Scale Variable 2016 New Chamber Music

Studio Underground State Theatre Centre

tura.com.au

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Tura is delighted to introduce you to the 2016 Scale Variable New Chamber Music Series presented in association with the Perth Theatre Trust at the State Theatre Centre’s Studio Underground.

These four concerts represent an enthralling spectrum of new chamber music practice in WA and around the world. This is the perfect opportunity to sample a taste of the new and unexpected from composers of the modern era, including those alive amongst us now, and the performers who render their work.

Join us in this great journey of making a living culture.

Tos Mahoney Artistic Director

1Scale Variable New Chamber Music Concert 1/4

Intermodulations Decibel

7 June 2016 7:30pm Studio Underground State Theatre Centre

DECIBEL ENSEMBLE

Cat Hope (flutes), Lindsay Vickery (reeds), Stuart James (keyboards/electronics), Tristen Parr (cello), Aaron Wyatt (viola) and Louise Devenish (percussion) with guests Chris Tonkin (electronics), Adam Pinto (piano) and Bruce Thompson (alto trombone).

PROGRAM

Celebrating Western Australian composer and pianist Roger Smalley’s early compositions for acoustic and electronic instruments. Decibel will utilise vintage electronics such as synthesisers and tape alongside more contemporary computer adaptations. ‘Intermodulation’ was the name of a renowned UK ensemble of which Smalley was a member. After moving to Perth in 1976 he went on to become one of the biggest influences on new music composition and performance in this Australia.

Monody for piano with electronics, Didgeridoo for 4 channel tape, Impulses for sextet, Transformations for piano and live electronic modulation, Zeitebenen for live quartet and live electronics.

Dedicated to the memory of Roger Smalley (1943–2015)

TICKETS

$32.50 (standard) $22.50 (concession) $15 (student) Subscriptions available ticketek.com.au

2Scale Variable New Chamber Music Concert 2/4

Scattered Experiments Louise Devenish & James Hullick

27 August 2016 7:30pm Studio Underground State Theatre Centre

ARTISTS

Louise Devenish (percussion) James Hullick (piano)

PROGRAM

Part 1 Experimental Music for One PercussionistNew works by Kate Moore, Cat Hope and James Hullick. Explorations in the sonic, visual and electronic arts converge as the definition of a percussion instrument and its performance practice is interrogated.

Percussion more akin to painting, fluid and textural, yet still rhythmic and bold and tactile. COOL PERTH NIGHTS

Part 2 ScattermanScatterman is part music theatre, part cutting edge sonic art performance. Scatterman is for amplified prepared piano, electronics (including synths and other gadgets) and voice and explores the mindset of a man in his 40s going through a post relationship break-up psychosis.

PRESENTED IN ASSOCIATION WITH JOLT ARTS

TICKETS

$32.50 (standard) $22.50 (concession) $15 (student) Subscriptions available ticketek.com.au

3Scale Variable New Chamber Music Concert 3/4

The Calm Before Soundstorm

2 November 2016 7:30pm Studio Underground State Theatre Centre

ARTISTS

Kirsten Smith (flutes), Louise Devenish (percussion), Dobromila Jaskot (piano/live electronics), Catherine Ashley (harp), Tristen Parr (cello) and Joan Wright (double bass).

PROGRAM

The Calm Before is curated by Polish Australian composer Dominik Karski as part of his Soundstorm project to perform fully scored new chamber music bringing together influences from the cultural traditions of Europe, Central Asia, South America and Australia. The works in this program feature each instrument in rich configurations of performance techniques to form an intense interplay between physical actions and emotions.

Giacinto Scelsi’s Okanagon; Pedro Alvarez’s De Mares Imaginados and for percussion and double bass; Dobromila Jaskot’s atnongara and hannah; Dominik Karski’s Streamforms and Along the Edge of Darkness.

TICKETS

$32.50 (standard) $22.50 (concession) $15 (student) Subscriptions available ticketek.com.au

4Scale Variable New Chamber Music Concert 4/4

Darkened Descent Intercurrent

14 December 2016 7:30pm Studio Underground State Theatre Centre

INTERCURRENT ENSEMBLE

Ashley Smith (clarinets), Louise Devenish (percussion) and Emily Green-Armytage (piano) with guest Adam Tan (percussion).

THE PROGRAM

Morton Feldman For Bass, Clarinet and Percussion John Luther Adams Dark Wind Lachlan Skipworth The Night Sky Fall Lachlan Skipworth Intercurrent

Darkened Descent explores the ominous yet pensive combination of bass clarinet, percussion and piano as handled by composers across three generations. The intuitive patterns of Morton Feldman’s fragile sound world give way to the warm earthy blends of John Luther Adams, and these pieces are set against the music of award-winning local composer Lachlan Skipworth, including the new work Intercurrent commissioned for this program.

TICKETS

$32.50 (standard) $22.50 (concession) $15 (student) Subscriptions available ticketek.com.au

About Scale Variable

Initiated in 2001, Tura’s Scale Variable New Chamber Music Series set out to provide Perth audiences with the opportunity experience the ocean of new chamber music created over the recent past as well as provide a platform for Western Australian composers to have their worked performed at the highest level.

Thus far performers have included the West Australian Symphony Orchestra, Ensemble Vertigo, Defying Gravity, The Collective, The Song Company, 4-Mality, Steve Schick, Duo Vertigo, Ensemble Nu, Cloud Chamber Orchestra, Resonator, Decibel, Etica, Sound Collective, Speak Percussion.

About Tura

Based in Perth, Western Australia, award winning Tura New Music is a producer and an advocate for new music and the sonic arts. Founded in 1987, Tura has a proud history of achievement in initiating cultural development from inner cities to remote communities across Australia. We support, advocate and ignite new music and sound art with a fresh perspective. We provide the means, support and opportunities that enable the relentless pursuit of musical discovery.

For the past 15 years, Tura has been touring new music to regional Western Australia. Tura has build long-lasting relationships with the regional, rural and remote communities, creating vital and sustainable programs with workshops, concerts and cultural exchanges.

Tura presents a year round program of events including:

• The Totally Huge New Music Festival

• Scale Variable New Chamber Music Series

• Club Zho

• Sonix Composer Series

• iMprov Development Program

• Regional Touring Program

• Remote Residency Program

• Artists in Residence Program

Acknowledgements

Tura New Music’s annual program is supported by The State Government of Western Australia through the Department of Culture and the Arts, in association with Lotterywest and The Australian Government the Australia Council, its arts funding advisory body.

Scale Variable 2016 is presented in association with the Perth Theatre Trust

Scale Variable 2016 Concerts 1 and 2 are part of The City of Perth Winter Arts Festival

Tura New Music Level 2, Alexander Library Building 25 Francis Street, Perth Cultural Centre Perth 6000 Western Australia tura.com.au