BY STEPHANIE ESLAKE
Melbourne violist Katie Yap has won The Music Trust’s 2022 Freedman Classical Fellowship. The competitive event offers musicians aged 35 and under the chance to perform in the Sydney Opera House, competing for a $21,000 prize with the opportunity to develop a new project.
Although Katie’s background is filled with historically informed performance — some experiences being with Van Diemen’s Band and the Academy of Ancient Music in the United Kingdom — the violist impressed jurors with her presentation of living composer Emily Sheppard’s Aftermath. (You can watch an excerpt of the recording at the end of this story.)
Katie’s commitment to presenting a diverse range of music has also seen her take on artistic director roles with Wattleseed Ensemble and the 3MBS Women in Music Festival — She Wrote, and founding member of Chrysalis Harp Trio and quartet Croissants & Whiskey.
We chat with Katie about her Freedman win, and how she’s planning to produce a new project with some outstanding voices in the Australian music industry.
Katie, congratulations on your Freedman win! How are you feeling?!
Thank you so much! Overwhelmed — totally over the moon, and so grateful for the people who’ve supported me through this process, and over my career.
There was so much to play for when you got up there in the Utzon Room. What thoughts were going through your mind in that moment?
I find competition settings really challenging, probably because deep down I’ve got a competitive streak, and I don’t like what it brings out in me. What I wanted to focus on was giving — giving music, giving connection, giving warmth.
It was lovely to play a duo straight out of the gate, especially with my fantastic duo partner for the day, Ruben Palma. His calm presence and deep listening really helped me focus on my own listening.
You performed a work by Emily Sheppard called Aftermath. What’s it about?
Emily wrote Aftermath after an incredible experience she had. In 2016, she went walking at Sarah Anne Rocks, in Tasmania’s north west, after unprecedented bushfires had ripped through the region. As someone who is deeply connected with her environment, it was devastating for Emily to be surrounded by this blackened old-growth forest.
When she walked out onto the beach, she came across a nest on the sand with two eggs, and to her amazement, one hatched in front of her eyes. It was a hooded plover, an endangered species that many people are working hard to protect.
I’ve watched the recording of you playing this — it was gripping. What emotions were you channeling through such an intense performance?
For me, this piece has come to symbolise grief and hope in many guises, particularly that of the last two years. I first played it when I was preparing to record it in Melbourne’s long lockdown of 2020, and that time has left its stamp on my interpretation of it, as well as my own love and worry for our beautiful natural environment.
It’s a totally absorbing piece, and demands your whole physical, mental, and emotional focus when you play it. I was afraid to perform it live for a long time, but I’m so glad I have. Every time I play it for people, it seems to really reach them very deeply.
I’ve known Emily for a long time, and she’s always been someone who really sees you. It seems that Aftermath does the same thing.
Particularly striking was the range of your expression — on your viola, and when you used voice to add further texture into this work. When you selected this piece to perform in the finals, how much did you think about showcasing your technical abilities?
There wasn’t a very long time between the first and final rounds, only about a month — so I decided to go with works that I knew like the back of my hand, and that I felt displayed my strengths best.
It’s always a surprise to the audience when someone who’s marked ‘violist’ on the program opens their mouth to sing in the middle of a piece, but the way the voice is used in Aftermath is like an extension of the viola’s sound, so it never feels like a gimmick.
I think my best qualities as a performer are my capacity to connect with an audience, and to try to create a world for them to step into. So I really wanted to do that with my program.
In your acceptance statement, you thanked Julia Fredersdorff and Genevieve Lacey — the latter a former Freedman fellow, too! What roles have these mentors played in your career?
There are so many people I want to thank! But Julia and Genevieve have both been mentors for me in the Freedman Fellowship finals process — this is the second time I’ve been in the finals — so I particularly wanted to mention them.
Julia is my mentor for this year’s attempt, and I’m absolutely thrilled to be working with her to help realise my project. I’ve worked with and for her and her group Van Diemen’s Band many times in the past five years or so, and I’ve always been struck by her ability to combine artistic vision, respectful and joyful leadership, playing the pants off the violin, and having a bloody good laugh while doing it all — and I really mean all. She is an absolute role model for me.
Genevieve was my mentor the last time I did the Freedman, and has generously continued to play that role in my life. She helps me dare to dream big, to imagine new worlds, and to search for a way for art-making to be sustainable: personally, financially, and environmentally.
You’re going to work on a project called Multitudes as part of your Freedman win. What’s it about?
Multitudes is my answer to many questions I’ve had brewing in my mind for a long time: how can I incorporate improvisation into a classical career? How can I connect my musical and personal identity into a cohesive whole, when it so often feels fractured as a freelancing musician and a multiracial person? How can I connect best with my colleagues and audiences? How can I give back to the communities that have nurtured me?
I’ve decided to do that by creating four new pieces through collaborative composition and improvisation with four collaborators who I’ve looked up to for a long time: Emily Sheppard (violin), Donald Nicolson (historical keys and electronics), Bowerbird Collective (violin and cello), and Mindy Meng Wang (guzheng).
Each piece will be based on a bird poem by Judith Wright, and each investigates the particular connection that I have with each collaborator, which in turn reflects a part of my own identity.
We’ll create these pieces in three-day workshops, film them with the inimitable Darren James — who filmed my music video of Emily Sheppard’s Aftermath — and then present them in performance in a four-concert residency at Tempo Rubato, an intimate and vibrant live music venue in Brunswick.
From there, we’ll start touring the works at festivals and in regional concerts around the country!
This year, you’ve also launched a new ensemble called Croissants & Whiskey. I’d love to chat with you about this — but that’s another conversation for another day. So what I’ll leave you with is a final question: considering all you’re achieving, what advice would you give to other Australian musicians under 35 who are chasing their dreams, too?
The question I’ve always found hardest to answer is: what do I want to do? It is such a luxury to be able to ask that, and to take the time to hunt around for an answer. If you have the privilege to be able to do so, I hope you will. And keep asking it as you learn more. Ultimately, I believe that by knowing ourselves better, we can give more to others. Music is about communication, and our story — your story — is the most precious thing you can offer.
WATCH: Katie Yap gives her 2022 Freedman Classical Performance
The Freedman Classical Fellowship is managed by The Music Trust and administered by the Sydney Improvised Music Association.
Katie performed alongside fellow 2022 Freedman Classical Fellowship finalists, violist Henry Justo and harpist Emily Granger (pictured centre left and right). Congratulations to all!
Images supplied. Credit Freedman Classical – SIMA – Grant Leslie Photography.
