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Meg Travers plays the trautonium at PICA for the Totally Huge New Music Festival October 25, 2017

Posted by bohdan.warchomij in : Metaphor Online, Tura New Music , comments closed

The Trautonium is a monophonic electronic musical instrument invented[1] about 1929 by Friedrich Trautwein in Berlin at the Musikhochschule’s music and radio lab, the Rundfunkversuchstelle.[2] Soon Oskar Sala joined him, continuing development until Sala’s death in 2002.

The Trautonium was one of the world’s first electronic instruments.

It uses subharmonic synthesis and frequency shifters and is played on a ribbon controller, which Ms Travers runs her fingers up and down to release sound from the machine.

Ms Travers built her Trautonium as part of a PhD at the West Australian Academy of Performing Arts.

“It’s an instrument that was invented in 1929 in Germany by a gentleman named Dr Friedrich Trautwein, and then taken over by a man called Oskar Sala,” she said.

SOUNDCLOUD: Listen to Meg Travers play the Trautonium

“What I’m interested in is preservations of those electronic musical instruments that have gotten to a state where they are obsolete or unplayable, because we lose the pieces of music that have been written for them.”

Although it is less than 100 years old, Ms Travers discovered that the only Trautoniums left were preserved in German museums and not available to players or audiences.

That was when she set about building her own.

Last night she played with Decibel with her trautonium. Her performance and Decibel’s Electronic Concerto was a mind blowing experience.

The ‘concerto’ is one of the most familiar of classical music forms – a virtuosic solo performer in front of the orchestra.
Decibel present a series of newly commissioned works composed for ensemble and electronic soloist, reworking the concept to put the spotlight on electronic instruments, with the ensemble taking on the role of the orchestra. The works feature soloists performing on instruments such as a digital Trautonium, laptop, Theremin, mobile phones, tactile electronics, bass guitar, electric harp and a pile of speakers.

Featuring world premieres by composers Catherine Ashley (WA), Pedro Alvarez (WA), Cat Hope (VIC), Stuart James (WA), Jos Mulder (WA), Mark Olivero (NSW), Dan Thorpe (SA), Christopher Tonkin (WA) and Meg Travers (WA).

There are more extraordinary performances in store before the festival winds up on Sunday the 29th of October at the Midland Workshops.

Check the Tura Website for info.

www.tura.com.au

The Totally Huge New Music Festival 2017: Rehearsing for Breaking Out October 15, 2017

Posted by bohdan.warchomij in : Metaphor Online, Tura New Music , comments closed

The Breaking Out concert is a proud tradition of the biennial Totally Huge New Music Festival that celebrates emerging Western Australian composers and performers. Audiences are invited to an evening of interesting and inspiring compositions from graduating students from the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts and the University of Western Australia’s School of Music, as well as those spreading their wings beyond the institutions.

Embracing the Irrational: The Sonic Arts in a Post-Factual World
Keynote Speaker: Anne LeBaron (CalArts)

Over the last century art movements such as Dada, Surrealism, Fluxus and Neoisms such as the Luther Blissett movement and Australia’s Ern Malley hoax responded to the world around them by embracing the irrational as the basis of their creative agendas. In a media-rich contemporary environment in which facts are displaced by feelings, emotion and intuition – previously the lowly province of the arts  and “soft sciences” – where do composition and sonic art practices stand? How are composers, music creatives and sonic artists responding to the new century of “post-truth”?

The Totally Huge New Music Festival Conference is presented by Tura New Music, in association with the University of Western Australia, and with Edith Cowan University, including the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts. The conference is supported by the State Library of Western Australia.

https://www.tura.com.au/tura-program/thnmfc2017/

Keith Tippett: Free Jazz Pianist and Composer at the State Theatre Centre Wednesday 7th of December 7.30 pm December 6, 2016

Posted by bohdan.warchomij in : Metaphor Online, Tura New Music , comments closed

 

Djuna Lee Double Bass Photo Bohdan Warchomij

For the first time, internationally acclaimed UK free jazz pianist and composer Keith Tippett has undertaken a musical residency in Australia. The final performance is at the State Theatre  Centre on Wednesday the 7th December.  It has been an honour documenting rehearsals and performances  for Tura at the State Theatre and observing Keith Tippet’s sensitivity and humble genius in action. Importantly this performance is the last in the series. It is not to be missed.

He has spent a number of weeks collaborating at the State Theatre of Western Australia, ahead of a one-off concert with Perth jazz musicians.

Widely recognised as one of the most distinctive and radical pioneers in contemporary jazz and improvised music, Tippett first gained prominence in London in the 1960s with his Sextet and ground-breaking 50-piece ensemble, Centipede. Today, with over 40 years of performance, composition, recordings, broadcasts, film scores, and youth education projects behind him, Tippett brings a wealth of experience to this Residency.

Keith Tippett Photo Bohdan Warchomij

Over the course of the Residency, Tippett has collaborated, improvised, inspired and performed with selected ensembles from the Western Australian Youth Jazz Orchestra (WAYJO), Tura Music’s  own iMprov Program, and of course, the especially selected Mujician Mosaic band.

 Recognised as a pioneer in contemporary jazz and improvised music, Tippett first gained prominence in London in the 1960s with his sextet and later with his 50-piece ensemble, Centipede.

Since then he has been performing, recording, composing music and film scores and leading youth education projects around the world.

Photo Bohdan Warchomij

Photo Bohdan Warchomij

Photo Bohdan Warchomij

 

 

Scale Variable New Chamber Music Series: The Calm Before Sounstrom Photos Bohdan Warchomij November 3, 2016

Posted by bohdan.warchomij in : Metaphor Online, Scale Variable, Tura New Music , comments closed

The richness of performance at the Studio Underground State Theatre Company last night was special.  Performers  at Studio Underground for Scale Variable Concert 3/4 included Joan Wright on Double Bass, Tristan Parr Violincello, Flautist Kirsten Smith, Pianist Dobromila Jaskot,, Harpist Catherine Ashley. Percussion Louise Devenish, Composers Pedro Alvarez and Domink Karski. The concert explored instruments and techniques of sound production that were challenging and asked questions of the performers. This was a Tura New Music Event.

Photos Bohdan Warchomij