Australian Music

rest #7 celebrates new music, with two exclusively Australian concert programs featuring world premieres from Deborah Cheetham AO and Rhyan Clapham a.k.a. DOBBY. This issue also includes an interview with returning guest pianist Kristian Chong.

Composed over just eight days in 1960, Malcolm Williamson described the piece as ‘an overtly Australian work aiming at spontaneity and vigour rather than profundity.’

I am no longer the same person, composer, soprano as the one who entered into 2020 in good faith. Am I more? Am I less? Time will tell. For now I am content to emerge and see what path can be forged.

Solace considers the accelerated regenerative processes that follow extreme levels of fire and natural disaster. The material functions in orbits, presenting the multi-dimensional process of regeneration that is one of both life and death, beginning and end.

Eric Avery is a creative polymath: a Ngiyampaa, Gumbangirr, Bandjalang and Yuin artist, trained in classical violin, composition and dance. Avery’s work traverses the natural and the man-made, bringing together ancient tradition and language with contemporary technology and production techniques.

The piece was commissioned as a work that could celebrate the natural beauty of the Byron Bay area, alongside a celebration of the voices of women. This suite reflects upon three female figures and interprets their voices musically in a series of ‘songs for the hours,’ musical pieces intended for the passage of the day.

Mirage was commissioned by the Canberra International Music Festival in 2012 for a concert celebrating the works of Manning Clark, performed by Kiri Sollis and Michael Askill. It featured in The Griffyn Ensemble’s Cloudy With A Chance of Rain, with the above introduction from former weatherman and geomorphologist Rob Gell. Mirage involves both musicians seemingly chasing each other – both musically, and physically – inspired by imagery from the Australian desert.

Acclaimed Australian pianist Kristian Chong shares insights into his musical journey ahead of his return to the Llewellyn Hall mainstage.

A proud Murrawarri and Filipino rapper, drummer and composer, Rhyan Clapham isn’t afraid to push creative boundaries and draw together diverse influences, from classical to hip hop.

The Canberra Symphony Orchestra’s (CSO) Chamber Ensemble returns to the National Museum of Australia on 28 July for Collective Memory, an incisive program of contemporary classical music exploring history, memory and power.