Exciting news friends.. I won the APRA Screen Awards Feature Film Score of the year.. Yip Ya!! Such an amazing honour..All thanks to the powerhouse Leah Purcell.
Salliana makes her film scoring debut with Leah Purcells The Drovers Wife: The legend of Molly Johnson
Hollywood reporter interviews Leah Purcell and features exclusive clip of film
Salliana is a freelance composer and multi-instrumentalist performing on five-string violin, nyckelharper, octave mandolin, baritone bowed psaltry, piano, hammered dulcimer, hurdy gurdy and vocals.
Salliana studied at the Queensland Conservatorium of Music, which was where she met her bandmates of Tulipan, whose achievements include an Aria nomination for their debut album, two European tours, North American Tour, and winning Triple J’s Unearthing the World.
She has performed with Alex Lloyd, Russell Morris, Kate Miller-Heidke, Grant McLennan, Michael Leunig, Lior, Shane Nicholson, Dan Sultan, Kasey Chambers, Powderfinger, Brian Cadd, William Barton, Bernard Fanning, Katie Noonan, Gyan, Geraldine Turner, The Red Tree (QPAC), The Ten Tenors, Il Divo, Patrizio, Grimm Tales (Queensland Theatre Company. 2010), 1001 Nights (Queensland Theatre Company, 2013) and The Gothic Symphony (2010), Duck (Out of the Box, 2018), The Christmas Carol (Shake and Stir 2018-2023)
Salliana has written soundtracks, string arrangements and recorded for La Boîte, Queensland Theatre Company, various short films/documentaries, Alex Lloyd, Bernard Fanning, Powderfinger, Russell Morris, Kate Miller-Heidke and countless independent bands. Her composition Nightingale Floor is a twenty minute piece for string orchestra and showcases each of the stringed instruments she plays. Her own band Speed of Purple has toured nationally and released their debut album “Beautiful Things” in 2008.
Performances include, ARIA Awards, State of Origin, Sydney Opera House, Maldives- Surf Music in Paradise, Melbourne Recital Centre, AFI Awards, Footy Show, Byron Bay Blues Fest, CMC Rocks Fest, Falls Festival, Sunrise, The Morning Show, CMC Awards, Big Day Out, Splendour in the Grass, Livid, Woodford Folk Festival, WOMAD, The Midday Show, Femme Funk Folk Festival (Noumea), North American Folk Alliance, Dorrigo Bluegrass Festival, Port Fairy Folk Festival, 6 month residency in Japan, Tamworth Country Music Festival, QPAC’s Cremorne. Playhouse, Lyric and Concert Hall, Day on the Green, Gympie Muster and touring in Canada, North America, London, New Zealand, Dublin, Berlin and Finland.
Salliana was honoured to perform on two 2016 Aria-winning albums, Bernard Fanning’s album “Civil Dusk”, and Russell Morris’s “Red Dirt Red Heart”. Another career highlight was supporting the legendary James Taylor with Bernard Fanning in February 2017 and playing to a crowd of 55,000 at 2017 State of Origin Grand Final.
In 2018 Salliana composed, recorded and performed the score for two debut theatre productions both premiered at QPAC. DUCK a QPAC production for Out of the Box children’s festival and Shake and Stir’s A Christmas Carol, which received a Matilda award nomination for best original music score. to date has sold over 50’000 tickets and in 2023 it will return to QPAC for it’s sixth consecutive season.
2020 saw Salliana compose, perform and record her debutfeature film soundtrack for Leah Purcell’s The Drovers Wife: The Legend of Molly Johnson, which in 2022 she won the APRA Screen Awards Feature Film Score of the year.
Since July 2021 Salliana tours almost exclusively with Alex Lloyd and has found a musical marriage like never before. Alex’s voice is spine tingling goodness and his ability to take risks and never play the song the same twice is something that appeals to Salliana’s attraction to improvisation, reacting to the moment and a sweet kind of chaos.
