Music!Trust!Bulletin!September2014!...
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1 Music Trust Bulletin September 2014 CONTENTS FREEDMAN MUSIC FELLOWSHIPS Aaron Choulai is the 2014 Freedman Jazz Fellow Freedman New Jazz series: Andrew Robson – Bearing the Bell Finalists for the Freedman Classical Fellowship MUSIC IN AUSTRALIA KNOWLEDGE BASE The future of music in Australia Loss of statistics New on the Knowledge Base MUSIC EDUCATION Federal Arts Minister supports arts education Award for Research into the Benefits of Music Education REVIEWS & BLOGS CDs reviewed for the September publication Books reviewed for the September publication Letter from New York (Andrew Byrne) Jig’s Up. Melba in the Dandenongs, wonderful orchestra revealed, baroque negotiations in Hobart, Bennett’s Lane to close, cracking your knuckles, country music song titles. Dick’s Blog. (Richard Letts). 1) Sculthorpe, the great encourager. 2) To be good or to be famous? Forensics on the new Australia Council Strategic Plan 3) “Opera Australia funding should be cut.” Discuss. Briony’s Blog. Our glorious leaders. They don’t lead and they can’t follow. BURNING ISSUES The 11 Commandments: A Code of Conduct for Artist Managers Moorambilla Festival concert New music theatre projects under the ANZAC Fund Sydney Conservatorium adds contemporary music degree Australian jazz and the music of other cultures Kerrie Biddell and Alan Turnbull Change of lineup for the Australian String Quartet Australia Council announces a new strategic plan National Opera Review Terms of Reference TO RECEIVE THE MUSIC TRUST BULLETIN EACH MONTH BY EMAIL, SIGN HERE Trust the music!
Transcript of Music!Trust!Bulletin!September2014!...
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Music Trust Bulletin September 2014
CONTENTS FREEDMAN MUSIC FELLOWSHIPS Aaron Choulai is the 2014 Freedman Jazz Fellow Freedman New Jazz series: Andrew Robson – Bearing the Bell Finalists for the Freedman Classical Fellowship MUSIC IN AUSTRALIA KNOWLEDGE BASE The future of music in Australia Loss of statistics New on the Knowledge Base MUSIC EDUCATION Federal Arts Minister supports arts education Award for Research into the Benefits of Music Education REVIEWS & BLOGS CDs reviewed for the September publication Books reviewed for the September publication Letter from New York (Andrew Byrne) Jig’s Up. Melba in the Dandenongs, wonderful orchestra revealed, baroque negotiations in Hobart, Bennett’s Lane to close, cracking your knuckles, country music song titles. Dick’s Blog. (Richard Letts). 1) Sculthorpe, the great encourager. 2) To be good or to be famous? Forensics on the new Australia Council Strategic Plan 3) “Opera Australia funding should be cut.” Discuss. Briony’s Blog. Our glorious leaders. They don’t lead and they can’t follow. BURNING ISSUES The 11 Commandments: A Code of Conduct for Artist Managers Moorambilla Festival concert New music theatre projects under the ANZAC Fund Sydney Conservatorium adds contemporary music degree Australian jazz and the music of other cultures Kerrie Biddell and Alan Turnbull Change of line-‐up for the Australian String Quartet Australia Council announces a new strategic plan National Opera Review Terms of Reference
TO RECEIVE THE MUSIC TRUST BULLETIN EACH MONTH BY EMAIL, SIGN HERE
Trust the music!
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FREEDMAN MUSIC FELLOWSHIPS
Aaron Choulai is the 2014 Freedman Jazz Fellow Choulai’s win was decided by his performance for a full-‐house Freedman Jazz concert at The Studio of Sydney Opera House on August 20. Choulai went up against singer Gian Slater, trombonist Shannon Barnett and pianist Matthew Sheens.
It was the first Freedman final since its inception in 2001 where two of the contenders were women and none were from Sydney. In fact, only one of the four finalists is at present living full time in Australia. It is also the first time that there has been a finalist from Adelaide – Matthew Sheens – although he is at present living in New York. Barnett is mainly living in Cologne and Choulai mainly in Tokyo.
The Freedman Fellowships were established in part to help Australian musicians go overseas. Increasingly, they manage to get there under their own steam and Freedman funds are now more likely to help them take better advantage of the opportunities they can find there.
Aaron Choulai took his sextet on a tour of Japan and also performed in the Tokyo Jazz Festival in 2009. That same year, he won a Japanese Ministry of Education Mombushou Scholarship in 2009 and began study at the Tokyo College of the Arts in Tokyo. In preparation, he says he learnt Japanese in an intensive course in three months. He took his Masters in Music in 2013.
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While based in Tokyo, he visits hometown Melbourne regularly and works on projects there. These include projects with rap and indie music and so he has first hand experience of those worlds. He says this “music isn’t generally recorded with live instruments” and so using their own studio equipment the musicians are able “to create, record and output music of a high quality, at a high rate and with low costs. In these genres of music, it has become the norm to consistently release free music…to a fan base”. This can be used to build a strong relationship with the audience who also have the opportunity to share with their friends, so growing the fan base. There is then a sort of a deal that the artist sends this music free but every so often releases an album that the fans pay for.
It’s not as simple for jazz. Live musicians playing instruments need a studio environment and the use of high quality microphones and recording and editing equipment.
“Like it or not,” says Aaron, “recordings are now the most common medium for music to be heard, and without an online representation of this, it is my opinion that artists will struggle to expand and find new audiences and avenues to present their work.”
So Aaron will use his Freedman prize money to set up a good quality home studio and then produce recordings of his own music for regular internet distribution. His strategy is to build his fan base and eventually some income from sale of recordings.
Choulai was born in Papua New Guinea. He came to Australia as a child and was a student at the Victorian College of the Arts Secondary School; it was at VCA in 2003 that he also took his BMus degree.
His talent carried him forward quickly. Two years after graduation he was Music Director and pianist for Kate Cerberano and a couple of years after that was Co-‐musical Director, pianist and arranger for the Black Arm Band, the ground-‐breaking indigenous multimedia company led by Archi Roach which included a 12-‐piece band and a lot of other ensembles as needs dictated. It was in 2007 also that he began a four-‐year stint as Producer and Music Director for the production We don’t dance for no reason, involving a 16-‐member choir from PNG, a small jazz ensemble from Melbourne and a set of short films about Port Moresby. This was commissioned by the Queensland Music Festival and its success was such that it went on to Melbourne International Arts Festival, Port Moresby National Theatre, WomAdelaide Festival and the Australian World Music Expo.
Aaron was Young Jazz Artist of the Year in the Australian Jazz Awards for 2006. He has performed at international festivals in the Antibes, Israel, Tokyo and Italy. He has issued three CDs under his own name and played on six others.
The award of the Freedman Jazz Fellowship is as important for the prestige it carries as for its prize money. With this even firmer footing in the jazz world coupled with his musical and programmatic imagination, we look forward to years of surprising accomplishment from Aaron Choulai. www.aaronchoulai.com
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FREEDMAN NEW JAZZ SERIES Andrew Robson
In a couple of weeks time, the second concert in this series will be presented by Freedman Jazz Fellow Andrew Robson. Sydney Improvised Music Association SIMA, with support from the Freedman Foundation and The Music Trust, is producing the series to feature musicians who have won the Freedman Jazz Fellowship.
Set in the striking sanctuary of the St Stephen’s Church, the work features elements of Tallis’s original works infused with Andrew’s rich and original jazz
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language, from individual solo statements to sublime ensemble passages performed by Australia’s most distinguished jazz artists.
Andrew Robson has emerged as one of Australia’s most vital saxophonists garnering critical acclaim for his work with his own Trio and ARIA award-‐winning world music group MARA! Andrew was invited to replace the then retiring jazz legend and now late Bernie McGann in the distinguished Australian jazz ensemble Ten Part Invention. Andrew composes for all projects in which he is involved.
… music of a more poetic tomorrow (John Shand, Sydney Morning Herald)
… a collaboration across almost a half a century (Andrew Ford, The Music Show)
VENUE: St Stephen’s Church, 197 Macquarie St, Sydney TIME: Saturday 27 September (7pm), 60 mins (no interval) BOOKING One Here (https://www.stickytickets.com.au/18541) or 02 9036 6292 TICKETS: ($30/$25/$15) + booking fee http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YcE6uC2U8rc More information – www.sima.org.au ____________________________________________________________________
FINALISTS FOR THE FREEDMAN CLASSICAL FELLOWSHIPS
There were 15 nominees selected by notable classical music people around Australia. The judges have now selected four finalists. The winner will be chosen after auditions and interviews on September 19 and an announcement will be posted on the Music Trust website www.musictrust.com.au.
The finalists are: Peter de Jager, pianist Jessica Fotinos, harpist Matthew Greco, baroque violinist Joshua Hyde, saxophonist
Matthew wants to find out how the music of an Italian composer from 250 years ago would really have sounded -‐ and then make a recording. Peter, Jessica and Joshua are all looking into the recent past and the future for their instruments, causing the composition of new works, performing and recording. –
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Peter de Jager was born in South Africa and came to Australia at the age of 2. He studied piano at the Australian National Academy of Music (ANAM) from the age of 14 and later also studied harpsichord and composition.
He has performed as recitalist, as pianist with the MSO and Orchestra Victoria, as a member of chamber ensembles, and as music director for music theatre and cabaret productions. As a composer he already has been commissioned and performed by a number of ensembles. He has performed three times at the Lucerne Festival Academy, artistic director Luciano Berio, has won competitions, made recordings.
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Pianist Peter de Jager
Peter is especially interested in new music for the piano. If he wins the Fellowship, he would prepare a concert of four most virtuosic and difficult “pillars” of the piano repertoire written about 50 years apart: works by Alkan (1857), Szymanowski (1917), Barraqué (1952) and the Australian, Chris Dench. He would perform this concert around Australia and then in various locations in Europe. He would make four videos, each of one of the works and including a performance and a discussion. Peter was nominated by Elliot Gyger.
Jessica Fotinos has completed a three-‐year program at ANAM and is finishing an Honours degree at Melbourne Conservatorium of Music. She has won numerous competitions and awards already.
Jessica has performed with the MSO and other Australian orchestras, performed as a concert soloist, with chamber groups, theatre companies, as a recording session artist and as a lecturer and concert presenter. She has commissioned harp works from six composers. Her harp trio Petrichor has performed in Melbourne and Berlin.
Jessica Fotinos
If Jessica is the 2014 Classical Fellow, she will “create and perform a virtuosic program for solo concert harp that redefines what is possible with the
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instrument”. The program would include the commissioning of a new work by Australian composer Evan Lawson. She would promote this program to festivals in Australia and internationally. The program would trace the development of contemporary harp from Stravinsky (eg Les Noces) to the present day in Australia, and would include works by Varese, Salzedo, Stravinsky and the Australians Chisholm and Lawson. Jessica hopes that this will lay the foundation for a post-‐Fellowship dance project utilising an instrumental ensemble including four harps, based upon an unrealised concept of Stravinsky and Nijinsky. Jessica was nominated by Paul Dean.
Matthew Greco studied baroque and classical violin at the Sydney Conservatorium and performed with the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra. Then he transferred his studies to the Royal Conservatoire of The Hague, a major centre for early music in the Netherlands.
He has now performed with a good number of European early music ensembles and other key groups in Australia such as the Orchestra of the Antipodes, Salut! Baroque and the Australian Haydn Ensemble, with which he toured to New York. He has recorded with ABC Classics.
Violinist Matthew Greco
As a generalisation, early music performers, more than any other classical performers, are committed to musicological research. The quest is to understand how the music was performed at the time it was written. Matthew’s project centres upon the music of Italian composer Guiseppe Tartini, known mainly for his virtuosic Devil’s Trill Sonata. Matthew would undertake research with an Italian mentor and in locations where Tartini worked and his manuscripts are held. The tangible outcome of this research would be a deeper understanding of the music demonstrated via a recording with harpsichordist Anthony Abouhammad and promoted on the Vexations840 label in Sydney. Promotional concerts will be given in Armidale and Sydney. Finally, Matthew would commission a baroque bow from Luis Emilio Rodriguez Carrington modelled upon bows that Tartini himself
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commissioned which made revolutionary changes to the shape of the baroque bow. Matthew was nominated by Neil Peres da Costa.
Joshua Hyde is an Honours graduate in saxophone from the VCA. Since 2008, he has studied and worked from Paris, albeit with regular work also in Australia.
He has performed with top European ensembles including the Ensemble for New Music, Cologne, Boulez’s Ensemble Intercontemporain, Paris, and others in Vienna, Canada and Australia, and has performed in many major festivals. He has taught in Australia, France, Thailand, England, USA, China. He appears to have already a firm basis for an international career. So what is the next step?
Saxophonist Joshua Hyde
Joshua’s project is in two parts “with each part including the creation of new repertoire and performance opportunities…Both push the saxophone in new directions… incorporating innovation and a search for new horizons for the saxophone.” The first takes works from the belle époque du saxophone, composed by Debussy, Caplet and Schmitt. They were written for saxophone and orchestra but would be arranged for saxophone and string quartet and so expand the possibilities for chamber music performances that include saxophone. A French quartet, Arod, will work on the first versions of the arrangements but Joshua plans to perform them with a number of quartets. The second part of the proposal involves Joshua’s duo with Canadian percussionist Noam Bierstone, “scapegoat”. New works have been commissioned from three UK composers, workshopped and a video documentary made of the process. They will be finished in November. Joshua would bring them to Australia for performances in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane. The concert would include also a work by Australian composer Benjamin Carey. Joshua was nominated by Elliot Gyger.
The judges for the Freedman Classical Fellowship 2014 are Stephen Mould, conductor, pianist, Director of the Opera School at Sydney Conservatorium of Music; Benjamin Schwartz, Director of Artistic Planning, Sydney Symphony Orchestra, and Kathryn Selby, pianist, chamber musician and Director of the Selby and Friends national concert series.
You can see the full list of candidates on The Music Trust website at http://musictrust.com.au/freedman/fellowships-‐in-‐2014/
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www.musicinaustralia.org.au
The future of music in Australia Our major Knowledge Base project consists of (1) constructing an economic and statistical map and (2) developing scenarios for the Australian music sector 10 years ahead and beyond.
The project is entering a major phase of evolving preliminary scenarios, which will outline possible outcomes. This requires shedding light on an unknown future to define the most plausible future paths and how to plan for the best outcomes.
How do we go about this pioneering project? Scenario planning is a sophisticated technique which involves detailed analysis of interconnections within and beyond the music sector as well as contact with members of the music sector.
What steps are needed to take to analyse an unknown future? Given that we have a reasonable model of how the music sector functions, a scenario structure comprises one or more focal questions which define the major challenges likely
to be faced. Everything is unknown to different degrees – so the scenario has branches defining the different directions in which a crucial uncertainty can play out. This leads to the scenario outline, which is the story that is created by selecting a particular path to follow among the different branches of uncertainty.
Other things about scenarios: 1. Scenarios are not forecasts (forecasting is futile over such a long period) but are constructed to focus thinking on what could happen. 2. All scenarios should be equally plausible and likely; we can’t assign probabilities to them. 3. Scenarios have to be accepted by the users so user participation at the final stage is important (the art of strategic conversation, as one of the founders of modern scenario planning has called it).
Contributions. We now have a number of fine contributions and have begun to form preliminary scenarios in some areas such as music education and some musical performance genres. Music is very diverse and the scenario planning benefits from having the perspectives of many people from many aspects of
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music and musical life. You are invited to ensure inclusion of your musical area of personal interest by contributing some information. Please contact Hans at [email protected].
Loss of statistics The Australian Bureau of Statistics has confirmed its June media release in its new work plan to 2017-‐18. It must reduce expenditure by $50m over three years.
The revised statistical work program was put into action on 1 July 2014. It was “developed after consultation with key Australian Government agencies”, and will continue to meet “Australia’s core statistical needs”.
Many ABS programs not considered “core” have been discontinued or reduced. They include not just the culture, sport and leisure statistics but also Australia’s progress and social trends which have high cultural significance.
Comparison of the new ABS work plans with the one published in 2013 reveals that two of its 27 statistical programs have gone: Culture and Recreation, and Social and Progress Reporting including the “flagship” Australian Social Trends (final issue 2014), and Measures of Australia’s Progress, which include statistics of our wellbeing, living standards, health, community connections and diversity.
The total impact will be loss of knowledge of Australian cultural and social life, while retaining the broad policy of the 2014-‐15 Budget which favours big business. The Australia Council’s budget also left the big-‐spending organisations largely untouched while removing an estimated 20% from the budget available for the rest of the arts represented by creative individual artists and small organisations.
As an advocate for Australia’s musical world including this alleged “non-‐core” activity, the Music Trust and its Knowledge Base will continue to argue for better statistical recognition, and better recognition of all aspects of Australian musical life and its socio-‐economic importance. There is a lot of ground to cover.
New on the Knowledge Base The major addition this month is on live performances in Australia, based on the annual survey by Ernst & Young for Live Performance Australia.
We now have 10 years of data, from 2004 to 2013. The survey covers individual “event categories” ranging from contemporary music concerts, musical theatre and festivals to classical music, opera, ballet and theatre. Music-‐related events accounted for 82% of the industry’s revenue in 2012. Attendances at contemporary music concerts increased by 129% from 2004 to 2013; all other music categories plus theatre by only 23%. Close to half of all the live performance industry’s revenue from ticketing was from contemporary music concerts in 2013. For detail : http://musicinaustralia.org.au/index.php?title=The_Australian_Live_Performance_Industry.
Richard Letts’s article on culture in the context of international trade agreements, first published in June, has been renamed The Cultural Exception. Read it at http://musicinaustralia.org.au/index.php?title=The_Cultural_Exception.
Regular news and commentary (Access from home page, right column):
• Letter from New York (monthly)
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• Jig’s Up (monthly) • Music and book reviews (monthly) • Music World News (fortnightly) • Blogs (as they arrive)
Music in Australia Knowledge Base Editor Hans Hoegh-‐Guldberg
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MUSIC EDUCATION
THE FULL DEAL CAMPAIGN FOR SCHOOL MUSIC EDUCATION
Federal Ministers: arts education is important The National Advocates for Arts Education met recently in Brisbane, and welcomed the Federal Arts Minister’s adviser, Michael Napthali, to one of its sessions.
NAAE was pleased to hear that there had been agreement between Ministerial offices (Arts Minister Brandis and Education Minister Pyne) about the importance of arts education, and the centrality of the arts to a liberal education. The meeting noted NAAE’s support for Minister Brandis’s statement about “taking the arts to a new place of creative excellence”.
Members of NAAE agreed that:
• Five art forms in the curriculum are essential.
• Teacher professional learning in the arts requires further attention.
• NAAE would gather with case studies about the rollout of the new Arts curriculum, and the ways in which cultural organisations are promoting ongoing student engagement in the arts with sustainable teacher learning models. This information would be shared with the federal arts and education Ministers.
• Technology cannot replace face-‐to-‐face teaching and learning in the arts, particularly in regional, cultural and remote communities.
• Issues of sustainability and accessibility of arts education programs need to be addressed.
• Resourcing teacher learning in the arts is a major issue.
• Creative Education Partnership and Artist-‐in-‐Residence programs need further improvement, e.g. more focus on teacher learning.
It was agreed that NAAE would request a meeting with Ministerial staff from both offices in Canberra to pursue these goals.
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The Full Deal campaign will relaunch The first phase of the campaign gather 6,600 signatures for a petition to Ministers for Education. It is judged that this is insufficient to persuade Ministers to act. The campaign website is being redesigned to be used as a social networking tool and so be better able to pull in signatories from outside the music education circle.
Music Trust Award for Research into the Benefits of Music Education Submissions have been received from contenders for the award. Judges appointed by the Australian and New Zealand Association for Research in Music Education and the Australian Music and Psychology Association are about to review them and choose the award winner. The winner will be announced in early November.
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REVIEWS & BLOGS SEPTEMBER CD REVIEWS CLICK THROUGH to the reviews on The Music Trust website
Backblocks
Sam Bates, with Marc Hannaford, Philip Rex Jazz Newmarket NEW3334.2 Reviewed by Gavin Franklin.
Butterfly Modernism: Chamber Music by Eve Duncan
Silo String Quartet, Speak Percussion, other artists Classical, New Music 2 CDs, Move MD 3362. Reviewed by Anthony Linden Jones,
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Guess I’ll Hang My Tears Out
Kristin Berardi, vocals, James Sherlock, guitar Jazz Self-release. Reviewed by Chris Cody,
Monash Art Ensemble
Monash Art Ensemble and the Australian Art Orchestra Big Band, Improvisation, Jazz, JazzHead, Head171 Reviewed by Chris Cody,
One
Claire Edwardes, solo percussion Classical, New Music. Tall Poppies Records TP223 Reviewed by Michael Hannan,
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Pierrot
Felucca. Jazz Jazzgroove Records (JGR063) Reviewed by Joseph Cummins,
The Classic 100: Baroque and Before
Many Australian and international soloists, ensembles and orchestras. Classical, Early Music 8-CD box set, ABC Classics 482 0818 Reviewed by Mandy Stefanakis,
The Shepherd and the Mermaid. German Romantic Rarities for piano, voice and clarinet
Trio Kroma: Elena Xanthoudakis soprano, Jason Xanthoudakis clarinet, Clemens Leske piano. Classical Move MCD 472 Reviewed by Inge Southcott,
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Tokyo 1972
Teletopa. Improvisation Splitrec 23 Reviewed by Joseph Cummins,
Wave Rider
Andrea Keller Quartet with Strings. Improvisation, Jazz, New Music Jazzhead, Head191 Reviewed by Tim Rollinson,
Wear More Headbands
The Grid. Electronic Music, Jazz listen/hear collective Reviewed by Steve Paraskos,
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SEPTEMBER BOOK REVIEWS CLICK THROUGH to the reviews on The Music Trust website
Serious Fun: The Life and Music of Mike Nock
Norman Meehan. Biography, Wellington, NZ: Victoria University Press, 2010 Reviewed by Tony Mitchell,
The Best Years of Our Lives: Richard Clapton
Richard Clapton. Biography, Crows Nest: Allen and Unwin 2014. 337 Pages Reviewed by David Mayocchi,
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The Music of Peter Sculthorpe
John Peterson. Musicology Sydney: Wildbird Music, 2014, 220 pages Reviewed by Gordon Kerry,
The Music of Richard Meale
Michael Hannan. Musicology Sydney: Wildbird Music Pty Ltd, 2014, 187pp. Reviewed by Robyn Holmes, _____________________________________________________________________
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BLOGS
Letter from New York (Andrew Byrne). Andrew is an Australian who is Director of Festivals and Special Projects at Carnegie Hall.
www.musicinaustralia.org.au, right hand column.
This month, he describes
Jig’s Up. News and ruminations
http://musictrust.com.au/category/blog/jigs-‐up/
This month, joining the dots in the Dandenongs, wonderful orchestra revealed, world music in Melbourne, baroque negotiations in Hobart, Bennett’s Lane to close, cracking your knuckles and some country music song titles. For instance: “I’m just a bug on the windscreen of life”.
Dick’s Blog. (Richard Letts). http://musictrust.com.au/category/blog/dicks-blog-blog/ “Opera Australia doesn’t need government funding.” Loose talk dissected.
Sculthorpe, the great encourager. Reminiscences after the death of composer Peter Sculthorpe
To be good or to be famous? Forensics on the new Australia Council Strategic Plan, A Culturally Ambitious Nation.
Briony’s Blog http://musictrust.com.au/category/blog/brionys-‐blog/
Our glorious leaders. They don’t lead and they can’t follow. That is, they don’t seem to follow the argument supported by research showing the value of music education and if they do follow it, they still do nothing about it.
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BURNING ISSUES The 11 Commandments: A Code of Conduct for Artist Managers The Association of Artist Managers (AAM) has developed a code of conduct for its members. AAT asks: As a manager, do you know what the industry expects of you?
Do you provide ethical, professional and innovative services? As a manager you’ve been entrusted the special gift of an artist’s career, and it’s your job to guide, advise and co-‐ordinate them through an increasingly complex, non-‐transparent and investment-‐intensive industry. This is a way to ensure worlds-‐best practice and ethical standards in a profession that is otherwise relatively free of regulation.
There has long been dissatisfaction with the performance of some artist managers on grounds of lack of expertise or ethics. People get into this work because it looks exciting, or cool, but lack the necessary skills. It will be very helpful to have some benchmarks, some standards.
The Code will be launched at Big Sound, just too late for comment here. We’ll find a way to catch up.
Moorambilla Festival concert Everyone should know about the extraordinary Moorambilla project in Coonamble in outback NSW. Organised by Michelle Leonard and the Leichhardt Espresso Chorus, the project is bring skills and experiences to this region that would make many metro areas jealous.
The work is showcased at the festival concert on September 20 featuring original Australian music created for Moorambilla Voices Regional Boys and Regional Girls Choirs and the MAXed Out Company. Performances by The Song Company and TaikOz as well as chamber ensemble with Associate Concertmaster from the Sydney Symphony Orchestra Kirsten Williams, saxophonist Christina Leonard and pianist Ben Burton.
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Conducted by Michelle Leonard, the concert will turn the Coonamble Pavilion into another world with backdrop and interior by Walgett artist Frank Wright, textile artist Fiona Fagan and digitally animated opals projected onto lanterns by Bob Smith from the Australian Opal Centre in Lightning Ridge. Stay after the concert for Phil Relf's famous fire sculptures and say hello!
The funding for this type of project was cut in the current Federal budget.
For more on Moorambilla: http://musicinaustralia.org.au/index.php?title=Moorambilla_Voices:_Up_Close_in_Remote_NSW
New music theatre projects under the ANZAC Fund The Federal Minister for the Arts, Senator George Brandis, and the Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for the Centenary of Anzac, Senator Michael Ronaldson, have announced funding for eight arts and cultural projects as part of the commemorations under the $2m Anzac Centenary Arts and Culture Fund. The successful projects receive $705,000. They were chosen by a Creative Advisory Panel, led by Sir Jonathan Mills. It appears that the Australia Council was absent.
Two of the eight projects are in music theatre:
The Production Company (Australia) Limited: The Silver Donkey, $100,000. A new family-‐oriented musical based on the novel by the Australian author, Sonya Hartnett and adapted by award winning musical theatre writers Dean Bryant and Mathew Frank. The Silver Donkey is set during World War One, with three children and a soldier who is blind as the central characters. The musical tells how the children's lives are changed by the stories he tells them.
Victoria Opera Company Ltd: Remembrance, $45,000. A new work called Remembrance, which will explore and commemorate the Australian experience during World War One through story, song and image, referencing the popular songs of WWI.
Sydney Conservatorium adds contemporary music degree Sydney Con is a late starter in the contemporary music area. Many other Australian conservatoriums have instituted courses.
The degree is a Bachelor or Music Studies (Contemporary Music). It will begin in March 2015. Associate Prof Charles Fairchild says that students will have ”people currently in the industry in various capacities running workshops on marketing, presenting yourself, how to get your music played on radio, how to link up with people in the television industry for potential licensing agreements, how to go about soliciting interest from venues, and how to deal with promoters.” Working collaboratively, students will build experience presenting their work with the chance to critically reflect on their practice.
“The points of difference to similar programs running in major cities across the country are based largely on the research pursuits of staff members, combined with the specific interests of students.We want students to do critical essay writing and analysis of existing music. We want them to critically reflect on their own practice, and we want the work of other students or their peers to influence their work as well.
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“One thing that is very clear about the way in which the whole music industry is trending is towards ever-‐increasing diversity stylistically, but also an increasing internationalisation, especially in countries like Australia. We want students to be prepared for that.”
Australian jazz and the music of other cultures Australian jazz seems to be increasingly engaging with music of other cultures, especially Asian cultures. The Australian Art Orchestra is about to host a “Creative Music Intensive” at the Tanks Arts Centre in Cairns. The 10-‐day workshop is billed as the “inaugural” Intensive and will focus on the music of Korea, presumably with other countries to follow in coming years. The guest Korean improvising musician is p’ansori singer Bae Il Dong of whom an SMH critic wrote: “If volcanoes could sing, then they would sound like Bae Il Dong.” Five young traditional Korean instrumentalists from Seoul will also participate, along with emerging Australian musicians. September 17-‐26. Info: [email protected]
Kerrie Biddell and Alan Turnbull Craig Scott writes: It is with deep regret that I wish to inform all colleagues that two greats of Australian Jazz have passed away in the last nine days.
Alan Turnbull was widely regarded as the doyen of jazz drummers in Australia for many years, and taught in the jazz unit at the Sydney Conservatorium for many years in the 1980's and 90's. Kerrie Biddell likewise taught at the SCM for many years, and was involved with the jazz unit until her sudden passing last week on Thursday. She, like Alan, had a stellar career in music. They will be sorely missed by all those who were influenced by their great musicianship and friendship.
Change of line-‐up for the Australian String Quartet The Board Chairman, Paul Clitheroe, has announced that after a forthcoming tour of China, the membership of the Adelaide-‐based quartet will change again. There are “irreconcilable artistic differences” among the members.
Violinists Kristian Winther and Ioana Tache will go, violist Stephen King and cellist Sharon Draper will stay. They are all wonderful players, but one suspects that the exceptional performances this year may have depended upon the leader. Are we looking at artistic differences or personal differences. This would not be the first quartet to break up because the members could not manage their personal relationships.
Australia Council announces a new strategic plan The plan is required under its new legislation and will oblige it to take a considered view of its medium term objectives and to subject them to inspection by the Commonwealth Minister for the Arts.
The new plan scuppers the Labor government’s Creative Australia, a policy painstakingly developed over a few years with lots of input from the arts sector. That is a pity and really can be explained only by the aggressive partisanship of the current government.
However, it still can be assessed on its merits. Dick Letts has written a blog and you can see it at http://musictrust.com.au/2014/08/to-‐be-‐good-‐or-‐to-‐be-‐famous/
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National Opera Review Terms of Reference Minister Brandis has announced them. They can be seen here: http://www.attorneygeneral.gov.au/Mediareleases/Pages/2014/ThirdQuarter/3September2014-‐TermsOfReferenceForNationalOperaReview.aspx
Only the opera companies supported through the Australia Council as major performing arts companies are included: Opera Australia, Opera Queensland, State Opera of South Australia and West Australian Opera. Therefore excluded are the Victorian Opera and the small professional companies Chamber Made Opera, Pinchgut Opera and Sydney Chamber Opera.
The Terms of Reference include review of:
Financial: The companies’ ongoing financial viability. Effectiveness and efficiency; competitive dynamics; workplace arrangements including workforce flexibility [there’s a dangerous word]; cost and value of the assets; corporate structures, management and governance. Co-‐operation among the companies. Comparisons with comparable opera companies internationally. The rationale and role of government funding.
Artistic: Ongoing artistic vitality, including the artistic vibrancy of the companies and the relationship with their financial strength; analysis of the ways the delivery of opera in Australia contributes to the development of artists, musicians and other practitioners from the early to later stages of their careers. [Good}
Access: The extent of access provided by the companies and the way that interrelates with their artistic vibrancy and financial viability. Education programs: ways to broaden and increase audience engagement across all Australian states.
“The Review may also examine and report on any other issues it considers relevant or incidental. The Review will consult with stakeholders, including state governments, as is thought necessary. It will report to the Australian Government Minister for the Arts by 30 June 2015.”
As you can see, consideration of repertoire is omitted though it is becoming one of the most contentious issues.
So far, we are not aware of an invitation to make submissions but assume it will be forthcoming.
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