Australian Series: Hearing the Land

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.