In 2007, at the Judith Wright Centre of Contemporary Art in Brisbane, the then home of ELISION, the ensemble gathered with two ferociously gifted improviser/composers, John Butcher and Timothy O’Dwyer, to realise a project for two spatialised and independent yet interactive ensembles. The work consisted of two independent but related compositions, Residue by John Butcher, and What Remains by Timothy O’Dwyer, which gave the project its overall title. The workshopping process enabled an extensive and heavily hybridised use of notational and improvised materials, each practice informing the other. The extensive documentation captures the fast paced and viscerally explosive moments of opening and closing sections, as well as more expansive soloing from both Timothy O’Dwyer and John Butcher. And Richard Haynes, Graeme Jennings, Tristram Williams and Benjamin Marks.
ELISION has had the pleasure of working with John Butcher on a number of occasions, in the United Kingdom and Australia. John was also part of our twentieth birthday celebrations in Sydney as a featured soloist in Timothy O’Dwyers Gravity and later on participated in ELISION’s The Braxton Project at HCMF 2009.
It is difficult to overstate the contribution and participation of Timothy O’Dwyer in the life of ELISION. He has participated brilliantly and enlivened many of the major projects, from Richard Barrett’s CONSTRUCTION to Liza Lim’s opera Yuè Lìng Jié (Moon Spirit Feasting). Tim has also worked with ELISION, performing the chamber music of Chaya Czernowin, Sam Hayden, Maurizio Pisati, Liza Lim, and John Rodgers. He has composed significant works for the ensemble. And with ELISION, toured Murri visual artist, Lilla Watson’s Sight and Sound of a Storm in Sky Country to New Zealand, Germany and the United Kingdom. Tim is one of the many amazing musicians who make up the ELISION ensemble.