Sally Greenaway | Composer

En Las Sombras - in the shadows is a vibrant and rhythmic solo guitar piece by award-winning Australian composer Sally Greenaway. Brilliantly performed by leading Australian guitarist Matt Withers on his stunning hand-made Smallman & Sons classical guitar, the piece explores the guitar’s rhythmic and colour possibilities with exuberant tests of the performer’s virtuosity and technique.

Opening with a pastoral flair, with gently rippling arpeggiated chords, En Las Sombras unleashes into a rhythmic dance, with palm muting and ‘rasgueado’ (which is a famous Spanish guitar strumming technique).

Australian guitarist Matt Withers is an ambassador for Australian music and role model for musicians across the country. His championing of Aussie-composed music includes numerous recordings and album releases, both as a soloist and with multi-guitar ensembles like world-renowned Guitar Trek, Acacia Ensemble and Sally Whitwell. He has also commissioned many pieces by Australian composers and has held a regular national composition competition for new guitar repertoire since 2014.

The music video was recorded in and around the stunning Garangula Gallery, which houses an extensive collection of internationally important Aboriginal art. Its beautiful courtyard entry, surrounded by a meditative water rill and rammed-earth and stone walls, is an idyllic and meaningful setting for the music video for En Las Sombras.

Film Director Marisa Martin and the crew from Missing Bits Productions have captured both the architecture of this award-winning building and the surrounding quintessential Australian rural NSW country-side. The bright colours and warmth pairs perfectly with the music, which combines Spanish and Australian aesthetics for a piece befitting the Classical Guitar.