BY ALEXANDRA MATHEW
Katie Noonan’s ethereal voice has serenaded Australians for the best part of two decades.
Unlike many professional singers who may not stray from the bounds of their training, her career has spanned multiple musical genres, from indie-rock to folk, jazz, and opera.
In 2002, Katie and band george topped the charts with their debut album Polyserena (a favourite of mine as a teen), from which followed a stream of diverse and wonderful collaborations and records.
In 2021, Katie launches a new project: a vocal quartet comprising some of Australia’s finest classical singers, for which she plans to explore music old, new, and — importantly — local. Of composers already commissioned, 100 per cent are Australian, with half of those from Queensland, and 30 per cent women. Among them are Alice Humphries, Jessica Wells, and Anne Cawrse.
I spoke to Katie about her exciting plans for the ensemble, and her eclectic musical journey to now.
Hi Katie, first of all, congratulations on bringing together your new Australian Vocal Ensemble (AVÉ) during these unpredictable times! Tell us a little about your personal discovery of choral music and part-songs.
I first fell in love with choral music as a young singer at school. I absolutely loved school choir in primary school, and then in high school was part of the Stuartholme Vocal Ensemble and the Queensland Conservatorium High School Choir.
Under the tutelage of John Nickson at the con, and Carole Parker at high school, we did some really interesting and challenging works, including Britten’s Ceremony of Carols, Orff’s Carmina Burana, and wonderful Australia composers like Stephen Leek.
As a teen, I loved the music of indie band george. Tell us about your journey from being the lead singer of the band to now forming a chamber vocal ensemble.
I really love singing with other voices. Some of my favourite parts of george were singing backing vocals for my brother. Tyrone and I love trying to blend with other voices to make a unified sound.
The human voice is such a truly fascinating instrument – so many varied and different colours and textures!
I took a long time to pick the right voices for AVÉ, as I had a sound in my mind, and these three voices really are the perfect fit. We are all classically trained but love doing other styles also. I discovered Andrew Goodwin singing Hoagy Carmichael on YouTube, have seen Fiona Campbell sing in cabaret style with the Australian String Quartet, and knew David Greco could go from Schubert to Bach to music theatre and back!
I wanted to find singers that could sing difficult new contemporary music, but also sing beautiful simple baroque pieces and, perhaps most importantly, voices that were open to singing very quiet music. I imagine a lot of our sound will be living in the mezzo piano world – I love ‘less is more’ with the human voice, and only certain voices can go down to that level of quiet. I am looking forward to exploring beyond a whisper to double forte and back!
Your singing career has spanned many genres from indie to pop and jazz, and more recently to contemporary classical music, such as your work with Elena Kats-Chernin. Having grown up with a mother as an opera singer, is this something of a homecoming for you?
Yes, I guess it is, in a way! I started out in utero hearing Benjamin Britten while my mum was singing with Opera Australia in 1977. The next week, she took my brother to see ABBA at the SCG, and I think therein lies a huge part of my musical DNA!
I adore classical music – mainly baroque and contemporary works – but I love pop and jazz, and think they are all equally special and important. My dad introduced me to jazz, my mum to opera, and my big bro to pop – so I grew up surrounded by an eclectic mix of sounds and voices!
One of the missions of your new vocal ensemble is to engage local and young Australian musicians. In what ways will your ensemble engage with communities, and as such what can we expect from AVÉ performances?
Eventually, I want to work with local communities and have them involved in our concerts. I have asked some of our composers to write community choir-style arrangements that they can prepare and then sing along with us at the concert.
I also love the idea of the audience singing along with us, whether it be with a simple Bach chorale or a simple meditative improvised piece based on open 4ths or 5ths, perhaps.
I fundamentally believe that everyone who can talk can sing, and I look forward to making sounds with lots of difference people together! Singing together is integral to the human experience, and I think deep down we are all missing it.
Most homes used to have pianos instead of screens, and most people used to go to church every week. I really believe we are missing making sounds together.
I also want to break down the elitism and stuffiness of classical music: it is my pet peeve with music I dearly love. I want people to feel welcome and relaxed, and not feel excluded from the magic of classical music.
It is exciting to discover that AVÉ will be presenting new Australian music alongside more traditional choral music. Talk us through what kind of repertoire we can look forward to hearing in your concerts, and the process of programming old and new music together.
I have commissioned 12 new pieces from all Aussie composers. Each composer has picked a David Malouf poem, and set it for us four.
Then, we will be presenting vignettes of Renaissance and baroque – some Tomas Luis de Victoria, some Bach and Handel, and we will also be premiering a new work from our tenor Andrew. It is a beautiful setting of John 14:27 Peace I leave with you – a piece he wrote for his late father.
AVÉ certainly boasts a stellar line-up! Have you worked with Fiona Campbell, David Greco, and Andrew Goodwin previously, and what are the joys and challenges of working in such a small vocal group?
I am so thrilled to be working with such incredible artists – it is an honour to get to make sounds with these extraordinary musicians. I feel lifted by their magnificence.
On top of that, they are genuinely nice people. Life is too short to work with arseholes!
Singing can be quite vulnerable, so I can only make sounds with people I respect and trust, and it has been a pleasure to sing with these amazing voices, but also to get to know them and like them a lot to boot!
Lastly, is there one particular piece of music that you and the ensemble are looking forward to learning, exploring, and performing?
All our new pieces are quite challenging, so we are enjoying that journey! From difficulty comes growth, and the composers have given us some exciting difficulties to conquer!
With the Bach and the Handel, we are doing pieces that are not traditionally sung this way – one of them is an organ piece newly set for voices by Andrew – and we are also doing Bach in the language of the country upon which we live: Gubbi Gubbi, Noongar and Gadigal languages. So that has been super special to be coached in that space, and breathe ancient sacred language into ancient sacred music.
The Australian Vocal Ensemble launches in concert at the Queensland Conservatorium Theatre, 7pm April 10, with a Welcome to Country performed by Yuggera, Turrbal, Nunukul, Gorenpul, Yugembir songman Shannon Ruska, and Wakka Wakka musician David Williams.
AVÉ releases its debut album in August, and will tour nationally in September.
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Images supplied. Katie in white photographed by Cybele Malinowski.
