BY STEPHANIE ESLAKE
Dressing up for a concert has never been so intriguing an exercise as it is with anon. The classical music ensemble was founded mid-last year by Melbourne power couple Nicole Tj (piano) and Thomas Lo (violin), with a vision to reshape our ideas about what’s expected from a live classical performance. Bringing together fashion, photography, and great music, anon. is set for their biggest collaboration yet.
Working with musos from Melbourne University and the Australian National Academy of Music, they’ll present rarely performed works by Bottesini, Piazzolla, and Milhaud this November 21. Their print and digital campaign features Melbourne fashion designers Kuwaii and Aacute along with highly awarded photography student Jiajia Tan.
Nicole, who started piano at four and decades later graduated with a Bachelor of Music (Honours) from the University of Melbourne, tells us what anon. is all about ahead of the performance.
How did the idea come to you to combine the fashion, photography, and music?
For me, fashion moved from a personal everyday interest to a more creative outlet when in early 2012 I started a fashion blog. At the same time, design and photography has always been an interest for Thomas – so the blog came about as a way to test the waters in terms of writing, styling and photography. It wasn’t really a ground-breaking realisation or anything – quite a natural progression, and extension of the work that we were already doing with the blog. We were learning more about the Australian fashion industry, from emerging designers to photographers to styling to coordinating photoshoots. We wanted a brand, an experience that was engaging both aurally and visually. Visual impressions are vital in a performance – though, an aspect that can sometimes easily be overlooked in the classical music world.
Describe the experience of an anon. performance – how do you physically combine these elements?
We kick off every performance project with a campaign photo shoot that encapsulates the entire concept. Here, we work with some very talented emerging photographers to bring our campaign to life! We also like to work with local fashion designers where we can to showcase their work in our campaign or in performance. It creates a great collaborative platform around the core of classical music and sparks conversation between our audience and us. Hopefully, by doing so, we’re creating a more involved and engaged experience from the first point of contact right up to the concert night itself.
Why do you feel there is a need to revitalise the classical concert experience?
We’ve got a modern audience that we’re appealing to and we’ve got to keep that in mind. We’re not saying that we’re setting a new way of performance, because there is a lot of value and respect towards the ‘grandeur’ of a classical concert, but more so providing an alternative perspective to what the experience of classical music concerts can be. We believe this starts not at the concert itself, but from the first point of contact that people have with anon.
What are your thoughts about the image of ‘classical music’? Do you think changes are necessary to keep it thriving for young people?
Classical music definitely can be viewed as a bubble of elitism and exclusivity, making it inaccessible to a wider audience irrespective of age. However, I think the underlying problem is the lack of information and exposure about it, so that people avoid it altogether. It is such a broad ‘genre’ that many people, in my opinion, associate with the sounds of Mozart and Beethoven and a refined, uptight image that alienates people, without realising that there is so much more scope and room for expression and imagination within it. Sometimes, unfortunately, it also stems from their negative experience being forced to learn an instrument when younger.
Why do fashion and classical music make such a good fit?
In the same way that a well-tailored suit empowers, and a sheer, flowy dress romanticises, I believe that the appropriate fashion can enhance the classical music experience. From the performer’s point of view, it’s about being in character and allowing stage presence. It also provides a more coherent visual and aural experience to the audience.
