BY STEPHANIE ESLAKE
It’s set to be a hot, hot summer for Tassie when more than 200 artists from across the globe come together to perform at Mofo. Bursting with art, science, and music installations, the festival will take over the Museum of Old and New Art and the surrounding capital of Hobart from January 18-22.
“Mofo again challenges artists to collaborate and extend their practice by using experimental instruments and techniques, or extending their skills in multi-disciplinary ways,” Mofo curator Brian Ritchie says. “We’re looking forward to seeing some weird and wonderful results.”
So are we – and we’re especially pumped for a line-up of classically trained women breaking boundaries in their music. So here are our top five picks for artists to take in at the festival – we hope you’ll enjoy every one.
Okkyung Lee
Based in New York and born in South Korea, Okkyung Lee breaks the boundaries of genre through collaboration and composition. If that’s not innovative enough for you, she also challenges conventions of contemporary cello performance technique and last year received the Doris Duke Performing Artist Award. She’s released more than 20 albums since 2000, and collaborated with artists such as David Behrman, John Butcher, Chris Corsano, Mark Fell, Vijay Iyer, Lasse Marhaug, Ikue Mori, Marina Rosenfeld, and more. Along with solo performance, Okkyung works across two multidisciplinary performance duos – one with dancer/choreographer Michelle Boulé and the other with filmmaker Andrew Lampert. This year, she was commissioned to compose for Donaueschingen Festival through SWR2 in Germany, in which she brings traditional Korean and European musicians together for Cheol-Kkot-Sae (Steel Flower Bird). She received the Foundation For Contemporary Arts Grant in 2010. Okkyung will perform at Mofo from January 20-22.
Kelsey Lu
Born in Charlotte, North Carolina, Kelsey Lu left home at 18 to study cello. Now based in New York, her debut EP Church was released earlier this year on True Panther Sounds and was recorded live in Brooklyn’s Holy Roman Catholic Church. She has collaborated with artists including Blood Orange, Kelela, Wet and Organized Noize. She has shared stages with artists including Florence + the Machine, Jamie xx, Kendrick Lamar, Grimes, Kamasi Washington, Sampha and more. The classically trained cellist will sing, play, and make intricate electronic textures on January 22.
Carolina Eyck
German-born musician and composer Carolina Eyck is one a theremin virtuosi. Since her debut in the Berlin Philharmonic, she’s performed at festivals in Switzerland, Berlin, Salzburg, Budapest, and Portugal. She’s given concerts from Poland to Pakistan, Italy to Japan and beyond. In her travels, she likes to meet other musicians and ensembles and learn some of the words in these languages. In 2010, she started as artistic director of the Theremin Summer Academy in Colmar, France, and two years later performed the theremin solo at the world premiere of two symphonies Mosopotamia and Universe by Fazil Say. She’ll perform classical and improvised pieces on the theremin accompanied by piano and guitar on January 20-21.
Veronique Serret
Veronique’s repertoire ranges from Baroque to contemporary art music, folk, rock and improvisation. The Sydney muso is committed to new music and regularly collaborates with Australia’s composers. Recent highlights include a solo performance of Arvo Part’s Tabula Rasa with the Sydney Symphony, Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto with the Australian Doctors Orchestra, Sydney Festival shows with Mike Patton, and playing as violinist in the band for Opera Australia’s The Rabbits at Perth and Melbourne festivals. She’s performed at Mona Foma with Neil Gaiman and Amanda Palmer, and this year is performing Bach in South America after having recorded the Partita No. 2 in D minor for solo violin as her debut album. Veronique is a core member of Ensemble Offspring, and has appeared as a guest with Synergy, Ironwood, Pinchgut, Omega Ensemble, and Acacia Quartet. She was an Australian Chamber Orchestra member for many years and in 2014 was appointed concertmaster of the Darwin Symphony Orchestra. Veronique performs on a 1900 Leandro Bisiach violin and a custom-made, six-string electric violin by Paul Davies. On January 20, Veronique will perform compositions written for her six-string electric violin.
Nadia Ratsimandresy
Nadia was born in Paris and discovered music when she was just 9 years old. She’s come a long way since, having studied at the Paris Conservatoire and co-founding the 3D Trio in 2006 with soprano Virginie Colette and guitarist Sophie Marechal and has premiered numerous works with the group. She collaborated with Italian pianist Matteo Ramon Arevalos on the program Messiaen around Messiaen and released its album in 2008. She also works with Mabel Octobre and Art Zoyd and has composed scores and production music for various projects. Nadia is Professor of Ondea and Synthesizers at the Regional Conservatory of Boulogne-Billancourt since January 2015. Nadia is a virtuoso of ondes Martenot – an early electronic instrument from France, and she’ll play on January 20-21.
All images supplied. Courtesy of the artist/Mofo 2017.
