“Schultz’ captivating After Nina, with its slow, stalking chords, was partly inspired by the brooding tone of Nina Simone’s rendition of Strange Fruit.  A recording of the latter, played to the audience before Schultz’s work, was an ideal way to familiarize listeners with the composer’s music.” [Gillian Wills, The Australian, 22 August 2009]

“Andrew Schultz’s After Nina is inspired by Nina Simone’s version of Billie Holliday’s Strange Fruit. After Selby read the first stanza of the original poem, ”black bodies swinging in the Southern breeze”, it was hard to hear anything but tragedy in Schultz’s eloquent, spare writing.” [Harriet Cunningham, Sydney Morning Herald, 5 July 2012]

“After Nina, a trio for clarinet, cello and piano, was inspired by a Nina Simone version of a civil rights song of the 1930s called Strange Fruit:

Southern trees bear a strange fruit,

Blood on the leaves and blood at the root,

Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze,

Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees.

The sparse, soft opening chords of the piano are joined by a passionate cello melody, then clarinet. The emotional content is not angry, as one might expect from the scenario described in the devastating imagery of the text, but despair and sadness. Paul Dean (clarinet), Patrick Murphy (cello) and Stephen Emmerson (piano) combine well in an expressive and moving exposition of an intensely felt work.”   [Gwen Bennett, “Deep blue and dirty,” Music Trust of Australia, 1 August 2015]

“…After Nina, is a slowly unfolding reflection on a 1930s civil rights song (as performed by popular African-American singer Nina Simone) scored for clarinet, cello and piano. Its sombre chord progression with occasional dissonant harmonies makes for delicately emotional listening.” [Andrew Aronowicz, “Andrew Schultz, Deep blue and dirty,” Limelight, 2 October 2015]