BY STEPHANIE ESLAKE
There’s a new work of art coming up at the Melbourne Recital Centre. And it’s going to be big.
It will transcend religion and mythology. It will transcend culture and nationality. It will combine artforms, stories, and people.
Sound impressive?
We think so, too.
The work is called Atlas of the Sky, and it emerged from the mind of critically acclaimed Australian composer Liza Lim.
The piece, which draws from the poetry of Eliot Weinberger and Bei Dao, unravels as a musical exploration into Indigenous Australian, Greek, Chinese, and Egyptian spirituality. Notably, Bei Dao’s poetry delves into the power of stories of the masses – ‘The Crowd’.
This is an idea that underpins the presentation of Lim’s composition. Musicians of Speak Percussion and soprano Jessica Aszodi will join forces with ‘The Crowd’ – a group of about 20 performers who are trained and untrained, and will sing and play through this ethereal venture.
So what’s it like to perform in such an ambitious production – especially when you don’t identify as a “performer”?
One voice standing out in ‘The Crowd’ is that of Katherine Walsh. Katherine is a freelancer in marketing and business administration – by day. But she tells us: “‘Performer’ is a word I would love to see as part of my bio”.
The impulse to sing and play started early for Katherine, but it was one she “buried” in the pursuit of a different career path.
“It’s a niggle that keeps returning so that was some fuel to motivate my response to Speak’s call-out for ‘Crowd’ performers,” Katherine says.
In fact, Katherine had started out as a piano beginner – and she now returns to music because of a reason that might sound familiar to others who had set aside the practice: “I want to, instead of have to”.
A few years ago, she’d attended Speak Percussion’s A Wave and Waves, as an audience member; and this awoke her dormant passion for performance.
“At the end of the performance, I walked around to see almost all of the 100 instruments laid out, just soaking it all in. When I learned that it was possible to volunteer for a production like that I knew I was going to jump at the next opportunity that came along.”
But still, it’s a big leap to go from audience member to first-time performer in an prestigious venue such as the Melbourne Recital Centre.
“I willingly jumped into the deep end for this performance, so I’m excited,” Katherine says. She’s so far worked closely with the production and performance team, undertaking creative development and receiving support (not to mention practising vocal lines – and a cowbell – from home).
“A teacher once said to me, ‘consider the stage as one of the safest places to be, because you’re so rehearsed and you’ve put in the work’. That’s what I’m choosing to focus on.”
Katherine is not intimidated as she prepares to share the stage with artists who have dedicated their lives to the presentation of music. And nor should she be. The performer tells us “there’s so much about this event and experience that I’m learning from”.
“Firstly, the chance to work alongside world-class performers is really inspiring for me. When the level of people around me is high, I’m motivated to lift the performance that I’m giving, too.
“I like the shared sense of working in an ensemble, where we’re all there to play our part and contribute to a larger work, something bigger than all of us.”
She’s also discovered the “rhythm” of the production team including the way the composer, sound engineer, movement director, and other people combine their skills – including the rest of ‘The Crowd’.
“As one of the ‘Crowd’ members, I’m part of a chorus that creates large-scale patterns using both voice and instruments,” Katherine explains.
“There’s a mixture of percussive and fierce whispering, shouts, breathy delivery, and singing. Elisabeth Murdoch Hall is a large space so focusing on breathing, rhythm and projection has been important. It helped me to think about delivering my voice as if I was a percussionist.”
Outside the singing, Katherine says the musicians are using IKEA chairs, sticks, stones, and cowbells to create noise.
“There is a challenge for us all to learn to hear our cues in the piece, and develop the trust to start your part and know that other crowd performers will move along with you.
“You won’t be out on a ledge by yourself for very long!”
For Katherine, the benefits extend beyond this performance alone.
“I think when you invite music – or any skill – into your life as an adult, you get a chance to confront all the narratives and fears and blocks that you’ve built up over your lifetime.
“You get a chance to be compassionate with yourself as you work through your idiosyncratic challenges, and to find role models and teachers and create a learning process that you enjoy.
“You also get to pull a curtain back and enter a world that has enough challenge to sustain you for the rest of your life. There’s no end of discovering different styles, inspirations, and skills you can develop.”
So, as you might expect, when Katherine is going to perform alongside ‘The Crowd’ in Atlas of the Sky, she will seriously be there “in it”.
“And by that, I mean entering that performance state where you’re really present. Nothing else exists for that time and you trust that what you need to carry out will flow for you,” Katherine explains.
“If I can do that and be responsive to the crowd and other performers on stage, I’ll be pretty happy.”
Experience Katherine’s performance along with ‘The Crowd’, Speak Percussion directed by Eugene Ughetti, and soprano Jessica Aszodi in Liza Lim’s Atlas of the Sky.
The world premiere concert takes place at 7.30pm June 18, Elisabeth Murdoch Hall, Melbourne Recital Centre.
We partnered with the Melbourne Recital Centre to bring you this story – make sure you check back in when soprano Jessica Aszodi takes us behind the scenes of this upcoming performance!
Images supplied. MRC credit Daniel Aulsebrook.
