor: JAMES AND CAROL BANMAN)

THE WARM LITTLE POND $200 – $999

Coined by Darwin to describe the origin of molecules that form the basis of life on earth.

Donors: Mimi and Simon Crowe, George Potter, Diane Ranck, Chris Schacht, Jonathan Billington, Anonymous

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT: Galaxy, Double Helix and Amino Sponsors will be acknowledged in our 2026 printed souvenir program, on screen in the credits of the film as well as on this page. Warm Little Pond donors will be acknowledged in the souvenir program

NASA image: James Webb Space Telescope; Webb’s First Deep Field; Galaxy Cluster SMACS 073; Western Lowland Gorilla: Anup Shah via Getty Images