Australia's international contemporary music ensemble
It was a relaxed and characteristically sunny and autumnal Melbourne afternoon. Great for listening to works by Dominik Karski, Annie Hui-Hsin Hsieh, Séverine Ballon, Evan Johnson and Liza Lim. And of course, the second instalment of the major KILN project, a sonic adventure between composer Timothy McCormack, ELISION and Austin percussion trio Line Upon Line. More on that later in a separate post.
The instruments, created by David Murphy, were an absolute joy to work with. Heroes of the Piston Cretino, Ben Marks and guest Christine Chapman, erupted riotously across the stage and cavorted into the audience. Yes, the Gods are cowboys and in this concert Liza Lim’s Ronda-The Spinning World gavalnised the energies and spirit of the Brazilian streetscape, of Capoeira, and the torque of the Ronda into something quite sonically magical.
And what about these invented string instruments!
AND lets not forget the Rotary Weather Harp with new virtuoso exponent Marshall McGuire.
This concert was a lot of fun. Thank you Metropolis and MRC and all of the composers and performers. And a lucky last- also intensely energetic, jaw-droppingly precise and ballistic- the music of Unsuk Chin.
These photographs were taken inside of the Elisabeth Murdoch Hall of the Melbourne Recital Centre. It is an incredibly beautiful space and possesses an extremely responsive acoustic. Great to play in. The images are taken of rehearsal of works by composers Unsuk Chin and Adi Snir and show new ELISION members Alex Waite (piano) and Kathryn Schulmeister (contrabass) in action.
Next up: ELISION performing a new major work from Timothy McCormack at Melba Hall, 3.00pm on April 22.
At last! Composer Liza Lim and ELISION harpist Marshall McGuire work together discovering the nuances and capabilities of the rotary harp, a creation of David Murphy. We are using it as an Australian parallel to the musical inventions and machines of Walter Smetak which are referenced and deployed in Liza Lim’s Ronda- The Spinning World. I love this piece of Liza’s for its mad, crazy exuberance. Written for Ensemble Modern it receives an Australian premiere with ELISION musicians at the Melbourne Recital Centre on Wednesday April 18th at 7:30PM. See and hear it here in this video.
The Rotary Weather Harp from Daryl Buckley on Vimeo.
April the 18th is coming up so quickly now and the ensemble is really looking forward to welcoming new and old friends travelling from all around the world to kick our year off. The brilliant bass player Kathryn Schulmeister joins us for the very first time, alongside trumpet meister Marco Blaauw who will be there to raise a storm with Tristram Williams. The remarkable talents of Christine Chapman, Carl Rosman, Josh Hyde and Séverine Ballon also grace our stage. At the concert look out for composers Aaron Cassidy, Adi Snir, Timothy McCormack, Liza Lim and Shuhan Hu. And, of course Unsuk Chin who is the featured composer of this year’s Metropolis Festival.