the amica team

Nat is gazing into the camera. She wears a white shirt and clear glasses. Her brown hair is long and layered. She is standing in a sunlit field.

nat bartsch
artist/founder/mentor

Nat Bartsch is a critically-acclaimed, multi-award-winning pianist and composer. Her meditative, lyrical music is enjoyed by people from all walks of life.

She has released eight albums of original music as a solo artist, as well as bandleader for Nat Bartsch Trio (active from 2008-2014). She is most well-known for her lullaby album Forever, and No Time At All, designed for parents to enjoy with their children; and Hope, her response to the Black Summer bushfires and long pandemic lockdowns in 2020. Acclaimed jazz re-interpretations of both of these albums, Forever More and Hope Renewed, cemented Nat’s reputation for moving effortlessly between genres.  

Nat has composed commissions for many leading classical artists including Grigoryan Brothers, Plexus Collective, Inventi Ensemble, Matt Withers, Sally Whitwell and Muses Trio.

She is one of a small handful of artists to be nominated in both jazz and classical ARIA categories, as well as receiving AIR, Music Victoria and Bell Award nominations. Nat received the 2021 Merlyn Myer Commission and 2010 Melbourne Prize for Music development award. She has an Honours degree in jazz & improvisation from the Victorian College of the Arts, and a Masters degree in classical composition from the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music.

Nat has toured Australia, Japan and Europe and performed at several festivals. She enjoys regular collaboration with fellow pianist Luke Howard, and has worked with artists including Matt Corby, Ryan Meeking, thndo, Ella Thompson and Sweet Jean. She is a Yamaha piano artist, and represented by the Australian Music Centre (associate composer), Cabin Artists (EU/UK/Asia) and Tom Ohsawa (Japan).

Nat is proudly neurodivergent, which explains her laser-like creative focus, excitable temperament and empathic music. Photo: Suzie Blake

On the left, Nic is playing a synth. He is wearing a navy baseball cap, navy shirt and glasses. He has a beard. On the right Évo is standing in a shady forest. He wears a light blue shirt and glasses. He also has a beard.

nic hyatt & évolène lüthi
moderna records

Moderna Records is a Canadian label born in 2015. Moderna traces a line from electronic sound designers to classical composers, connecting them through the realms of ambient and cinematic music. They are a growing global family that promotes and supports talented artists with unique voices and compositional styles. Moderna Records is a team of two, Évolène Lüthi (he/him) and Nicolas Hyatt (they/him) working in tandem on every aspect of the label.

Évo is based in Tiohti:áke/Montréal. He fell in love with the piano during a sound engineering and music production class in 2005, and began his own solo piano project shortly thereafter.. He founded Moderna Records in 2015, looking to offer a platform and create a community for composers of modern classical music with an innovative approach to sound design. He has an in depth knowledge of the instrumental music world ranging from post-rock to ambient to neoclassical and also has a passion for visual art influenced by geometry, minimalism and nature.

Nic lives on territory colloquially known as Whitehorse (Yukon). They studied experimental music composition as a young adult and began their career as a composer of chamber music, since transitioning to the world of pop music. Nic has cowritten a number of records with their projects Future States & Loon Town (wonky-pop), Parler bien (‘speech music’) and CLout gAMe (electro-hiphop), and played across North America and Europe. Nic has also worked as an educator, arts administrator, festival organiser and graphic designer. They joined Moderna Records in the spring of 2016.

Amica is Moderna Records’ first imprint, in the label’s spirit of fostering global collaboration and creative innovation They are also the nicest guys in the music industry, so kind music is pretty on-brand for them. Amica and Moderna are distributed by IDOL (one of the music industry’s truly independent distributors) and supported by their label management team.

hadyn buxton
technical manager/mentor

Hadyn Buxton is a producer, sound engineer, and educator based in Melbourne. He is one of Australia’s premier recording and mix engineers, creating over 100 albums across 25 years in the industry. He is highly sought after in classical, jazz and alt genres and passionate about recording unique artists that sit outside the mainstream.

He has worked regularly with Uncle Archie Roach, Luke Howard, Ecca Vandal, Grigoryan Brothers, Trial Kennedy, Steve Magnusson, Sam Anning, Spirograph Studies and Nat Bartsch. Several of his albums have gone onto win ARIA and APRA awards, including Luke Howard’s The Sand That Ate The Sea, and Archie Roach’s acclaimed final recordings The Songs of Charcoal Lane and One Song.

Beginning his career in Melbourne’s major recording studio Metropolis, Hadyn cut his teeth working with music royalty such as Kylie Minogue, John Farnham, Kate Ceberano and Little River Band. Since establishing a freelance career in 2006, he has expanded to work in live sound, tour management and stage management. Hadyn is also a passionate and talented educator, lecturing in creative music technology at Monash University. He is highly skilled in new immersive audio formats such as atmos mixing and mastering. Photo: Tamara Murphy

Mia is gazing into space above. Her hair is long, wavy and blonde. She wears glasses, a black jumper and a yellow floral scarf. Behind her is a black backdrop.

mia barham
artist/admin

Mia Barham is a talented emerging saxophonist, flautist and composer in Melbourne. Her music is evocative, unhurried and spacious. She is completing her jazz degree at the Victorian College of the Arts, studying under Australian jazz greats including Angela Davis and Andrea Keller.

A prolific composer and bandleader, she leads Mia Barham Quartet, jazz trio Amber, and the Mia Barham Sextet. Mia released her debut album, Earth Songs, with her quartet in 2021.

She has participated in The Australian Art Orchestra’s Creative Music Intensive, and received the Marion Thomas Award, the Dr Phillip Law Music Scholarship and the Lady Turner Prize. She regularly performs in Melbourne’s jazz and big band scene, and has worked with artists including Kristin Berardi, Paul Grabowsky, Tony Gould, and The Minnie Big Band.

Mia’s creativity is matched by her brilliant administrative skills. She happily steps in to save the day when Amica’s to-do list grows a little long. Photo: Celeste de Clario

jessica lindsay smith
artist/admin

Jessica Lindsay Smith is a composer and sound artist based in regional Victoria on Dja Dja Wurrung land. She creates music that exalts the fluidity of genre and art form, and examines relationships; the relationships between people and their environments, between cellular structures of human bodies and their macro representation, between the artificial and the natural. Jessica creates music and sound with a focus on vivid colours and unusual sounds, writing music that is “poignant…and melancholic” (classikON).

Last year Jessica participated in Ensemble Offspring’s Hatched Composer Intensive, mentored by the ensemble and Damien Ricketson, writing Supernovæ. Jessica’s opera, ESOTERIC for large improvising ensemble, was created and staged in collaboration with visual artist Rachael Archibald and choreographer Arabella Frahn-Starkie (supported by Creative Australia). Jessica has worked with ensembles and performers in local and international contexts to create music with novel colour palettes and an intrigue for curious textures Photo: Maddison Carter