BY STEPHANIE ESLAKE
How often do you get the chance to be there at the very beginning of a festival? The launch of a fresh new program designed to move you, make you think, and get stuck into an enormous amount of Australian music?
You’ll have the privilege of being among the first listeners ever to attend New Music Days – the Melbourne Recital Centre’s three-day festival of experimental Aussie programming.
According to director of programming Marshall McGuire, “this spotlight is a good way to gather us all – performers, composers, audiences – in one place at the same time to have a discussion about music and ideas”.
We’re here to explore the five standout shows of the inaugural New Music Days festival, which is presented by the Melbourne Recital Centre and Australian Music Centre. The festival is also supported by the Robert Salzer Foundation (a trust that’s so far donated more than $10 million to the arts).
Read on as we sit down with Marshall to learn what’s under the spotlight that will shine on Australian music makers.
1. Louise Devenish – Alluvial Gold
It’s the first show of the first New Music Days – a powerful breakout performance that Marshall says is the “perfect way” to begin.
Percussionist Dr Louise Devenish directs and performs this atmospheric work co-curated with composer Dr Stuart James and visual artist Erin Coates. Using projection, field recordings, percussion, and electronic instruments, their event will take a deep dive into the social and natural histories of our river systems.
“Louise Devenish is one of a fiercely creative group of performers and researchers who are really focused on extending their practice and exploring new ways of creating, imagining, and performing new music – music that resonates with themes and ideas and influences from our time and place,” Marshall says. Preview what’s in store with this video below.
2. Ensemble Offspring – Ngarra-Burria
The Ngarra-Burria First Peoples Composers Program is a “mechanism to support developing and emerging Australian Indigenous composers and to connect them to industry”, in the words of its founder Christopher Sainsbury, a composer and member of the Dharug peoples of Sydney and surrounds. Some of Australia’s leading musical voices have participated in this award-winning program connecting composers with industry mentors – names including Nardi Simpson, Brenda Gifford, James Henry, Aaron Wyatt, Eric Avery, Mark Ross, and Rhyan Clapham (DOBBY). You’ll hear music from all of these artists at this New Music Days event, which takes its own name from Dharug words that mean “to listen, to sing”.
Marshall believes the increasing presence of Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islander composers in classical music is “one of the great seismic shifts in Australian music in the last while”.
“This partnership with ANU, Australian Music Centre, and Ensemble Offspring has impact well beyond these innovative groups – it’s now creating a powerful conversation between musicians and audiences in our concert halls, led by First Nations voices.”
3. The ANAM Set – Director’s Cut
Marshall captured the sentiment of this ambitious project when he told us: “There’s nothing quite like having a piece written specially for you.”
In 2021, the Australian National Academy of Music offered a world-first opportunity connecting 67 young musicians with 67 composers: each pair made a new piece of music together. It took just eight months and culminated in 180 performance events – and that’s despite the conditions in which everyone worked (that is, a global pandemic).
At this event, you’ll hear ANAM artistic director Paavali Jumppanen’s curated selection of works from The ANAM Set. Eight solo musicians and the Australian National Academy of Music Ensemble will play music for instruments ranging from viola to piano, electronics to flugelhorn. Some of these artists premiered the works, others are new to the music and will play these compositions for the first time.
“The composers and performers have created something unique, and grand in scale. These are conversations that young performers will treasure for their careers, and hopefully will resonate with them as they continue to commission and premiere new works.”
4. ELISION – Extinction Events & Dawn Chorus
This program will make you question the way we – as humans – are treating our planet. Liza Lim’s 2018 Extinction Events & Dawn Chorus takes its name from the extraordinary phenomenon of fish off the coast of Western Australia that come together to sing – much in the same way we hear birdsong at dusk and dawn. Plastic garbage floats around (and inside) this beautiful ocean life – a wicked problem that got under Liza’s skin and sparked this composition. Hear recorded samples of “extinction events” evoking land and sea in this confronting and powerful work.
Mary Bellamy is a United Kingdom composer who has created works and installations for artists spanning Australia, Europe, and America. Mary’s 2010-11 Enveloped has been described as “a sonic cyborg” that fuses cello and contrabass recorder to create a new sound.
Aaron Cassidy’s Piano Concerto was composed for pianist Alex Waite. At this world premiere, you’ll see the composer conduct and soloist perform. “This is music right at the edge of virtuosity, of imagination, and is an exciting world premiere to present in this new festival,” Marshall reckons. Expect 3D-printed plastic mutes, office stationary, and honey dippers through this fascinating soundworld.
5. Lisa Illean & ANAM – Finding Our Voice
It’s another project featuring ANAM — the next generation of Australia’s musical talent – and there are plenty more compositions to show for it. Recorder virtuoso Genevieve Lacey (the Melbourne Recital Centre’s 2017 artist in residence) initiated this project, commissioning local composers to craft works for a series of local venues across Australia. Here, you’ll listen to players from ANAM as well as pianist Aura Go and sound artist Tilman Robinson – all directed by Emma McGrath (the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra’s concertmaster).
With a program featuring these new compositions alongside Enigma by Iceland’s Anna Thorvaldsdottir, and the world premiere of arcing, stilling, bending, gathering from Australia’s Lisa Illean, you can expect to access to a “unique and beautiful project”, in the words of Marshall.
New Music Days takes place from 19-21 April in Melbourne Recital Centre. Visit the website for full details and bookings.
Images supplied.
