BY STEPHANIE ESLAKE
What does classical music look like?
The Melbourne Youth Orchestras have teamed up with Melbourne design studio Jacky Winter to find an answer, and they’re sharing it with concertgoers through a series of visual guides.
Through the Visualising Classical Music project, four classical works are reimagined as visual listening guides. But the result is nothing like looking at sheet music. Instead, it can be enjoyed by people of all ages and musical skill levels, as these original illustrations invite the listener to engage in the works in an entirely new way.
In this series, we interview each of the four artists involved in the project. First up, meet Newcastle-born and Melbourne-based artist Ellen Porteus.
Ellen’s illustration portfolio is an impressive one indeed: her work has featured with the New York Times, Sydney Opera House, Le Monde, and The Guardian, to name a few. She graduated in 2014 from studies in Visual Communication at the University of Technology, Sydney.
Ellen’s musical artwork was showcased in the digital program for Verdi’s La Forza Del Destino, which was presented by MYO’s project and performed as part of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra Sidney Myer Free Concert Series in February.
See a taste of Ellen’s artwork below, and read the interview to learn how she came to create it!
Hi, Ellen! Tell us how you got involved with the MYO and why you liked the sound of the project.
MYO approached me and three fellow illustrators to create a visual response to a selection of overtures. Mine was La Forza Del Destino.
The brief was to visualise the overture both musically and thematically; not an easy task! I was immediately intrigued by the challenges involved in interpreting a piece of classical music into an illustration. It was a unique brief that I found really exciting.
What do you feel is the relationship between music and art?
For me personally, music and art practice are intrinsically linked. Since childhood, I’ve been deeply inspired by music videos, which are such an amazing marriage of audio and visual.
I’m really excited about the future of art and music, as I see art being used more and more to enhance the music experience through things like immersive live experiences.
How did you choose to “visualise” classical music, and what does the illustration offer to the viewer?
I decided to visualise the overture as a journey through music and narrative. The footsteps depict the movement through the music. In the overture, themes are played from different acts. I illustrated key story elements from these acts to signal what part of the story the theme is from. I also integrated visuals of the most prominent instruments in each section. I also integrated the narrative and musical visuals in unexpected ways. For example, the cave that Lenora retreats to is a giant clarinet mouthpiece.
In the coda section, all the story and musical elements come together in a chaotic storm.
Check back in again soon to meet more of the artists behind the Visualising Classical Music project! The next MYO concert featuring illustrated guides will be Death and Transfiguration, 7 April at the Melbourne Recital Hall.
Images supplied.
