LUMEN Spring 2022 - Flipbook - Page 41
Anna Butterss
Honours Degree of Bachelor of Music
(Jazz Performance)
Class of 2012
Anna is a jazz bassist and composer
from Adelaide. She has been living,
working and creating in Los Angeles
since 2014.
After graduating from the Elder Conservatorium
in 2012, I moved to the US with a scholarship to
do a Master of Music in Jazz Studies at Indiana
University. Since then, I have been living in Los
Angeles, where I perform, record and tour with
various artists, including Phoebe Bridgers,
Jenny Lewis, Jeff Parker, Makaya McCraven
and Aimee Mann.
I have so many years of memories at Elder Hall,
starting with my first concert there as a teenager
with the Adelaide Youth Orchestra. I also
remember seeing the Elder Conservatorium Big
Band play-that got me really excited about
studying at the Con. Throughout my undergraduate
studies, I spent a lot of time in Elder Hall rehearsing
and performing with the Con’s Symphony and
Chamber orchestras, so it’s a place that holds a lot
of formative memories for me.
Playing at Madison Square Garden with Jenny
Lewis, opening for Harry Styles, was a major
career highlight. Another bucket list moment was
a show with Meshell Ndegeocello, where we both
played bass together.
In 2022 I’ll be touring with Andrew Bird and
Madison Cunningham, which will be really fun,
and then I’m getting ready to release my first
record, Activities.
My advice for budding musicians is to lean into
the community aspect of being a musician. It’s
easy to focus inward when we spend so much of
our time practising, but it’s a much more enriching
experience to be connected to the wider musical
community-going to shows, playing with other
people, collaborating and supporting each other.
ABOVE
Anna Butterss
Photo credit:
Brian E Bixby
ALUMNI MAGAZINE - SPRING 2022
39
