BY CUTCOMMON
The inaugural ANAM Set was responsible for the creation of 67 pieces of new Australian music. It was an epic commissioning project — and so successful that the Australian National Academy of Music has decided to keep up the momentum in 2024.
This new year, ANAM will get behind another 20 commissions, uniting its musicians with composers from across Australia, and a few from New Zealand too. So far, eight hours of new music have been produced; with the support of Creative Australia, there will be plenty more for you to listen to. And composer Dr Peggy Polias is excited for audiences to experience a “collective first listen” to these original pieces in store.
In this interview, Peggy talks about her involvement in the ANAM Set in 2024, and how she’ll work closely with double bassist William Taber to create an original work infused with each of their skills and imaginations. Peggy’s music has so far been performed and recorded by musicians worldwide, including the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, The Riot Ensemble, and Bernadette Harvey.
Extraordinarily, the ANAM Set is happening again in 2024 after its mammoth commissioning project that launched in 2021. What does a project like the ANAM Set mean to you as a composer?
I think it’s the scale of the project and the investment in new music that is so exciting for composers like myself. Launching the first round with 67 commissions is seemingly unprecedented here in Australia, and to see the commitment from ANAM to growing the project even further in 2024 and beyond is a vote of confidence in the work of composers, and in performer-composer collaboration and dialogue.
So why did you want to spend your time writing music for the ANAM Set this year?
I’ve reached the other side of an intense period of four years full-time study towards graduating as a Doctor of Musical Arts in Composition at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music at the end of 2022. And yes, my studies coincided with the pandemic, and included the experiences of overseeing home schooling, the suburb-based stricter lockdowns that occurred in Sydney’s south-west, and various cancelled premieres and performances. So it’s still quite fresh right now to be able to consider and apply for opportunities like this.
Some of my more recent works right before and during the pandemic have been for solo instrumentalists, and had a highly collaborative approach of meetings and workshops throughout the process of composing the music, which I want to continue cultivating and thought would be a good fit for the ethos of the ANAM Set.
Familiarising yourself with the program, what do you see as some of the standout achievements in the ANAM Set so far?
Looking on from afar in Sydney, I haven’t been able to attend any of the live events yet, but I have seen some of the striking online videos intertwining performer interviews with audio and visuals.
I have to say that Kitty Xiao’s work In Flesh for cellist Hamish Jamieson looks particularly tantalising, particularly matched with Pia Lauritz’s dance in darkened red hues in the video [below].
So who will you be collaborating with, and what are you most looking forward to about forging this close creative relationship?
I’m utterly delighted to be composing for William Taber on double bass. I look forward to discovering the repertoire that excites William, and navigating the interests – musical and beyond – that I hope will seep out of our conversations and into the work.
What do you think are some of the qualities that make such a collaboration work? What will you be bringing to the table?
I think discovering the strengths each party brings to collaborative work is a great starting point. Then mutual respect for the boundaries of what is possible helps to steer where the project can go.
From the composing perspective, I think it’s always valuable to accommodate the kinds of changes that a specialist on an instrument will offer. Sometimes this is a question of getting better resonance from the music, and sometimes there are important factors of optimising playability and avoiding strain or injury.
What do you hope to learn from the musician you’re paired with?
I like to have a life-long learner’s mindset, and I think working closely with a double bassist gives the opportunity to ask pointed questions and get close insights into the intricacies of the instrument that will permeate this composition for the ANAM Set, and also be a reference point for future compositions for the instrument.
What would you like to share with William about working so directly with a composer?
I think a composer can bring insights into creative application of sonority and duration/time. Personally, I like to work closely with conceptual frameworks for my music, and these often lead to some fun conversations with performers that I hope will be a valuable experience for William.
And from the other side of the stage, why should audiences take a chance on new music they’ve never heard before?
Every single piece of music or track that a person has heard has a history back to that ‘first listen’; a moment where the listener took some kind of chance, and sometimes where a degree of luck played a part — for example, radio airplay scheduling. Some of my own ‘first listens’, especially in a live environment, have been electrifying and become pivotal moments and memories: nourishing for the senses, for the psyche, thought-provoking. I think attending a premiere performance has the added excitement of everyone in the room knowing this is a collective ‘first listen’.
Keep up to date with the ANAM Set commissioning project and the full 2024 program on the website.
The Australian composers involved in the ANAM Set in 2024 are Natasha Anderson, Victor Arul, Lee Bradshaw, Andrew Chen, Lisa Cheney, Peter de Jager, Connor D’Netto, Stuart Greenbaum, Jonathan Heilbron, Christine Pan, Peggy Polias, Christopher Sainsbury, Lachlan Skipworth, Chris Williams, Justin Williams and Aaron Wyatt, and Hollis Taylor and Jon Rose. New Zealand composers include Salina Fisher, Callum Mallett and Miriama Young.
Images supplied.
