Cat Hope | Speechless Speechless (2019) is a contemporary Australian opera for four vocal soloists, bass orchestra and community choirs composed by Cat Hope. The work challenges contemporary notions of the operatic, creating an alternative libretto where words do not feature and no intended narrative is provided. Instead, Speechless communicates its intent to address a…
Giving Voice: Lior, Lou Bennett & Nigel Westlake Ngapa William Cooper came out of a rich collaboration between composer Nigel Westlake, singer-songwriter Lior, and performer and academic Dr Lou Bennett, exploring the story of Yorta Yorta activist William Cooper. In 1938 William Cooper led the Australian Aborigines’ League through the streets of Melbourne in the only…
Giving Voice: Sunny Kim Sunny Kim invited a group of musicians from different musical and cultural backgrounds to share stories of migration, dislocation and motherhood. Here, Sunny, Aviva Endean, Gelarah Pour & Mindy Meng Wang talk about mothers and motherlands, memory, longing and the act of making this piece together.
Crystal Pite | Polaris Created in response to Thomas Adès’ vast and formidable Polaris. A cast of 60 dancers in the spiralling structures inspired by Adès’ creation, and an ensemble of 65 musicians playing in the orchestra pit and in the auditorium. Filmed with three cameras, clear and crisp sound recording throughout the auditorium by brilliant Mike Hatch of Floating…
Mark Anthony Turnage | Junior Addict Excerpt from a 5 minute film featuring saxophonist Martin Robertson and Django Bates, and shot by Jeff Baynes in a derelict warehouse on the Isle of Dogs, east London. The building had been used for filming London’s Burning but was then burnt-out, abandoned and inhabited by weeds and stray…
A short edited excerpt of Plane Song, a 30 minute Sound on Film for the BBC. The BBC invited collaborations between film makers and composers to make a film with an original score or soundtrack. I approached South African composer Kevin Volans and together we planed the film: the structure, look, sound world and location. Filmed…