BY DR CORRINA BONSHEK
As a composer, I didn’t have a clue how to get my music onto a commercial release until a revelatory chat, three years of endeavouring, and some unexpected local support made it suddenly happen.
This is the story of how Dreams of the Earth for string orchestra ended up on the Navona Live digital release ReLive: Live Works for Orchestra and Large Ensemble, and the key allies that facilitated this including a community radio, a local conductor and ensemble, and a United States recording company.
Forming alliances
When the artists and repertoire department of PARMA Recordings reached out to me in early 2018, I was delighted, and primed to hear what they had to say (more on that in a bit). PARMA A&R representative Brandon MacNeil and associate Karen Parks had heard my music on SoundCloud and contacted me via my website. Even with the compliment of their email, the conversation may not have gone much further if I hadn’t already heard of them.
Just a month earlier, my friend and former PhD supervisor Bruce Crossman had been telling me about his composer portrait CD Living Colours that had recently been released on PARMA Recordings’ Navona label. I was utterly fascinated as he told me how he remastered recordings of major works made by ABC Classic FM, and then engaged PARMA Recordings for final mastering, marketing and distribution.
During the chat, I realised I really, really wanted to release a CD – and this could be a way to proceed.
PARMA had no idea that I knew Bruce or that he was my teacher. While I loved the idea of a CD release, I decided I needed to amass a few more recordings of significant works before going ahead. So I cheekily asked them for a letter of support to help me source funding for composing and recording a major project I had planned. PARMA asked me to sign an intention to work with them. And so, with our mutual signed letters, we carried on our conversation over three years while I put in several funding applications, composed two major new works, recorded, re-recorded, and deliberated about a CD release.
Creating local, going global
Throughout 2018-2020, that powerful desire for a CD release stayed with me and drifted in and out of conversations with musician friends and collaborators.
I remember being particularly frustrated at not being able to find a way to fund and record my work Up in the Clouds, which was a finalist in 2018 Australian Art Music Awards Instrumental Work of the Year. Sirius Ensemble gave the Australian premiere at a composer portrait concert featuring music by Margery Smith and me. But I was unsuccessful in my grant application to the Australia Council for the Arts, and my approach to ABC Classic FM to come and record the Australian premiere.
In the meantime, a recording opportunity came from left of field for a completely different work, Dreams of the Earth I. Conductor Adrian Head, founder of 23-piece string orchestra Ady Ensemble, was approached by Elaine Seeto about doing a recording session of her Mt Coot-Tha Suite at Brisbane 4MBS Classic FM 103.7 studios. Together, they hatched the plan of recording a piece of mine, to round out the day. Adrian proposed Dreams of the Earth I, a shorter concert-platform arrangement of my large-scale installation for string-orchestra and percussion Song to the Earth I, which he had invited me to create for Ady Ensemble.
The live recording Dreams of the Earth took place alongside Elaine Seeto’s Mt Coot-Tha Suite on 14 December 2018 at 4MBS Classic FM studios. I am really thankful for her advocacy, and that of 4MBS, in recording new works by women composers.
The performance for the recording was truly beautiful. I’ve long felt that Adrian understands my music, and is particularly adept at communicating it to performers. Adrian first conducted my music in 2015 with Journey to the Centre for string orchestra, and in 2018, DeepBlue and I invited him to be guest conductor for a recording session, and selected rehearsals of Song to Earth, which premiered at Bleach Festival 2018 and 2018 Commonwealth Games Arts and Culture Festival.
I was impressed by the way Adrian was able to fine tune my music’s complex modal voicings. Working with him on Dreams of the Earth helped bring extra clarity and balance to the dense pulsing climax in the violins. By the time recording day came, this work was really polished, and Adrian led Ady Ensemble in a beautiful performance that, we all agreed, gave us goosebumps.
We took our time mixing the work, with Adrian doing the final touches in late-2019. So when PARMA suggested the idea of multi-artist release in 2020, Dreams of the Earth was front of mind, and I said yes, contingent on licensing permission from 4MBS Classical FM and a release from the performers.
Finding funding
With permissions gained, I turned my attention to funding. After my unsuccessful recording grant application to Australia Council for the Arts, I decided to take a different approach and go local. This made sense for a few reasons.
Dreams of the Earth I is a reworking of the first movement of Song to the Earth, which was locally funded, and musically responds to nature sounds and sights from south-east Queensland. City of Gold Coast and Arts Queensland had already supported me, so I asked them to support me again – this time to create national exposure and beyond to a USA and European market of listeners, performers, and reviewers.
My narrative of career development must have been convincing, because I was delighted and relieved by receiving a ‘Yes’ from Regional Arts Development Fund, a partnership between the Queensland Government and the City of Gold Coast Council to support local arts and culture in regional Queensland.
Marketing as storytelling
I felt quite nervous as release day approached on 5 February 2021. With Brisbane just coming out of COVID-19 lockdown, we decided against a launch party. Instead, Adrian and I decided to tell our story of the journey to release via social media, amplified by newsletters, Facebook advertising, and social sharing.
At the same time, the marketing machine at PARMA Recordings was in full tilt. They approached more than 100 publications and radio stations with tailored information about this release, plus a further 1000 outlets as part of their monthly new release guide.
Each review and airplay felt like a tiny party for Adrian and myself. Notable inclusions were being included in WPNR Classical Musical Discoveries, hearing this work on Classic Drive on ABC Classic FM, and reading our first review (in the Irish Times) applauding the “pared-back language and gentle, reflective motion”.
In current times, when live music has not yet caught up to previous levels in Australia, there has been a palpable sense of uplift and joy around this recording. The performers are delighted to have their work shared far and wide, and colleagues from overseas have written to me, sharing their own stories of finding ways to create and make during these times.
In spreading the word, new opportunities have emerged including the invitation to make a string quartet with double bass version for premiere at the inaugural Sunshine Coast Chamber Music Festival. I hope Ady Ensemble and Adrian also find themselves riding a wellspring of renewed excitement, even if opportunities to perform are still slow.
Staying connected to each other
Composers spend so much time alone that they can sometimes feel separate or distanced from performers or even the broader arts ecology. But in reality, we are all connected, our activities rippling out as we talk, create, and occasionally despair together.
When we help each other, it is possible to fulfil long-held dreams. By championing each other, we can find ways to make our dreams a reality.
About the composer
Dr Corrina Bonshek lives and creates from her home in Gold Coast hinterland where she is inspired by unity and diversity patterns in nature. To listen to her music visit bonmusic.com.au, sign up to her newsletter, or connect with her on Facebook.
Images supplied. Corrina featured headshot by Lamp Photography; photo above by Nick Morrissey.
