Category: Artists


Meet the Musicians – Phoebe Green

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September 29, 2012

green-phoebe.jpgPhoebe Green, a violist and curator, is a regular figure in the new music scene in Melbourne. A passionate advocate of Australian composers with a unique voice, she focuses on twentieth-century and current and exploratory repertoire. Phoebe has commissioned numerous works for viola and other instruments from various composers, including James Rushford, Helen Gifford, Alistair Noble, Lisa Illean, Wally Gunn and David Chisholm.

As part of New Music Network’s 2014 Mini Series, Phoebe performed with percussionist Leah Scholes in a program celebrating works commissioned by Phoebe since 2005. She attended the 47th International Summer Course for New Music in Darmstadt, Germany, and was awarded a Stipendienpreis for Interpretation. Phoebe returned to Darmstadt in 2016 and was also part of the Australian delegation to Classical:NEXT in Rotterdam.  In 2015 Phoebe performed solos with Arcko Symphonic Project and ASTRA, presented a solo recital at BIFEM to great acclaim, was guest artist in residence with the Amplified Elephants and had a baby. Phoebe recently released a recording with Leah Scholes of her 2009 commission, The Arrival, composed by David Chisholm.

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Meet the musicians – Leah Scholes

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Leah Scholes

Leah Scholes

Leah is passionate about imagination, delight, and pathos. Co-founder of The Sound Collectors (percussion duo) and The Flying Tapirs (theatrical-music duo), Leah has worked with Speak Percussion, Barking Spider Visual Theatre, Chunky Move, The National Institute of Circus Arts, Strange Fruit and Synergy Percussion, among others.

 

She also performs regularly with Symphony Orchestras across Australia, New Zealand and Malaysia. Leah has studied internationally with both improviser Fritz Hauser in Switzerland, and master drummer Aly N’Diaye Rose in Senegal. In addition to her musical pursuits, she is also studying midwifery and nursing, and exploring the role of the arts within health care.

 

 

 

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Meet the Musicians – Yvette Audain

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Yvette Audain

Yvette Audain was born and raised in Auckland, New Zealand, where prior to her Australian arrival in January 2012, she had invested in a career as a busy, renowned musician and composer.

Yvette, whose instruments are clarinet, saxophones, recorders and Irish whistles, has worked professionally in a variety of genres: classical (Auckland Philharmonia; New Zealand Opera), military band (the full-time Royal New Zealand Navy Band), Celtic-style originals (trio ‘Doris’), gypsy (the Benka Boradovsky Bordello Band), and many more situations in between.

However, Yvette’s principal performance interest is early jazz. She has had the honour of leading the reed section of Brett’s New Internationals, New Zealand’s only authentic 1920s dance orchestra, developing her stylistic knowledge through transcribing and learning by ear solos by such masters as Johnny Hodges and Coleman Hawkins. Yvette subsequently went on to lead a smaller ensemble affiliated to ‘APOPS’, the Auckland Philharmonia (APO) education programme, performing to school audiences around the Auckland region. So far in Melbourne, Yvette has become a member of the all-female Dixieland jazz band Frilly Knickers, and is in the process of forming her own smaller jazz ensembles and duos.

Yvette enjoys a productive, ever-rewarding career as a composer – a recent achievement in this area includes having her work ‘Eulogy’ read and recorded by the APO in their 2010 Graduate Composer Workshop. The work was programmed in the APO concert ‘Works With Words’ in association with the 2011 Readers and Writers’ Festival. Since 2008 she has been a member of the APO’s talented team of arrangers, and has had another commission ‘Felix the Cat: The Magic Bag’ (score for short cartoon film) performed by the APO Wind Quintet.
March 2011 brought the impressively well-attended ‘Grooves Unspoken: Music by Yvette Audain’, a self-curated programme consisting entirely of Yvette’s own music, at St Lukes Church, Remuera, Auckland. This was in proud association with the 2011 Auckland Fringe Festival.

Yvette holds a Bachelor of Music in composition and clarinet from the University of Auckland, and a Bachelor of Music (First Class Honours) in composition and ethnomusicology from Victoria University of Wellington, where she subsequently completed her Master of Music (with Merit) in composition.

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Meet the Composers – Nat Grant

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September 26, 2012
ImageNat Grant has been playing drumkit and percussion since she was 15, and completed a Bachelor and Masters of Music (Performance) at the Victorian College of the Arts (University of Melbourne). She has studied a variety of solo and ensemble repertoire and worked in the fields of improvisation, composition and inter-disciplinary collaboration.Since 2006 Nat has devised, performed and recorded her own music both in Australia and overseas, creating original musical works alongside other artists and in her own right. Nat has toured the US twice as a solo performer, and has subsequently developed creative relationships with several other artists and educators. Her online collaboration with Californian bass player Steve Uccello has resulted in two completed recording projects and, in 2011, several US performances and a television appearance. In 2011 Natpresented a clinic at PASIC in Indianapolis on live looping and digital processing as performance and compositional tools for percussionists.Nat has developed her own performances to incorporate acoustic and semi-acoustic percussion instruments, loops and various forms of digital manipulation. Her music explores intersections between acoustic and electronic environments, and between composition and improvisation. She performs solo and in improvised ensembles, and has been employed as composer for new and independent theatre, puppetry, dance and film works.

Nat is currently undertaking research towards her PhD, comprising a year-long composition project incorporating a blog and online sound diary, with a new recording posted daily. The project is called ‘Momentum’ and is a chance for Nat to use the internet and recording technology to delve deeper into her compositional processes in a very public way. She also incorporates found sound and existing recordings into the work. Nat invites feedback to the project: recorded, written or otherwise:

http://momentumproject.blogspot.com
http://natgrantmusic.com

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Meet the musicians – Laila Engle

Filed under: Artists, Homophonic!, Immersion, Musicians — 5 Comments
January 17, 2012
Photo by Jane Zhang

Laila Engle’s diverse work as a performer, educator, and producer is unified by a commitment to crafting performances that affect, compel and engage with Australia’s heritage.

As Co-Artistic Director of award-winning Australian chamber group, Syzygy Ensemble (First Prize, Australian Concerto and Vocal Competition; Contemporary Masters Award, Melbourne Recital Centre; Helpmann Award Nominee), Engle has curated close to a decade worth of performances at the Melbourne Recital Centre, developed two chamber operas, (The Apology of Bony Anderson by Barry Congyham, Miss Donnithorne’s Maggot by Peter Maxwell Davies), toured internationally, and premiered programs at Melbourne Festival in collaboration with Songmakers, Merlyn Quaife and Ballet Lab. A celebrated collaborator and artistic director, she has also appeared with Arcko Symphonic Ensemble, Orchestra Victoria, and the Consort of Melbourne, and in features performances at Metropolis New Music Festival, White Night, and Bendigo International Festival of Exploratory Music.

The depth of Laila’s connection to the Australian arts industry cannot be overstated. She is the proud recipient of an Art Start development grant, a graduate of the Auspicious Arts Incubator program, and maintains a busy performance schedule as a flautist with the Royal Australian Air Force including representational tours to Malaysia, Turkey and the Solomon Islands.

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Meet the Composers – Wally Gunn

Filed under: Artists, Composers, Homophonic! — 2 Comments
January 15, 2012

Wally Gunn

Wally spent his early years in Melbourne, Australia, playing in rock bands, then completing an Honours degree in Composition at the Victorian College of the Arts. After graduating, he worked with fellow composers Kate Neal and Biddy Connor in Dead Horse Productions to stage concerts of new music in unusual venues. He also provided original music for several Melbourne theatre companies, including The Eleventh Hour, The Shrimp Company and ITCH Productions (Catalpa, Green Room nomination for Best Composition); co-wrote a musical with Wes Snelling for Platform Youth Theatre; and contributed songs to Snelling’s cabaret (Kiosk, Green Room nomination for Best Original Songs). He moved to New York in 2008 to undertake a Masters in Composition at the Manhattan School of Music. Since relocating, he has created original music for three productions by New York’s The Actors Company Theatre, and recently provided the soundtrack for a video installation by artist Matthew Sleeth. Wally is currently a Graduate Fellow at Princeton University.

3 Shades Black is excited to premiere Wallys new work: “There might have been a time”.

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Meet the Musicians – Atticus

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January 11, 2012

Atticus, a string quartet for the 21st century.

3 Shades Black is thrilled to announce that Atticus will be performing “Breathing through a hole” by Amy Bastow.

Atticus has drawn players from Melbourne’s leading and emerging new music ensembles to create a string quartet dedicated to the highest quality performance of the world’s finest new music.

Since meeting at the Victorian College of the Arts, Zac, Lizzy, Phoebe and Judy have been playing together for the past eight years. Individually and in various combinations, the members of Atticus have appeared with with Golden Fur, Quiver, Silo String Quartet, Dead Horse Ensemble, the Arcko Symphonic Project, Sunwrae Ensemble, the BOLT ensemble and the Gilmour Ensemble to name a few.

Members of Atticus have appeared and been involved with the Melbourne International Arts Festival (2005 – 2011), The Brisbane International Arts Festival (2009), Melbourne International Jazz Festival (2010-11), Stonnington Jazz Festival (2008), Eltham Jazz Festival (2010), The Famous Spiegeltent (2006, 2008, 2009), Bangalow Music Festival (2007), Castlemaine State Festival (2001 – 2011), Liquid Architecture (2010), New Music Network Mini Series (2009), Woodford Folk Festival (2009), Port Fairy Folk Festival (2001), Apollo Bay Folk Festival (2001, 2011), and Cygnet Folk Festival (1998, 2001, 2004, 2008 – 2011).

Individual members have performed world premieres of; David Chisholm, Wally Gunn, James Rushford, Alexander Garsden, Kate Neal, Mark Pollard, Natasha Anderson, Luke Paulding, Cat Hope, Robert Dahm, James Hullick, Eve Duncan, Brenton Broadstock and Marco Fusinato.

Atticus successfully debuted at fortyfivedownstairs to a capacity crowd in March 2011.

This wealth of experience, both in Australia and overseas, has given Atticus an unparalleled foundation in global contemporary music.

For more information on Atticus, please visit their website:  http://www.atticusquartet.com/Atticus/Atticus.html
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Meet the Composers – Grade 3/4, Balikpapan.

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September 19, 2011

Artists depiction

We are a Grade 3/4 class at an Australian International School in Balikpapan, East Kalimantan, Borneo. Our cultural heritage is diverse; we come from South Africa, Ireland, Indonesia, America, India, Singapore, Australia and Greece. We speak a mixture of languages and have a million unique experiences. Our classroom teacher is Miss Felicity Mitchell, and she teaches us all subjects including Choir, Art and Music. We created these visual scores at school by using textas, pencils and black markers on paper. We are excited about our debut as composers and we hope we get really famous.

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Meet the Composers – Alan Lee

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Alan Lee

Alan is a policy analyst by day and musician by night with bents on the side including graphic design and sustainability.

Trained from a young age in piano and later trombone, he has worked since the mid-90s as an instrumentalist, composer and musical coach with diverse soloists and ensembles from children to adults.

His output includes a chamber opera staged at Melbourne Museum, works performed by Melbourne Symphony, Orchestra Victoria, Duo Sol, Song Company and Speak Percussion as well as film and theatre music. Most recently he staged a concert of Australian music and images in a 14th century Chinese temple as part of the Year of Australian Culture in China.

In addition to a Bachelor of Music, he holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Melbourne and an interdisciplinary Masters from ANU. Since 2010 he has been based in Beijing where he works on climate change programs. http://alandavidlee.wordpress.com

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Meet the Musicians/Composer – Stephanie Kabanyana

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September 18, 2011

Stephanie Kabanyana, photo by Yacek.

Following on from a degree in Music Composition and subsequent studies in Arts Education and Administration, Stéphanie is now the Director of Art Kabanyana.
Originally born from a desire to assist, develop and promote young emerging artists who are impeded by challenging officialdom and administration, Art Kabanyana has in time become the neurocentre for Stéphanie’s many hats: A Manager in Production, Project, Arts Administration and School Programs, to Producer, Sound Designer, Performance Artist and Composer. The company focusses on projects engaging in multicultural and community arts and development, new music, and indigenous music education. 
Recently, Stéphanie has worked with Creative Original Music Adelaide, Musica Viva Ménage, Arena Theatre Company, Next Wave, The Collingwood Underground Arts Park, Richmond Housing Estate Moon Lantern Festival, and The Substation.
Currently, Stéphanie is focussing her energy into being the School Programs Manager at Music Outback Foundation, as well as collaborating with Miranda Hill in 3 Shades Black New Music Ensemble and co-founding Melbourne’s newest community development organisation, Collaborative Cultures.
Stephanie has created a score working with Caitlyn Murphy.
Caitlyn is a recent graduate of Griffith University’s Bachelor of Multimedia, majoring in Film and TV Production. Caitlyn’s most recent projects include working with Brisbane’s Anti Poverty Week Campaign, Link Up’s touring exhibition Sustaining Connections, and Music Outback Foundation’s 2011 MOBFEST Tanami Festival. Caitlyn currently works with Link Up Queensland in the Media and Multimedia Team.

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