BOOST YOUR MOOD WITH MUSIC

Like many in the arts industry, Synergy Percussion was impacted greatly by the pandemic. But, thanks to an innovative project, Australia’s oldest contemporary music ensemble is now returning to the stage to showcase the best of percussion from around the world.

Common Time started in 2020 as a project to keep local composers working, making the best of a tough time.

“During the whole COVID fiasco, the time for performing artists was tough with all the lockdowns and so on, but when we had that opportunity to get back into the theatre, we were really keen to celebrate that with a concert that really featured Synergy, but with our many percussion friends,” said artistic director, Ian Cleworth.

“The Common Time ensemble is made up of Synergy at the core of it, but with some amaz- ing artists from the percussion world filling it out, and then we commissioned a number of composers to write for that very unique ensemble.”

It’s because of this collaboration that Common Time displays a sound never before created by Synergy alone.

“Synergy is what you might call a classical ensemble, but the Common Time ensemble is bringing in guest artists coming from a jazz background, improvising backgrounds, from Cuban music, and a variety of other musical and cultural backgrounds,” he said.

“Even though it’s quite a diverse range of musicians, the one thing that unites us all is rhythm, so that’s how it all came together.” However, Cleworth said that the result couldn’t be more beautiful.

“The sound is very upbeat, rhythm is at the core of it, but having a lot of percussion keyboards like marimba, vibraphone and glockenspiel means that we’ve got a lot of melody and harmony in there as well,” he said.

“Every artist brings their own background and experience as musicians, and their rhythmic language, so the job was for all the composers, which are actually some of the performers as well, to tie all this together.”

This month, Common Time is promising to bring a good time to audiences from all over Sydney, with Cleworth encouraging everyone to get their tickets.

“I remember during that time when it premiered in Sydney during those lockdown periods, it just felt good to present something that was a little lighter, more upbeat, and had a real feel-good factor about it,” he said.

“I think when people come to hear it, they will definitely go out in a better mood than they came in.”

Common Time will be on at Riverside Theatres on Saturday, July 15 from 8pm, and at Blue Mountains Theatre on Thursday, July 20 from 7.30pm. Visit riversideparramatta. com.au, or bluemountainstheatre.com.au.