Unshackled - Hobart Penitentiary Presents - Love Asunder

Love Asunder: The Story of Alice and John McKinlay performed in the Chapel of the Hobart Penitentiary

Award-winning musicians Elly Hoyt (voice) and Louise Denson (piano) have teamed up to tell a remarkable story of courage, hope, love and commitment. This is the story of Alice and John McKinlay, a young Irish couple who struggled and despaired at the height of the potato famine. They stole two geese. John was convicted to seven years in Van Diemen’s Land, a new colony at the end of the world. His wife Alice was exonerated due to having committed no prior offences. But facing a life without her husband, as a single mother of two infant children, Alice decided to take a chance. Two weeks later she was back in jail, again charged with theft, and sentenced to serve in Van Diemen’s Land.

Alice and their children were shipped out first. On arrival, the children, Mary Ann and James Patrick, were placed in an orphanage. James died of dysentery shortly after. John languished a whole year in jail before he was transported. Remarkably, after serving their sentences and receiving their tickets of leave, Alice and John were reunited. They were able to start a new life, settling in the Kempton area of what is now known as Tasmania.

Hoyt and Denson together have crafted nine songs which tell this beautiful and heart wrenching story of a love asunder. These songs reflect their musical backgrounds, blending Irish and folk music with their shared love of genre-bending jazz.

Elly Hoyt is a Tasmanian born vocalist-composer recently relocated from London. Her three albums Elly Hoyt, Oranges and Sunshine and The Composers Voice: Celebrating Australian Women Composers, have gained her praise from All About Jazz (“soulful and quietly commanding”), Limelight magazine (“taste, sensitivity and swing”), and The Music Trust (“not afraid to take risks”). Hoyt’s accolades include a Bell Award for Best Jazz Vocal Album, the Generations in Jazz Vocal Scholarship, Finalist in the Freedman Jazz Fellowship and a Marten Bequest Traveling Scholarship to study a Masters of Jazz Performance at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, USA. Career highlights also include supporting US pianist Kenny Barron and performing for King Charles and Camilla. She has toured nationally and internationally playing venues, festivals and clubs including Shanghai World Expo (China), Bar 55 (NYC), Schloss Elmau (Germany), Jordan Concert Hall (Boston, USA), Sydney Opera House and the Melbourne International Jazz Festival (AUS) to name a few.

Louise Denson is a Hobart-based pianist/composer/arranger/educator working in jazz and classical music. She has released seven CDs under her own name and has performed at national and international festivals including the Wimbledon International Music Festival, Montreal Jazz Festival, Melbourne International Women’s Jazz Festival and Wangaratta Jazz Festival. Recent composition commissions include Clarence Jazz Festival (2023, supported by Festivals Australia), Richmond Bicentenary (2024, supported by Arts Tasmania), Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra (2022), and Vera Scarth-Johnson Gallery Association (Cooktown, 2021). Her works have been performed/recorded by artists including Viney-Grinberg Duo, Muses Trio, Downbeat poll-winning trombonist Bill Watrous, Bell Award-winning vocalist Elly Hoyt, and Southern Cross Soloists. She is an Represented Artist with the Australian Music Centre and is published by Wirripang and TSO House.

Originally from Ireland, Charlie McCarthy is an Australian based violinist/fiddle player who has performed with symphony orchestras, Celtic dance bands, chamber ensembles, jazz combos, bluegrass and Irish bands as well as being a session musician/soloist for movie soundtracks, pit orchestras, studio recordings and everything in between. Charlie has performed at most of the major music festivals and music venues in Australia with the bluegrass group The Seals, jazz quartet Belleville and presently with Hobart based ensembles The Harry Edwards Quartet and Django’s Tiger.

As an educator he has previously held the position of Head of Strings at Perth College in Western Australia and Head of Strings at St Michael’s Collegiate in Hobart. Charlie is currently a lecturer at the University of Tasmania in contemporary violin and also offers online violin lessons for players of all ages and styles. He presents Professional Development Seminars through the Australian String Teachers Association (AUSTA) and coordinates string workshops and camps throughout Australia. Charlie is also an inventor, developing a new type of polyphonic violin bow (www.polycordebow.com), and has authored the Postclassical Violin method book series for the modern player.Above all, Charlie McCarthy just loves playing the fiddle and having a great time sharing the joy of music with others.

Join us for what promises to be a spectacular performance in a unique location.