BY GABRIELLE RUTTICO
Perth isn’t known for being an overly secretive city. Yet somehow, Renaissance vocal ensemble Melismatica won a nationwide competition and attracted the attention of the ABC – all without the local music scene noticing.
“No-one really knows who we are,” co-director Lucian Watkins admits.
Yet.
Melismatica is excited to have finally introduced themselves to Perth concert-goers when they performed their debut concert earlier this month in St George’s College Chapel. The early music ensemble was born in 2012 when Lucian formed a vocal quartet with fellow choristers and entered the ABC Vocal Romp competition. Their recording of Christopher Tye’s In Pace Idipsum smashed the national contest, and the winning prize was the chance to be recorded by the ABC’s Karl Akers in 2013.
Inspired by this success, Melismatica expanded to an octet, allowing them to draw from a larger range of repertoire. They continued to record works with the help of fellow music student Michael Grebla, who runs his own photography and recording business in Perth. Both Melismatica and Grebla Media have worked hard over the past two years and, happily for both organisations, have enjoyed very good results.
With some great achievements under their belt, Melismatica decided the time is nigh for a live performance. In keeping with past traditions, the performance will be in a small chapel situated at St George’s College.
“It’s a nice, intimate space: the perfect location,” Lucian says.
Conducted by co-director Adrian Maydwell, who sung tenor in their award-winning recording, the program will revolve around Palestrina’s Missa Papae Marcelli. As Lucian explains, “there’s lots of mystery surrounding it.”
In times when the Catholic Church was reacting against the Reformation and attempting to make music more understandable, Palestrina decided to write this mass ‘to save polyphony’ from its near certain extinction. As with most excerpts of historical gossip, this may not actually be true – but the mass is still a favourite for Lucian and he’s proud to perform it as part of the octet.
The second half of the program will feature Tudor polyphony by composers Sheppard, Tallis, Byrd and Tye. Lucian promises that “it will be an interesting concert for people who like Renaissance music, as well as those who haven’t heard it.”
This ensemble isn’t just thinking about fine music, however. All proceeds from this Friday’s concert will be going to the charity beyondblue, which raises awareness of and supports those with mental illnesses.
“I thought it would be a good way to start,” Lucian says.
“There seems to be quite a lot of media attention on mental health and the stigma of depression and anxiety is only just being broken.”
The future looks bright for this enlightened young ensemble. Lucian and Adrian have many plans for the future, which for now remain a secret. Whatever these ideas are, it’s the beginning of a promising new era for Perth’s choral scene and we can expect great performances from this talented group.
Have a listen to Melismatica on Soundcloud at https://soundcloud.com/melismatica.
Image supplied.
