Pastor & Purcell

chris.purcell@outlook.com

Helena Pastor and Chris Purcell are a songwriting duo from Armidale and Uralla who love to create emotionally engaging songs that illuminate sensitive aspects of human life. The pair have been performing and writing together for the past six years and have an eclectic collection of songs. Before COVID-19, they regularly performed in Armidale, but they are now sharing their songs through online platforms to develop new audiences and broaden community engagement with the arts.

Helena and Chris each bring specialised skills to their songwriting partnership. Helena’s background as a published author and postgraduate Creative Nonfiction scholar enables her to create quality lyrics that highlight the diversity and complexity of Regional lives; Chris’s experience in writing symphonic music (ballet scores/operas) and incidental music for theatre productions enables him to score for a variety of instrumental textures and voices.

They are currently recording their catalogue of songs for an Arts project called ‘Stories in Song’ (funded by Arts North West and Regional Arts NSW).