CONTENT COURTESY TURA NEW MUSIC
Tura New Music announces the national tour of renowned Western Australian percussionist Louise Devenish with her program music for percussion and electronics. Premiering in Perth on 15 May, the tour then travels on to Adelaide, Brisbane and Melbourne.
Featuring the work of Australian composers Andrián Pertout, Stuart James, Cat Hope and Kate Moore, Louise’s show will be complemented by visual projections mapped to the instruments on stage by New York artist Ross Karre.
Onstage, the delicate and powerful collide with the sparkling sound world of glockenspiel, vibraphone and the deep resonance of gong, which are extended by electronic processing, samples and sub woofers.
Celebrating Devenish’s 2017 album music for percussion and electronics, released on the Tall Poppies label, the tour is representative of Tura’s increasing presence on the national stage.
The album was developed from three instalments of Devenish’s solo recital series Music for One Percussionist, presented between 2014 and 2016. Louise’s performances were nationally recognised by being awarded the 2016 Australian Music Centre and APRA/AMCOS Art Music State Award for Performance of the Year.
Artistic Director of Tura New Music Tos Mahoney said: “Louise is a powerhouse in the Australian art music scene – collaborating with and commissioning composers from around the country creating new and genuine Australian voices. We are most proud to be able to present her wonderfully rich solo program around the country”.
For Louise, the works have a personal resonance and significance: “I love the rich metallic sound world of these works, and together they represent an exciting cross-section of approaches to blending the acoustic and electronic, that I think shows how varied percussion music can be. I feel that these works are special contributions to the Australian repertoire that I will have a long relationship with, and I hope that others do too!”
Louise Devenish’s artistic practice blends contemporary percussion performance, research and education. She regularly performs throughout Australasia, Europe, North America and the UK as a soloist and with ensembles including Decibel New Music Ensemble and Speak Percussion. She is passionate advocate of new and Australian music, and has commissioned over 50 works for percussion and premiered countless others.
A 2017 Churchill Fellow, Louise’s research is published widely, including in a special issue of Contemporary Music Review titled Moving forward: Percussion explorations in twenty-first-century Australia and forthcoming book on Australian percussion history for Routledge’s Research in Music series. Louise is Head of Percussion at the University of Western Australia Conservatorium of Music.
The national tour of Louise Devenish’s music for percussion and electronics is presented by Tura New Music.
Tour Dates
Perth: 7.30pm Tuesday 15 May, The Sewing Room, 317 Murray Street Perth entry via Wolf Lane.$20/$15 Moshtix
Adelaide: 5pm Sunday 20 May, Z Ward, 25 Conyngham St, Glenside, $20/$15 TryBooking
As part of South Australia’s History Festival
Brisbane: 7.30pm Tues 22 May, Jugglers Art Space, 103 Brunswick Street, Fortitude Valley, $20/$15 Eventbrite
Melbourne: 1pm Thurs 24 May, Music Auditorium, Monash University, Sir Zelman Cowen School of Music, Music Auditorium, Building 68, 55 Scenic Boulevard, Clayton Campus, free event As part of the Lunchtime Concert Series
Acknowledgments
Tura’s annual programs are supported by the State Government through the Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries, in association with Lotterywest and The Australian Government through the Australia Council. For the Louise Devenish national tour Tura acknowledges the support of Monash University, South Australia’s History Festival, The University of Western Australia Conservatorium of Music, Soundstream and Jugglers Art Space.
Image credit Bohdan Warchomij.
