Welcome to Con Fuoco, our series with emerging artists in Australia.
Azariah Felton has had a passion for music since the age of 2, when he made a habit of pulling all the pots and pans out of the cupboard to play drums on the kitchen floor.
He developed his interest in music throughout his teen years, playing and composing for drums and guitar. Upon graduating high school, he was accepted to study Composition and Music Technology at WAAPA, where he diversified his compositional practice to include chamber music and collaborative projects.
In his second year, Azariah was selected for the West Australian Symphony Orchestra’s Composition Project, and worked with a chamber orchestra of WASO musicians and James Ledger to compose a piece over a four-month period. During this year, he also completed multiple dance and film collaborations, and one of his film scores was nominated for Best Original Score at London’s Little Wing Film Festival.
In third year, Azariah’s composition for the Silver Sands Guitar Trio was premiered at the Perth Town Hall, and has been performed at the Malaysia International Composers’ Concert Series.
Azariah is now in his final year at WAAPA, completing an Honours thesis on the composition of post-minimalist music for contemporary dance. So far this year, he has composed two works for LINK Dance Company, which were premiered in Perth in May and toured in France in July; and collaborated with choreographer Ezgi Gungor to compose for a piece that was premiered at Vienna’s 2018 Bienalle Danza.
Your all-time favourite piece of music?
It changes pretty regularly, to be honest. I listen to a lot of different genres and have favourites from all of them.
A recent favourite is the Djarimirri album by Gurrumul, which combines traditional Yolngu songs with a world-class chamber orchestra under the [leadership] of Gurrumul himself.
The pieces on the album are a melding of Indigenous and Western music, but in a way that the Indigenous music is leading and guiding everything else. As a result, the orchestration is quite unique – particularly the cello playing the yidaki (didgeridoo) parts.
Other favourites include Canto Ostinato by Simeon ten Holt, a mammoth minimalist piece for four pianos; and Kate Miller-Heidke’s opera The Rabbits.
Biggest fear when performing?
A lot of the time when I’m performing my own music, it involves a fair bit of tech set-up, which always has the potential to go wrong. It can be a nightmare if something isn’t working properly, and it can take a lot of time to trouble-shoot and solve. It’s usually a really minor oversight, which can be a bit embarrassing!
Thankfully, there haven’t been any problems major enough to bring a performance to a grinding halt (touch wood).
Most memorable concert experience?
I saw Eighth Blackbird perform at the Perth Concert Hall in March last year as part of Musica Viva, and was blown away by their musicianship and stage presence. They were six musicians in the Perth Concert Hall and the room seemed too small! They performed music by some of my favourite composers as well (Nico Muhly, Bryce Dessner), so it was an awesome evening all round.
How do you psych yourself up for practice on a lazy day?
One of the great things about being a composer in the days of computers and music software is that you can have a go at writing whatever you want, whenever you want. When I’m feeling uninspired or unmotivated, I’ll dig up an old project or work on something completely different from what my focus is at the time. If I’ve been spending hours a day working on an instrumental piece, I’ll let it sit and work on sound design for an electronic piece. If I’ve been spending a lot of time in dance rehearsals and working in that environment, I’ll pick up my guitar and have a strum to relax at home. This means I’m still practising and improving, and it also helps to get the creative juices flowing when I return to the big project.
Most embarrassing moment on stage?
I was singing with Eneksis, WAAPA’s chamber choir, at the Dunsborough SongFest in November, 2016. Unfortunately, I was also recovering from bronchitis at the time, and was still struggling a lot with quite strong coughing. One performance, I had to stop singing multiple times to frantically try and hold back a massive coughing fit – and a few audience members next to where I was standing started to look quite concerned. I imagine it may have looked like I couldn’t breathe, and I was definitely going quite red from the effort.
I probably should have been able to work out that coughing fits and singing on stage weren’t a great combination. But at least now I know for sure!
Best piece of musical advice you’ve received?
It would be impossible to pick a single thing. I’ve been blessed to have some incredible teachers and mentors, all of whom have had a huge impact on me in their own way.
Something I’ve learnt from a lot of them is to treat the people you’re working with as well and as respectfully as possible. Writing good music will only get you one job with someone, but a second job depends on how you are to deal with, and how much they enjoyed the process of working with you. Listening to suggestions and working with people to make sure they’re happy with their parts, or that the music is doing what it needs to do to support a performance, is crucial – both to make sure people enjoy working with you, and to have a successful performance.
I’ve found bringing pizza or chocolate to rehearsals certainly doesn’t hurt either!
Favourite post-gig ritual?
I always find attending or playing in concerts really inspires me to write music. So, often once I get home, I’ll sit back with a cup of tea and either start something new or bring a bit of fresh perspective to an old project.
What are you most proud of in your musical career so far?
Earlier, I had the chance to compose for WAAPA’s LINK Dance Company, working with their guest choreographers Tobiah Booth-Remmers and Ori Flomin. I spent almost four months attending rehearsals and writing the music for the two pieces, which were premiered at WAAPA before being taken on tour to Europe and being performed in Montpellier as part of the Danse Festival there in July.
I loved the process of working with the choreographers and the dancers over such a long period, and seeing the works come together from the ground up. By the time everything was said and done, it was almost an hour of music, and there was great feedback from the performers and audience members.
What do you love most about making music?
I really enjoy being able to work with other people – whether musicians or artists from other disciplines – to create music that they can enjoy playing or performing with. I also really enjoy sound design and trying to get every aspect each individual synth patch or instrument working, to make it serve its role in the music as much as possible. As part of this, happy accidents are always great fun as well, and a lot of sounds I’ve used across multiple projects are often the result of aimless experimenting with recordings or software, just to see what happens.
I find writing music is often a journey of discovery as much as one of design, and the process of discovery is what I really love.
What’s your ultimate goal?
At the moment, I’m completing an Honours degree in Composition and Music Technology at WAAPA, and I’m considering doing further study overseas after graduating at the end of this year. I really enjoy collaborating with dancers and choreographers, so I’m keen to keep working in that area. I would love to be able to write music professionally across a lot of different genres and disciplines, and to keep exploring and discovering as I go!
Support musicians like Azariah Felton by going to see their gigs! His fellow students of WAAPA will next perform in Chrystian Dozza: My Brazil this 24 August, and Rejoice! this 30 August.
WANT MORE? Our last Con Fuoco featured percussionist Jesse Vivante – did you catch it?
Our Con Fuoco series has showcased emerging musicians in Australia since 2015.
This year, we’ve decided to team up with the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts so that we can shine the spotlight on those training for their performance careers in Perth.
Let’s celebrate emerging talent together!
Images supplied. Featured image by Stephen Heath Photography ; Azariah conducting by Drew Alexander
