Composer-in-residence Part 2

The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you.
Don't go back to sleep.

You must ask for what you really want.
Don't go back to sleep.

People are going back and forth across the doorsill
where the two worlds touch.

The door is round and open.
Don't go back to sleep.

From Essential Rumi
by Coleman Barks

A meditation for me as the next couple of months kick off with a lot of new work – firstly with the next piece in residence for Collusion Music, then with a new score for Claire Marshall’s upcoming dance film, Wards of State. Congratulations to Claire, who’s surpassed her Pozible campaign to fund the work!

Last week I heard I was also successful in achieving Associate Representation with the Australian Music Centre as well – you can see up to date details about performances, and new work at my profile page there (but of course, it should be here too!)

Also, a big congratulations is in order for Danielle Bentley, cellist with Collusion Music for winning the recent 2013 Art Music Award for Excellence by an Individual, for dedication and commitment to Australian art music and chamber music.

Today I’ve been working on the new Collusion piece – currently titled tiny beautiful things’ -  to be premiered on October 16 in Brisbane, Australia with Collusion Music – featuring guest soprano, Tanya Cooling.

While this year I’ve been focussing on composing pieces that feature the character and brilliance of each of the Collusion musicians, it’s a lovely opportunity to stretch the ideas out to include a soprano voice in the mix.

The composition process is turning out to be a bit of a meditation in itself, with floating melodies, a combination of earth and air, while I listen to the numerous birds outside on this first day of spring.  I’m playing with the idea of a transitory musical space, held together with a tonal centre, but ideas floating in and out, capturing the idea of letting go of thoughts when meditating. I think it will turn out to be a tiny beautiful thing in itself.

Look forward to seeing those who can make it along to the October performance. Here’s the details:

Mind Your French

with Masterchef Craig Allister Young and keynote business speaker Brett Clark (mychemist.com.au)

Lovers of French wine, food and music.

Held at the Basil Jones Orchestral Hall of the Qld Conservatorium of Music, please join Collusion for an exciting business networking event with Key Note Speaker Brett Clark and MasterChef Craig Allister young. Also featuring Collusion Music with resident choreographer Gareth Belling and resident composer Susan Hawkins, you will be treated to best French wine, cuisine and music. 

Guest speakers: Key-note speaker Brett Clark and MasterChef Craig Allister Young. 

Sponsors: Mondo Architects, Redchip Lawyers, and KND Digital.

Bookings are essential. 
16 October 6.30pm
Tickets: $35
Level 1 (level below main foyer)
Basil Jones Orchestral Hall
To book please contact Ben on 3262 6695 or 0404 646 709.

Composer-in-residence - Part 1

Collusion Music have recently announced that I will be joining their ranks this year as Composer-in-Residence!! Having worked closely with the ensemble during 2012 on the score for Transient Beauty, I was very willing to start off this program with them. To do the journey justice, I want to blog about my experiences throughout the year...

Collusion’s dedication to new Australian contemporary classical music is fierce, and they have had no shortage of amazing new works by Brisbane composers, and Australians further afield. Where the big orchestras perform a tiny percentage of Australian works in their repertoire, Collusion are fast becoming the experts in performance of contemporary work. How can we not love them?!?

So, where to start as a composer-in-residence? Having composed particular works in residencies over the years, this residency is a little different… For starters, I have a whole year to develop up new works for the ensemble, of which they will perform a work at each of their concerts this year, and will culminate in a bunch of new recordings as well. So, there’ll be a definite exponential growth in material for me this year.

The first work I have composed for the ensemble this year is titled ‘I saw a peacock with a fiery tale’ – the first movement of a longer work that will be composed over the course of the year. Influenced by a lot of the gypsy music I have been enamoured by over the last couple of years, this piece is a stylistic departure from my usual work – primarily because it’s a lot of fun (there’s a definite ear-worm in there)!! What I wanted to achieve is a playful sense of getting to know the individual members and their wonderful uniqueness in a kind of ‘prelude’ for the larger work.

Having now been to the first rehearsal, and with the concert only 10 days away, I’m really looking forward to hearing this in the big concert hall! Workshopping the piece has allowed me some time to make some revisions, and refine a couple of ideas in the piece that will go on to inform the next movements.

Very excitedly looking forward to the 24th April!!

Date: 24 April 2013

Venue: Ian Hanger Recital Hall, Conservatorium of Music, Griffith University (Brisbane)

Time: 7pm

Conductor and ABC Classic FM Presenter, Guy Noble is known and loved throughout Australia for his engaging presentation of classical music. He will join Collusion Music as guest narrator for their first concert of 2013, The Soldier and the Fool. Guy Noble will narrate Stravinsky’s Soldier’s Tale Suite, alongside Collusion Music’s virtuosic performance of Stravinsky’s delightfully comical play on sound. Collusion is a small ensemble but packs a big sound! This concert will feature a repertoire of reductions, from Schiff's operatic work Gimpel and the Fool, to Australians Nigel Sabin's post-minimalist work Inner-City Counterpoints and Susan Hawkins world premiere of the thoroughly enchanting I saw a Peacock with a Fiery Tail. Please join Collusion in their 11th year of making accessible classical and contemporary music.

Benjamin Greaves - Violin
Diana Tolmie - Clarinet/Bass Clarinet
Danielle Bentley - Cello
Special Guest - Craig Dalton - Piano
Narrator – Guy Noble

2012 wrap-up

2012 has been a big year of new work for me, and lots of exciting opportunities to show my work. Some of the highlights from 2012:
 
Transient Beauty – a full length commissioned score for the new ballet by Gareth Belling. Music was performed live by Collusion Music, and performed at the Brisbane Powerhouse and the Byron Bay Community Centre in October 2012. Stay tuned for some exclusive live recordings! Soon available on the music page.

‘i read the old dream slowly’ – a dance film collaboration with choreographer, Gareth Belling, and videographer, Jonas Hill.
Inspired by Japanese author, Huraki Murakami, i read the old dream slowly explores a space where a lone figure interprets the dreams of others through the reading of skulls, as his primary role in a surreal society. It represents the dream reader’s experience  - from an asynchronous perception and an elevated sense of the body in the dream-like state.
 
This piece was commissioned by Collusion Music as part of their new CD – Flashpoint - with music by Australian composers, released on 7 October 2012.

Re-sound @ GIRRLSOUND  -  artist talk at Queensland University of Technology, followed by a solo show at the Queensland Conservatorium of Music (Griffith University). A set of new videos (created by Jonas Hill and myself) were created and a new video will be uploaded each month – check out the videos page for the latest video!

LIGHT FROM BELOW (2011) was picked up by the AIRIT Amrap program, which links new Australian music with community radio stations all around the country. Tracks have now been heard everywhere from Alice Springs to country Victoria and around the Australian coast.
 
A number of new projects are in the pipeline for 2013, to be announced soon.
 
Thanks for all your support in 2012, and hear hoping 2013 will be even better!