Composition Lunchtime Concert Program

EVENT PROGRAMME

QUINTET

COMPOSED BY OSCAR NICHOLSON

TO BE PLAYED ON 5 KEYBOARDS IN 5 TEMPOS. THE PIECE IS INSPIRED BY ASKA MATSUMIYA'S USE OF AI PLUGINS FOR THE SOUNDTRACK OF 'AFTER YANG', DIRECTED BY KOKOGONADA. THE MUSIC IS MY ATTEMPT AT IMITATING A MACHINE, THE INVERSE OF A MACHINE IMITATING A HUMAN

PERFORMERS:

FIVE KEYBOARDS:

MATTHEW CRAFTER

CORNELIO ZOMER

SHELBY DEVENISH

JANZEL TUPUSE

MAX BUHNER

"YOU SHOW ME… PLAINTIVE KEYS…"

COMPOSED BY BEN MARSHALL

THIS PIECE WAS WRITTEN FOR AND DEDICATED TO THE EQUINOX ENSEMBLE, A REED QUINTET FROM QCGU. THE PIECE ITSELF EXPLORES THE UNIQUE TIMBRES OF ALL THE INVOLVED INSTRUMENTS AND OSCILLATES BETWEEN MEASURED AND UNMEASURED TIME, PROVIDING THE PLAYERS WITH A DEGREE OF FREEDOM AS AN ENSEMBLE AS THEY NAVIGATE THE WORK. DUE TO THE IMPROVISATORY NATURE OF SOME OF THE PASSAGES, EACH NEW RENDERING OF THE WORK WILL HIGHLIGHT DIFFERENT PLAYERS STYLES AND MUSICAL BACKGROUNDS, AS WELL AS ENCOURAGING THE PERFORMERS TO TAKE CONTROL OF THE MUSIC AND TRULY MAKE IT THEIR OWN. “…YOU SHOW ME… PLAINTIVE KEYS ” – SENECA, LETTER LXXXVIII

PERFORMERS:

EQUINOX ENSEMBLE

BARI SAX : RYAN TAYLOR

BASS CLARINET: HUGO ANAYA

COR ANGLAIS: LIAM ROBINSON

BASSOON: MAIRIN THOMPSON

B-FLAT CLARINET: JAN RYBKA

FAR AWAY, ON THE BEACHES

COMPOSED BY WILLIAM PIPE

INITIALLY CONCIEVED AS A BACKING TRACK TO STUDENT FILMS FOR THE ANZAC PREMIERE'S PRIZE, THIS PIECE QUICKLY GREW INTO ITS OWN SELF-CONTAINED EXPRESSION OF THE ANZAC SPIRIT. IT DOES NOT SERVE AS A DEPICTION OF THE ANZAC LANDINGS AT GALLIPOLI, AND IS INSTEAD MY OWN EMOTIONAL RESPONSE TO THE LEGEND OF ANZAC.

PERFORMERS:

VIOLIN 1: HANEULLE LOVELL

VIOLIN 2: JULIAN LACHMUND

VIOLA: EMILY HON FAY

CELLO: DOMINICK CLANCY

1. TOI-700 E

2. QUARKS 3. CONDUCTIVITY 4. CONGLOMERATION

1. “TOI-700 E” IS A SHORT SOLO PIANO PIECE THAT WAS WRITTEN TO COMMEMORATE THE RECENT DISCOVERY OF THE EARTH-SIZED EXOPLANET OF THE SAME NAME BY NASA ASTRONOMERS THE WORK IS BASED AROUND SCHOENBERG’S MATURE DODECAPHONIC SYSTEM, AND INSPIRED BY THE HARMONIC MATERIAL OF ERIC DOLPHY’S “HAT & BEARD” 2 “QUARKS” IS A SHORT WORK FOR SOLO PIANO THAT EXPERIMENTS WITH SERIALISED “MICRO-FRAGMENTS”, OR RATHER “QUARKS” OF SOUND. INSPIRED BY THE ARTISTIC CONCEPT OF POINTILLISM, THE PIECE CONTAINS SMALL FRAGMENTS OF SOUND DISPERSED ACROSS THE “MUSICAL CANVAS”. THE PITCH MATERIAL OF THE PIECE IS BASED ON AN ALLCOMBINATORIAL TONE ROW OF THE HEXACHORDAL INTERVAL-VECTOR {0, 2, 4, 6,8,10}, DERIVED FROM THREE TRANSPOSED INTERVAL-PRESERVING TRANSFORMATIONS OF A TRICHORD, AND ALL OTHER MUSICAL ELEMENTS ARE SERIALISED AND ARRANGED IN A MANNER CORRESPONDING TO THE TONE ROW 3 “CONDUCTIVITY” IS A SHORT COMPOSITION FOR SOLO PIANO THAT FOCUSES ON A SIMPLE “PHRASE LENGTH SET” AND CONCEIVING OF VARIATIONS OF THE SET THROUGH SIMPLE DISRUPTIVE MATHEMATICAL PROCESSES AFFECTING THE NUMERICAL VALUES OF THE SET. THE PRIME “PHRASE LENGTH SET” CONSISTS OF A SERIES OF NUMBERS, BEING 5, 2, 3, 2 RESPECTIVELY, AND THE VALUES CAN BE UNDERSTOOD AS THE NUMBER OF SEPARATE PULSES WITHIN A PHRASE 4 “CONGLOMERATION” IS A SHORT WORK FOR SOLO PIANO BUILT AROUND TONE CLUSTER GROUPS THE GROUPS WERE CONCEIVED BY DIVIDING THE EIGHTY-EIGHT KEYS OF THE PIANO INTO TWENTY-TWO GROUPS THE RHYTHMIC AND SEQUENTIAL ORDER OF THE SOUNDING OF THESE CLUSTERS WAS DETERMINED BY RANDOM NUMBER GENERATORS AND RANDOMISERS.

PERFORMERS:

PIANO: CAM MCCONVILLE

COMPOSED BY OLIVER KING

CREATURES

COMPOSED BY MARK SIMS

‘CREATURES’ IS THE FIRST COMPLETED PIECE OF MUSIC OF A SUITE TITLED ‘WOODLAND SUITE’. THE WOODWIND QUARTET CHOSEN, TWO CLARINETS AND TWO BASSOONS, WAS CHOSEN DUE TO THE WOODY, WARM TONES OF THE INSTRUMENTS, THEREBY COMMUNICATING THE WOODLAND AESTHETIC. THE WOODLAND BEING DEPICTED IN THIS SUITE IS ONE OF FAIRY TALES AND MYTHS, CONTAINING DRUIDIC RITUALS, MAGIC, TROLLS, OGRES, AND WHATEVER OTHER IMAGES THE MIND CONJURES. AS SUCH KEEP THIS IN MIND WHEN CONSIDERING THE CREATURES BROUGHT TO MIND IN THIS WORK. THE OPENING TO THIS PIECE IS DIRECTLY INSPIRED BY ‘IN THE HALL OF THE MOUNTAIN KIND’ BY EDVARD GRIEG, A WORK ALSO DEALING WITH CONCEPTS OF FAIRYTALES AND MYTHICAL CREATURES.

PERFORMERS:

CLARINET 1: ANGUS HALL

CLARINET 2: ANGEL STEVENS

BASSOON 1: MAIRIN THOMPSON

BASSOON 2: JAKE BUSBY

RANDOM RAG

COMPOSED BY ARTHUR HAYES

THIS WORK IS ONE OF MY MANY JOKE PIECES. I WROTE IT DURING MY LONG COMMUTE TO BRISBANE AS AN EXPRESSION OF MY INNER THOUGHTS ON MY SURROUNDINGS.

PERFORMERS:

PIANO: ARTEMII SAFONOV

STRUNG QUARTET

COMPOSED BY TOBY ROCHESTER

"STRUNG QUARTET" ORIGINALLY STARTED OFF AS A WORK FOR SATB CHOIR, BEFORE GRADUALLY TRANSITIONING TO STRING QUARTET AS I DEVELOPED THE PIECE. THIS PROVIDES IT WITH AN INTERESTING MIX OF STYLISTICALLY STRINGISH AND VOCAL-BASED MELODIC LINES AND TEXTURES - SMOOTHLY TRANSITIONING BETWEEN THESE TWO STYLES AND OCCASIONALLY MESHING THEM TOGETHER WAS THE MAIN CHALLENGE IN FORMING THIS PIECE.

THROUGHOUT THE WORK I EXPLORE BOTH THE INCORPORATION OF MODAL MIXTURE INTO THE HARMONIC LANDSCAPE AND THE USE OF A VARIETY OF DIFFERENT TEXTURES IN ORDER TO DEVELOP MUSICAL IDEAS.

PERFORMERS:

VIOLIN 1: GUY TOMLINSON

VIOLIN 2: JONNY KOSITSIN

VIOLA: EBEN YEH

CELLO: FAITH SPRIGGS

I FEEL AS IF WE’VE MET BEFORE

COMPOSED BY SHELBY DEVENISH

I’VE ALWAYS BEEN REALLY INTERESTED WITH THE CONCEPT OF FATE. THE IDEA THAT EVERY SMALL INTERACTION AND MOMENT CAN AFFECT YOUR LIFE AND THE LIVES OF STRANGERS PASSING YOU BY HAS A SENSE OF BEAUTY TO IT IT CREATES A SENSE OF CONNECTION BETWEEN PEOPLE WHO SHARE NOTHING IN COMMON AND IT CREATES A SENSE OF ROMANTICISM FOR THE SMALL ‘MUNDANE’ PARTS OF LIFE I ALSO LOVE THE CONCEPT OF THE RED STRING OF FATE THAT REFERS TO AN INVISIBLE RED CORD AROUND THE FINGER OF THOSE THAT ARE DESTINED TO MEET ONE ANOTHER IN A CERTAIN SITUATION AS THEY ARE MEANT TO BE. THERE IS BEAUTY IN THE IDEA THAT CERTAIN PEOPLE ARE DESTINED TO MEET ONE ANOTHER NO MATTER THE CIRCUMSTANCES, AS THEY ARE MEANT TO BE EITHER FRIENDS, FAMILY, OR PARTNERS IN ANY LIFETIME. THESE CONNECTIONS SHAPE US AS PEOPLE AND PLAY A PART IN WHO WE BECOME AND HOW WE IMPACT OTHERS’ LIVES AS WELL THIS PIECE EXPLORES THIS IDEA OF FATE AND THE IDEA OF DÉJÀ VU WHEN YOU MEET SOMEONE WHO FEELS CONNECTED TO YOU IN AN UNEXPLAINABLE WAY, AS IF YOU’VE KNOWN THEM BEFORE IN A PAST LIFE AND HAVE FINALLY RECONNECTED WITH THEM BY SOME FORCE OF FATE. EVEN WHEN INITIALLY CREATING THIS PIECE, I NEEDED TIME TO MEET AND CONNECT WITH THE RIGHT PEOPLE AND EXPERIENCES IN ORDER TO FEEL A SENSE OF RIGHTNESS AND TO TRULY RESONATE WITH THIS WORK SO THAT I CAN BE TRULY CONTENT TO EXPRESS MY EMOTIONS AND EXPERIENCES WITH THIS SENSE OF FATE.

PERFORMERS:

ALTO SAXOPHONE: RORY KELLY, CLAIRE CHALLENDER,

VIOLIN: MADDY RYAN-KERR

VIOLA: OSCAR NICHOLSON

CELLO: IMOGEN FERDINANDO

PIANO: SHELBY DEVENISH