BY STEPHANIE ESLAKE
You’ve probably read about Dots+Loops – the post-genre brainchild of Brisbane violinist Kieran Welch.
In the past, it’s given way to collaborations with chamber-music-turned-synth composer Allison Wright, Melbourne improvisation nerd Xani Kolac, and American cellist Ashley Bathgate – just to name a few.
We’ve been tracking these folks since back in 2015, when our critic called them “the punk rock of the classical world”. Now, having come far (and only grown cooler), the Dots+Loops team is bringing in a whole heap of killer artists for its Liminality festival this October in Melbourne and Brisbane.
And one of the faces of this national concert series is saxophonist Tom Sanderman (here’s the face, deep in contemplation):
Tom will perform in the first concert of Liminality, injecting his character and experiences into new works by Philip Glass and Kate Moore. It’s the first time Tom will have toured to Australia, too, having hailed from the Netherlands (and studied saxophone with big-name performers Niels Bijl and Ties Mellema).
Tom, great to chat. Tell us how you became involved with Dots+Loops, anyway.
I met Kieran Welch at the summer music festival in 2016, organised by the renowned ensemble Bang on a Can, in the United States of America. We were there to play and experience the most interesting new and contemporary music with a group of like-minded and very talented young musicians from all over the world.
Sharing the stage with Kieran and all the other players was really inspiring, but sharing every meal and a beer was maybe as inspiring. For a month, we spoke about music, our enterprise, our projects; and about the cultural differences in our countries, concerning music and art. Kieran told me about Dots+Loops, and we stayed in contact about interesting collaborations since.
He was very enthusiastic about my upcoming concert program, with new compositions by great Dutch composers such as Anthony Fiumara, Aart Strootman, and Remy Alexander; and we found a way to get me involved with all the concerts of the Liminality festival organised by Dots+Loops. Very happy to get involved with this great organisation, and I cannot wait to come to Australia in about a month!
So, you’ll perform in the Liminality festival this year, presenting new works for sax by Glass and Moore.
At the Liminality festival, I will perform my new solo program with Dutch music, and I will also be part of an ensemble to perform Glassworks by Philip Glass. This is an interesting mix, because Philip Glass was one of the founding fathers of the musical language, minimal music, and you can describe my solo program as music from the post-minimal music genre.
The most beautiful thing about minimal music for me is the unique experience you can give to the listeners or audience members. To play minimal music created by friend composers makes it even more special, and gives the performance a personal touch.
Initiatives such as Dots+Loops, in the same spirit as your Dutch ensemble VONK, is renowned as being an experimental ‘post-genre’ initiative. But what does it mean to be experimental in the 21st Century, and why are we so hungry for this label?
I experience that, at least in the Netherlands, the word ‘experimental’ scares a lot of people to visit concerts. They expect the music to be very avant-garde, modernistic, and impossible to understand. The music I play is almost the opposite to this description, and that is why I would not describe my music as experimental.
That does not mean that there is no experiment in the music I play, because experiment is a very important aspect of creating. In my opinion better words to use are ‘new’, ‘fresh’, or ‘post-genre’, for example. People can expect to hear and experience something new at the Liminality Festival by Dots+Loops. The curiosity to hear something new has brought me to great places.
How do you feel alternative schools of performance – such as Historically Informed Performance in the classical disciplines – fit in or conflict with your own musical practice?
I believe that if you are open to collaboration, great and new things could happen.
Important to me is that I have a positive feeling about the people, the quality of their work, and that both sides are open to create. If that is the case, everything can happen.
What sorts of audiences do you hope will come along to hear your performance with Liminality – who do you hope to challenge?
Everyone who is curious to hear and experience something new.
Experience exactly that when you attend Liminality’s live music and community workshops this October 5-6 in Abbotsford Convent, Melbourne; and 12-13 in Cupo, Brisbane.
Dots+Loops could use some support – so jump onto the Australian Cultural Fund campaign to donate to Liminality before 31 August. Worthy cause, folks. Worthy cause.
Images supplied.
