Finding Beauty (feat. Muses Trio)

Program

Finding Beauty (2023)*

Hugged (2022)*

Dreaming Op. 15 (1892)

Cello and piano

Hilary Kleinig

Hilary Kleinig

Amy Beach

Under the Thinking Tree (2023)** Nat Bartsch

i. A Moment

ii. Thinking, Thinking

iii. Arrival

Nocturne (violin and piano)

Violin and piano

The Brightest Star in the Night (2022)

i. Space and Time

ii. Eternity

*World premiere arrangement for piano trio

**World premiere

Hugged (2023) • Finding Beauty (2022)

Hilary Kleinig

Hugged and Finding Beauty are works that form part of a larger score written for a Restless Dance Theatre production called Exposed Exposed explores the intimacies that constitute our lives, our actions, our thoughts, our traumas, our desires, our failures and the idea that:

it is only when we let ourselves be vulnerable – exposed – that people can see who we really are. When we share our full humanity – flaws, beauty, strengths, and weaknesses – we allow people to love us and accept us for who we truly are.

Hugged was composed for a tender moment of fragile beauty where one

Margaret Sutherland

Ella Macens

dancer seeks gentle intimacy and connection with her colleagues. Composed to compliment flowing, lilting, circular movements, this music celebrates the power of gentle touch, intimate physical connection and a big hug.

Finding Beauty was composed to be the final work in Exposed, with all dancers gradually coming together on stage to perform together. The music’s cyclical nature creates opportunities to layer and build the movement on stage in a cumulative canon before a climax which musically ties together themes from other pieces in the show, including the main melody from Hugged. The music and the

movement then starts to disintegrate with the dancers slowly undressing to be finally left exposed and vulnerable on stage with only the sound of their breath to accompany them. The work seeks to portrait a coming together to seek and find beauty and connection, before being left ultimately

Under the Thinking Tree (2023)

Nat Bartsch

This suite was commissioned by Muses Trio. The title refers to a tree in Eudlo, QLD, home to the trio’s cellist, Louise King. Louise spent many days underneath this ‘thinking tree’ during the COVID pandemic. Here she reflected upon on the loss of opportunities and income, but also her values and future aspirations. It led to her courageously rebuilding an artistic practice, and creating the Sunshine Coast Chamber Music Festival.

My piece is written in three movements and represents the thinking process. They are all in the same key, following the same thought. The first movement, A Moment, is for solo piano. It is introspective, lyrical and tentative: capturing the discovery of a new thought, concern or idea. The second

The Brightest Star In The Night (2022)

Ella Macens

The Brightest Star In The Night (2022), commissioned by the Pēteris Vasks Fund, reflects on the cyclic nature of life and the expansion of ourselves during our time on Earth. Composed for my grandfather, Jānis Mačēns (who was 94 at the time of writing this work) the music honours the reflective nature of the later years of life and foregrounds a sense of love, gratitude, wisdom and connection. Composed in two movements, Space and Time, and Eternity, this piece speaks to my ever-unfolding faith

alone, which all of us are in the end.

Composed originally for layered violin and cello, I am thrilled that these pieces will be heard anew in this their premiere performance of new arrangements for The Muses Trio.

movement, Thinking, has a slow, constant forward motion. In this movement the idea, or problem is turned over and over; ruminated upon. All the possibilities and outcomes considered. It builds to an epic climax – a bolt of lightning and a realisation of the right way forward. The final movement, Arrival, is when we arrived at a decision. There is a sense of calm in this movement. Even if what must be done is negative, difficult or risky – you know what must be done, leading to an inner peace.

Louise’s experience of the pandemic, and her thinking tree, was a catalyst for change and renewal. This experience, and this work, mirrors my own thinking process following the difficult months of 2020-21, commencing marital separation.

and trust in a force greater and larger than ourselves on Earth.

My grandfather passed away on October 29 2023 at the age of 95. This recording took place just four weeks later. Since his passing I now look to the night sky with new meaning and connection. My eyes intuitively seek out the star shining most vividly, and it is within that moment that I am reminded we are still connected.

Muses Trio

Muses Trio consist of Australia’s leading and most exciting musicians in contemporary classical music – known for their edgy, spine tingling and virtuosic performance style. The trio’s principal artists are Christa Powell (violin), Louise King (cello) and Therese Milanovic (piano). The Muses Trio celebrates music composed and performed by women; bringing this relatively unknown, yet vastly deserving collection of works to the stage and audiences.

Signatures of their carefully curated public events are guest speakers and performers who champion inspiring causes and craft unforgettable experiences. Discovering, inspiring, collaborating, commissioning, connecting and supporting creative women to pursue and share artistic excellence drives the passion and impetus of their artistic focus.

They have released four albums: The Spirit and the Maiden, Celebrating Clara, Music for Calm and Catharsis and 10 Years; they have also recorded for ABC Classic’s Women of Note Vol 3 and 4. In 2020, they received the ABC Fresh Start Fund to commission and record Fire Dances for ABC Classic, comprising of a short dance from a women composer in each Australian state and territory, reflecting on their experiences of the 2019–20 devastating bushfire season. The trio celebrated their tenth anniversary in 2023, with highlights including their debut EP for Corella Recordings, The Road Not Taken and recording their new release, 10 Years, that showcased five new works by living Australian women composers. musestrio.com /MusesTrio @muses_trio

ARTISTS

Louise King Cello

Louise King is an exciting example of an independent contemporary classical musician. A refined English cellist with extensive international experience and training, she is an inspiring concert artist, teacher, recording artist, adjudicator and event producer. As Artistic Director of Cello Dreaming she runs a private teaching studio, produces and presents community and professional concerts, workshops, collaborative performance projects, mentors emerging young musicians, is Music Director for the Southern Cross Soloists Winter Music School and tutors for the Australian and Queensland Youth Orchestras.

Louise King moved to Australia in 2003 after working extensively throughout the UK, Europe and Asia, and now works as a freelance musician performing with the Australian Chamber Orchestra, Topology, The Queensland Orchestra, Southern Cross Soloists, Endeavour Trio, Tulipwood Quartet and Chamber Orchestra. Louise records and performs as a session musician for singer-songwriters such as Katie Noonan and international touring artists such as Il Divo and Josh Groban. She enjoys collaborating with composers, choreographers and artists to create new works for cello.

cellodreaming.com.au

Christa Powell Violin

Highly respected performance musician, collaborative artist and music educator, Christa is as comfortable lending her talents to an orchestra as she is in character wardrobe, playing on stage with Led Zeppelin or as an integral part of the choreography in the Heidi Duckler Dance Theatre. Christa Powell is a uniquely talented woman whose technical skill and innate musicality is a major source of inspiration to those she teaches. She is a founding member and director of Topology, one of Australia’s leading creative arts organisations. As well as creating the award winning program Top Up, Christa has managed the daily business of Topology for two decades; moulding, shaping and refining the organisation into the respected arts organisation it is today.

After completing a Bachelor of Music (Honours), Christa spent several years in London with Emmanuel Herwitz of the Melos Ensemble and playing with the Olyver Gypsy Ensemble. Returning to Brisbane, Christa obtained her Masters of Music in performance research in 1996 before co-founding Topology in 1997. Outside of Topology, Christa performs a wide range of chamber music, her long held passion. She plays with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra, guests for visiting international acts and guest teaches at various educational institutions.

topologymusic.com

Therese Milanovic

Therese is a passionate performer, educator and musicians’ health advocate.

As a performer, Therese loves collaborating with like-minded musicians. She has performed with Topology since 2009, including shows in the Netherlands, NYC, Belgium, Indonesia, national tours and festivals. Chamber music is also close to her heart, presenting events to highlight lesser-known repertoire, in particular, new music and music by women.

After a decade of playing-related injuries, studying the Taubman Approach (USA) enabled her to resume her chosen pathway to the fullest. Therese was the first Australian to become a Taubman Instructor (2009), the focus of her PhD, and is the most experienced Taubman teacher in Australia (Master Level and Associate Faculty with the Golandsky Institute USA). She is an advocate for musicians’ injury prevention and rehabilitation, providing access for curious interstate and international students through Skype and also Coach on Demand consultations, alongside workshops, teacher training and lectures. Therese has been a Keynote Speaker for numerous national conferences including APPCA and ANZCA. She is committed to her ongoing learning and artistic development through continued study with Edna Golandsky and John Bloomfield via Skype.

theresemilanovic.com

Piano

Composers

Hilary Kleinig

Hilary Kleinig is a Tarntanya/Adelaidebased multidisciplinary musician – cellist, composer and educator. Imbued with a sense of wonder and curiosity, her artistic practice centres on care, collaboration and connection, of and with people, place and planet.

Hilary enjoys playing cello in live and recorded performance, working as a freelance musician for leading ensembles, orchestras and contemporary music and jazz artists. For over 20 years Hilary was cellist with and Artistic Director of Zephyr Quartet – ‘Arguably Australia’s most lateral thinking and inventive ensemble’ (Music Australia) – an awardwinning, bold and adventurous string quartet, delighting in the exploration of diverse music and forging dynamic collaborations. She is Co-Director of and a Teaching Artist for Connecting the Dots in Music, an innovative organisation which utilises the power of music to connect arts, health and government sectors in creating community-led projects for

Amy Beach

Amy Beach (1867-1944) was the first female composer to have a symphony performed by a major orchestra (her “Gaelic” Symphony, was premiered by the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 1896). She was also one of the first U.S. composers to have her music recognised in Europe, and the first classical U.S. composer to achieve success without the benefit of European study.

A remarkable child prodigy, she made her public debut as a pianist in 1883, also the

positive social impact.

Hilary’s compositions have been commissioned/performed by ensembles such as the Zephyr Quartet, Muses Trio, Clocked Out, Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, Adelaide Chamber Singers, Decibel Ensemble, Soundstream New Music and the Adelaide Youth Orchestras. Hilary also often writes for theatre and dance productions collaborating with companies such as Restless Dance Theatre, State Theatre Company of South Australia and Brink Productions. Her current research, development and composition project – The Lost Art of Listening – is an ambitious performance piece for prepared piano and audience-played smartphone choir which investigates how people experience listening and communal stillness in an age of 24-hour connectedness and digital distraction.

www.hilarykleinig.com

year of her first published compositions. In 1885 she performed with the Boston Symphony, but upon her marriage to a distinguished surgeon, she curtailed her performing in accordance with his wishes and focused on composition. She made one performance per year, with the proceeds donated to charity. One of these performances was of her own piano concerto with the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 1900. Following the death of her husband in 1910, she resumed performing, and toured Europe to great

“With strong national and international credentials, their [Muses Trio] committed and passionate performance breathes life into a diverse and imaginative repertoire, setting a new standard for classical music ensembles” – David Barker, MusicWeb

acclaim, performing her own music. At her death she left more than 300 published works, and more of her music has been published in recent decades.

Nat Bartsch

Nat Bartsch is a critically-acclaimed, multi-award-winning pianist and composer. Her meditative and lyrical music defies the conventions of genre and is enjoyed by people from all walks of life; often in profoundly personal moments. She has released eight albums of original music as a solo artist, as well as bandleader for Nat Bartsch Trio (active from 2008-2014). She has toured Australia, Japan and Europe, performing at several festivals.

She is most well-known for her lullaby album Forever, and No Time At All, designed for parents to enjoy with their children; along with Hope, her response to the Black Summer bushfires and long pandemic lockdowns in 2020. Jazz reinterpretations of both of these albums, Forever More and Hope Renewed, cemented Nat’s reputation for moving effortlessly between genres.

Margaret Sutherland

Australian composer and pianist, Margaret Sutherland (1897-1984) exerted an inestimable influence and contribution on Australian music. She considered it her mission to promote new music, especially that of Australian composers ‘who’, she said, ‘experienced public indifference and a profound sense of isolation’. Sutherland’s teaching was

www.amybeach.org

She has composed commissions for many leading classical artists including Grigoryan Brothers, Plexus Collective, Inventi Ensemble, Matt Withers, Sally Whitwell and Muses Trio. She is one of a small handful of artists to be nominated in both jazz and classical ARIA categories, as well as receiving AIR, Music Victoria and Bell Award nominations; she also received the prestigious 2021 Merlyn Myer Commission 2010 Melbourne Prize for Music Development Award.

She holds an Honours degree in jazz improvisation from the VCA and a Masters degree in classical composition from Melbourne Conservatorium of Music. She is an Associate Composer through the Australian Music Centre. She is represented by Cabin Artists (EU/UK/ Asia) and Tom Ohsawa (Japan).

www.natbartsch.com

legendary; she personally inspired young poets, composers and artists. Born in Adelaide, attended the Melbourne University Conservatorium. At the age of 19, she was invited to become a soloist with the NSW State Orchestra.

After teaching and giving recitals for several years in Australia, she

commenced studying orchestration and conducting in London and Vienna. Under the tutelage of Sir Arnold Bax in London, Sutherland composed one of her first published works, her Violin Sonata. She went on to publish more than 90 compositions, covering stage, instrumental, vocal, chamber, orchestral and an opera. In 1976 Graeme Murphy choreographed her orchestral work Haunted Hills for the Australian Ballet and the Sydney Dance Company.

While never compromising her family life, Sutherland remained a tireless ambassador for the promotion of music. During the Second World War, she arranged wartime midday chamber music concerts for the Red Cross; she became a member

Ella Macens

Ella Macens is rapidly becoming one of Australia’s most celebrated young composers. Her contemporary classical works are grounded in a deeply evocative and sensitive musical aesthetic, with a musical language inspired by her love of popular and classical music styles. Growing up in a rich and colourful Latvian community has led her to be continuously surrounded by instrumental folk music, baltic choral music and traditional dance. These elements have unsurprisingly also woven their way into Ella’s compositional style.

Her works have been commissioned and/ or performed by the Sydney, Melbourne, Tasmanian and Canberra Symphony Orchestras; the Flinders and Goldner string quartets; Inventi Ensemble, Muses Trio, Ensemble Apex, The Song Company, Sydney Chamber Choir, Sydney Children’s Choir, Sydney Philharmonia Choirs, Claire Edwardes, the Australian Ballet, Sydney Festival and the Canberra

of the Council for Education and the Arts, an adviser to UNESCO and to the National Gallery. The Victorian Arts Centre was developed largely because of her strenuous lobbying of the Victorian government. It was, however, many years before Sutherland’s full contribution to the arts was recognised; it was equally long before her own compositions received the recognition they deserved. Sutherland was awarded an OBE in 1970, the Queen’s Jubilee medal in 1977 and in 1981 she received the Order of Australia. The last fifteen years of her life were difficult after a stroke left her with failing eyesight and physical difficulties.

www.australiancomposers.com.au

International Music Festival, among others. Internationally, Macens’ works have been performed by the Ulster Orchestra, Brunel Sinfonia, Seattle Youth Symphony Orchestra, Richmond Delta Youth Orchestra, State Choir Latvija, the Riga Cathedral Girls’ Choir and the Jāzeps Vītols Latvian Academy of Music Chamber Choir, to name a few.

In 2023 Macens was a finalist in the Australian Art Music Awards for her orchestral work Release. The composer has held numerous composition residency positions – Sydney Youth Orchestra (2015), Sydney Children’s Choir (2018-19) and the Flinders Quartet (2020), among others. From 2018–19 she was one of four composers selected to participate in the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra Australian Composers’ School. Ella is currently an Associate Lecturer in Composition at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.

www.ellamacens.com

Creative connections

We are proud to launch UQ Arts. Since opening its doors in 1910, The University of Queensland has produced and supported deeply thoughtful work across the arts.

It’s been an important feature of life at our university and we are proud of our students, staff and alumni, who have done so much to enrich our communities.

Our work in the arts is wide-ranging, including design, public art, rich museum and archive collections, publishing, teaching and learning, and cultural events. We offer specialist programs in music, drama, and creative writing. Our Anthropology Museum, the UQ Art Museum and the R.D. Milns Antiquities Museum, as well as the Fryer Library, have stunning collections that have been built up over decades. We know the arts foster creativity and deepen a sense of belonging. They enable and support positive social understanding.

We invite you to join our UQ Arts community uq.edu.au/arts

UQ Arts will enable us to link up the way we profile our activities in order to make the arts at UQ more accessible to audiences like you. Everyone is welcome to enjoy and participate in our work. The opportunity to facilitate thoughtful experiences, provoke meaningful conversations, and encourage new ideas is at the heart of our goal of building creative connections.

UQ Arts is both new and omnipresent: art is everywhere, and it matters.

Professor Heather Zwicker Executive Dean Faculty of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences

Upcoming Concerts

Keys to Vienna

1pm, 14 March • Nickson Room

More info

Liam Viney and Anna Grinberg, a celebrated piano duo, captivate audiences worldwide through performances, recordings and collaborations; expanding piano repertoire.

Livestream bit.ly/UQVirtualConcert14Mar

Nonsemble

1pm, 21 March • Nickson Room

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Nonsemble, a versatile septet, bridges classical and pop, crafting diverse music. They’ve released acclaimed albums, performed at festivals, and evolved creatively.

Livestream bit.ly/UQVirtualConcert21Mar

Briscoe Sisters

1pm, 28 March • Nickson Room

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Yalanji trio Briscoe Sisters bring language and song to the stage, fusing gospel with their yalanji spirituality.

Livestream bit.ly/UQVirtualConcert28Mar24

The University of Queensland (UQ) acknowledges the Traditional Owners and their custodianship of the lands on which UQ operates. We pay our respects to their Ancestors and their descendants, who continue cultural and spiritual connections to Country. We recognise their valuable contributions to Australian and global society.