Anna Hueneke

Anna Hueneke is an Australian poet, composer, visual artist and scholar. Anna has written a longform poem in English titled Water, a work about memory and love set on Sydney Harbour. Anna has also written a series of poems in English and Classical Hebrew titled Songs of Fire, about the fire of a woman’s voice, a work of laments and songs of love.

Anna is currently studying a Doctor of Musical Arts at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music where she is composing a three act chamber opera for Songs of Fire in Classical Hebrew and writing a thesis in Philosophy, see: Anna Hueneke University of Sydney Webpage. Act One of Songs of Fire was performed in the Music Workshop at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music in December 2025. The video of the performance, with more information about the musicians, is available on YouTube: Performance Act One Songs of Fire.

As a prelude to her chamber opera Anna composed a piece titled Burning in Classical Hebrew inspired by Iannis Xenakis’ 1952 Zyia. An excerpt of Zyia was performed with Burning at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music by Anna Fraser soprano and Connor Pendlebury piano in September 2023. The audio recording is available here: Performance Zyia and Burning.

For her work writing Classical Hebrew poetry in a woman’s voice, and singing her poetry with Jewish liturgical melodies and her own compositions, Anna received the Cantor Michael Deutsch Award from the NSW Council of Christians and Jews at the Unitarian Church in November 2023.

Anna enjoys collaborating with jazz and classical musicians. Anna read her longform poem Water with Inlay Ensemble, led by Elsen Price, improvising in response, at Johnston Street Jazz in March 2023. Musicians were Elsen Price double bass, Connor Malanos viola, Susie Bishop violin, Adrian Keating violin and Tomas Ford double bass. The text and audio recording are available here: Water University of Sydney Library.

Anna spoke and sang the entire text of Songs of Fire, in English and Classical Hebrew, with Inlay Ensemble both improvising and playing from scores composed by Anna, at Johnston Street Jazz in December 2023. Musicians were Elsen Price double bass, Ben Adler violin, Sarah Homeh double bass, Tomas McKeever Ford double bass and Hannah James double bass. The audio recording is available here: Performance Songs of Fire.

Anna’s qualifications include: Diploma of Music (Composition) Sydney Conservatorium of Music, Master of Creative Writing University of Sydney; First Class Honours & PhD (Psychology) University of Western Sydney; Diploma of Adult Psychotherapy ANZAP; Bachelor of Arts (Fine Art) Monash University (hosted at UNSW COFA final year).

Anna’s first doctorate is available here: The Psychodynamic Body: A Mythos of Psychotherapy Western Sydney University Webpage. Publications from her doctorate include a book chapter: Psychodynamic Movement from Trauma to Mythos and a journal article: From Politics to Poetry. The painting performance Wings from the Deep was central to Anna’s doctorate and took place in the marble foyer of an old palace on the shores of the Black Sea in Bulgaria in 2003. Anna painted to a soundscape of spoken word, song and music she created with local Canberra artists on themes associated with the Sumerian Flood Myth and the Holocaust. The soundscape she created and the video of the performance in Bulgaria is available here: Soundscape and Performance Wings from the Deep.

To contact Anna please email: anna@annahueneke.com or anna.hueneke@sydney.edu.au