3 Shades Black

“Dancing with somebody” is a dynamic and blistering string quartet, bringing audiences to their feet, both in applause and the need to dance! Inspired by the life, career, and tragic demise of iconic diva Whitney Houston. Snippets from her hit tunes are woven deftly into the texture, and the music moves from groove to chaos and back again.

Hear it live, and experience it for yourself on 13th June at Ballarat Frolic Festival, and 7th November at Shepparton OUT in the OPEN festival.

Homophonic! is bringing it’s special blend of music, queer stories, and outlandish technique to the Ballarat Frolic Festival!

June 12,

3:30-4:30

Minerva Room.

Tickets here!

Excerpts from Moonlite, Music: Wally Gunn, Words: Maria Zajkowski.

Dancing with Somebody: Joe Twist

Shimmer: Louisa Trewartha. Written inspired by Bendigo’s Max Primmer.

Safe Hands: Naima Fine. Written inspired by Ballarat’s own Sage Akouri and Rick Youseff.

Homophonic! 2021.

Lyrics.

I am who I am – Caerwen Martin

I am what I am

I love who I love

Oh I want me

I’ll have my life thank you!

I am what I am

I feel what I have to

Ooh I choose love

I’ll take passion.

Where have you been?

Who have you been with?

Where have you hidden?

Who did you lie with?

I choose love or I’ll take my life.

I choose love, let me be with

Who I want to

Who I care for

Who I dream of

Let me be who I am

I choose love!

I am who I am

I love who I love

Oh I want me

I’ll have my life thank you!

I am who I am

I feel what I have to

I want love

I’ll take passion

I am who I am

I love who I want to

I am love

I live

Take back what I need to live my life

Thank you!

Shimmer – Louisa Trewartha

This work is written for septuagenarian Maxx Primmer AKA drag queen Di Alysis from Daylesford. Four music groups represent four people:

Group 1 is Maxx who loves classical Piano

Group 2 is his partner of 30 years Ken, here represented as a classical tenor

I always ached to get back to the trees

I always ached to get back to the trees and the birds.

Shimmer, my love, shimmer.

The 3^rd group is a friend of Maxx’s from Daylesford who loves soft pop like ABBA

Bernardo!

You came into my life when it was empty.

You filled my heart like no-one else could do.

Bernardo, I love you!

Be mine for all of time

You and me together

Be mine for all of time

You and me together, baby, you and me together.

The 4^th group is Maxx’s childhood friend from school who loves musicals

I can’t believe we’ve only just met each other

Doesn’t it feel like we have known each other all this time

If only we had something else in common,

More than perfect harmony.

If only circumstances would allow us, darling

But it seems awf’ly complicated right from the start

But we should try to make it work my darling,

Played out across three Acts.

Nothing could get in the way

I’m nearing my dying day

Such drama, and glamour, a musical!

Each group come in and out of Maxx’s life (the piano line) sometimes neatly, sometimes unexpectedly.

Moonlite (Excerpts) – Words: Maria Zajkowski Music: Wally Gunn

SCENE 02

Scott’s letter: “Situated as I am I wish to speak what I know, but the hearts of the so-called Christians of the nineteenth century are harder than stones and refuse to be written on even by the finger of God.”

The future by the past

Truth stays true

      “I shed no blood”

what is said about what is said

      “starving”

the map too late

      “the battle was unequal”

born twice

      “in the darkness of our misery”

in a man

      “think of us with charity”

met and not met

      “promises I have made”

in my debt

      “are broken by death”

the static wanders

      “to quietly stand”

the fate of halves

      “and be shot”

great things stain the baby’s head

      “this is my birthday”

rust in rain

      “my death day is near”

beautiful habits

      “to fathers and mothers”

clear to god

      “teach your children to be cowards”

I couldn’t see

      “as in all things”

but went

      “I was opposed”

beyond the road

      “wait till the grass grows on our graves”

magnetic

      “as in all things”

it is not the water

      “I did not so much sin”

that drowns

      “as was sinned against”

it is not the air

      “standing as I do”

that hangs

      “on the verge of”

SCENE 05

“We were for some months free men, though narrowly watched by the police, hunted down and maddened by injustice and slander. The newspapers were filled with nonsense about us.”

Even in that dark time

Judgement walks slowly

cross days’ nameless faces

it hammers the iron

of life coming down

misery more than

the devil and all things

with nothing to own

and no-one to be

little defeating

the law of our hunger

to uphold the honest

with poverty’s stain

rich men sleep sweetly

in air unlike any

while we the unlucky

have streets turn away

and hope is the danger

where danger is hope

gold is just dust

and dust is our loss

SCENE 09

“Our life was mixed; content with bread and tea, sometimes bread without tea, sometimes without either. Even at this time I remember with sweet pain my dear friend’s kindness as he softly spoke words of comfort. We were one in hopes, one in heart and soul. Nesbitt and I were united by every tie which could bind.”

Every tie which could bind

You are unfolded in the dark, stronger weakness

you are the sound my hand becomes bound to

you are the light so deep unseen come to free me

you are the fear I seek to keep longing

you come apart, your breath untied in mine breaking gently

seeking your name, the cure I fall before, deeper

you come undone in fever, free

you are the true and tender urge I feel, growing open

you are the fire I hear within my ear, burning, reaching

you are the air, the purpose of my heart, unseen meaning

no more contained in what I came to bear, aching, bound to

you are desire reflecting in my heart, holding closer

your name, the cure I fall before

you are a sea enfolded in my arms, stronger weakness

the true and tender urge I feel

you are my eyes, the light so deep unseen come to free me

the fire, the purpose of my heart

you are the fear I need to keep longing, no more waiting

no more to bear what I’ve contained

you come apart, your breath untied in mine, breaking gently

tonight, tonight I speak in stars

seeking your name, the cure I fall before higher

you come undone in fever, free

unfolded in the dark, tender

the purpose of my heart, gently

you are deeper, closer

you are

Hyr – Ellie Lamb.

I know you by your footsteps in the sand

Walking hand in sunburnt hand to the sea.

I know you by your whisper in my ear

As the storm clouds gather near over me.

I know you so well.

I will know you when the stars begin to fall

When cities burn and oceans boil all around

I will know you when at the end we stand

Still hand in tender hand as the sun goes down.

I’ll know you then, as I know you now.

I’ll know you always.

Ryan Williams is a recorder & ocarina player, improviser, interdisciplinary-performance maker and arts producer based in Naarm/Melbourne. His creative practice focuses on composing and improvising new music, and creating exploratory & transdisciplinary projects through skill-sharing collaborations with artists and communities.

Ryan performs and creates within improvisatory & exploratory music, site- specific/installation contexts, traditional music from Eastern Europe, Japan, Ireland and the U.S, western art music & jazz, popular folk music, and video game music. He has performed at major Australian and international festivals including Falls Festival, Setouchi Triennale (Japan), Antwerp Fringe Festival, Woodford Folk Festival, and regularly performs with leading arts companies, including Sydney Symphony Orchestra, ELISION Ensemble & Snuff Puppets.

http://ryanwilliamsrecorder.com/

“Ryan Williams . . . he’s described as the Jimi Hendrix of the recorder”
Brian Wise, Off The Record, Triple R, 102.7FM

“Williams and duo partner Matthew Horsley …demonstrating the gold that can often
result from unexpected collaborations.” ★★★★½
Megan Steller, The Age

“Shining over the entire show is Melbourne-based Ryan Williams”
theatrepeople.com.au

Joy is a harpsichordist and pianist who lives in Melbourne, who plays and is interested in new and old music for both instruments. She has been playing piano for most of her life but upon starting to play the harpsichord in 2018, somewhat lost her soul to it and now thinks about it constantly. She regularly performs in chamber, ensemble and solo contexts, in various venues. Joy spent her early life in Perth and studied piano and fortepiano at UWA, continuing at the Canberra School of Music with Larry Sitsky. She’s a current student of harpsichordist Ann Morgan.

Joy -like almost everyone else- enjoys reading; cooking; eating; drinking; films and laughing with friends. Her cat is not friendly. She would love to become better at surfing and prefers running uphill to down.

Paul Zabrowarny performs frequently as a cellist with Inventi Ensemble and has
appeared as a guest musician with Syzygy Ensemble, Quartz String Quartet and the
Melbourne Chamber Players. As an orchestral musician, he regularly works with
Orchestra Victoria and the Australian Classical and Romantic Orchestra. Paul has
performed recitals throughout Australia and Europe and holds a strong interest in
contemporary repertoire.

Paul has always been a passionate advocate for musical education and community
programs and has designed and implemented programs with diverse communities
across Australia. Paul was also the founding cellist of the ACO Inspire String Quartet
after being an Emerging Artist with the Australian Chamber Orchestra.

After Paul completed studies at the Elder Conservatorium and the Australian
National Academy of Music, he received grants from the Ian Potter Foundation and
the Australia Council to undertake a Master of Arts in Music Performance at the
Conservatoire de Lausanne, Switzerland specialising in contemporary cello
techniques.

Combining period and modern performance, violist Katie Yap’s love of music was fostered in the school music programs of her hometown Brisbane. She plays regularly with ensembles including the Australian World Orchestra, the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra, the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, and Van Diemen’s Band, and has joined groups like the Academy of Ancient Music overseas. She is a founding member of the Chrysalis Harp Trio and Wattleseed Ensemble, and has played with groups including the Australian String Quartet and Ironwood Ensemble. She is the viola teacher at Monash University.

Katie’s own creative projects combine modern and baroque chamber and folk music to tell stories. As a finalist in the 2019 Freedman Fellowship, she developed a regional touring concert for baroque string trio called ‘HOME’, which will tour in 2021.

If it’s raining where you are, it’s about to getting more beautiful with the sounds of Shoeb Ahmad” Lauren Laverne, BBC 6Music

Shoeb Ahmad offers a rich and extensive background in Australian music, creating idiosyncratic music over the last decade. Using guitar, keyboard, voice and electronics, Shoeb works both as singer/composer and improviser when performing solo or as a member in a number of groups including Agency, Spartak and formerly in Tangents. Many of these projects also feature Shoeb’s talent as a producer and engineer, with a unique sensibility to sonic space coming to the fore.

Combining both acoustic and electronic approaches to music-making, Shoeb has released a diverse range of original music – including the critically acclaimed Watch/Illuminate on English label Mystery Plays Records – while also collaborating with numerous directors and choreographers to provide sound design and soundtrack material for live theatre and dance works. More recently, Shoeb has begun to explore installation pieces and composition for chamber ensembles, taking inspiration from 20th Century avant-classical works, Indian ragas and minimalist electronic music.

“…the kind of understand, bedroom-spun vocal that slips down a treat – and a knack for delicately wrought, sampladelic soundscapes to compliment it” FACT Magazine

In May 2018, Shoeb released the album “quiver”, an exploration of personal pasts and themes of identity (gender, race, religion) in an intimate noir-pop setting, inspired by the widescreen arrangements of The Go-Betweens, PJ Harvey, Tindersticks and The Temptations.

Shoeb has performed throughout Australia, Japan, New Zealand, the UK and the SE Asian region at venues such as Arts Centre (Melbourne), City Recital Hall (Sydney), The Judith Wright Centre (Brisbane), The Street Theatre (Canberra), Cafe OTO (London), Rough Trade East (London) and Pit Inn (Tokyo) with Australian festival appearances for WOMADelaide, Open Frame, Liquid Architecture, You Are Here and TheNOWnow.

“Delightful smoked-out pop music, distilled into a romantic, original vision” Bleep.com

shoebahmad.bandcamp.com|mysteryplaysrecords.com/album/watch-illuminate
hellosquare.bandcamp.com/album/split-12|hellosquare.bandcamp.com/album/blossoms

Composer/arranger Joe Twist is one of the most ‘in demand’ (Limelight Magazine) music creators in Australia and abroad, straddling film music and concert music arenas. Twist has received wide acclaim for his music for film and television and is highly sought after as an arranger and orchestrator for many major motion pictures produced in Hollywood. He has created music for renowned international artists and ensembles such as Moby, The Wiggles, The Idea of North, Chanticleer, Voces8, The Choir of Trinity College, Cambridge. and many others. Twist’s work has been performed and recorded by the world’s greatest orchestras, including collaborations with The Los Angeles Philharmonic, The Hollywood Scoring Orchestra and all major Symphony Orchestras in Australia. Twist’s works appear on numerous commercial recordings including Twist’s own album Dancing With Somebody. Twist is recognized by the “Grammys” Recording Academy as a voting member in the USA.

Ever since belting out Led Zeppelin on the drum kit from the age of eight, Alison has always
loved to make music. Alison strives to create music that makes people think, reflect and
create change in the world.

Alison is currently in her final year at the Australian National Academy of Music (ANAM),
where she has found a deep love and appreciation for both the Alexander Technique and
human anatomy and physiology, incorporating this into her everyday life.

Passionate about developing living composers’ work, Alison has and continues to
commission composers’ works, with a focus on the visibility of the LGBTQ+ community. In
2020, Alison commissioned “Interstices” by Dr. Travers K Eira for solo percussion. Alison
looks forward to continuing this relationship into 2021 as part of THE ANAM SET.

Recent performances with amazing artists include Timothy Munro (Eighth Blackbird), Håkan
Hardenberger (Sweden), Stefan Dohr (Berliner Philharmoniker) and thanks to the digital
world, Alison has had master-classes with musicians all over the world including Steven
Schick (USA), Ross Karre (USA), Christopher Lamb (New York Philharmonic) and Cynthia
Yeh (Chicago Symphony Orchestra).

In 2018, she gave the Australian Premiere of John Mackey’s Percussion Concerto Drum
Music at the Melbourne Recital Centre alongside the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music
Wind Symphony. Alison performs with Orchestra Victoria, is a casual musician with the
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and has worked as part of Speak Percussion’s Sounds
Unheard Program. In 2020, Alison successfully auditioned for the Mahler Chamber
Orchestra Academy in Germany and looks forward to participating in this program post-
COVID.