16 December 2019
Cranbrook Centenary Composition Project: the Sound of a School
Luke Gilmour writes about the Cranbrook Centenary commissioning project that first culminated in performances in 2018 but that continues to bear fruit - a new education resource about one of the 10 commissioned works, Katia Beaugeais's Latitude 33° South has just been made available by the school - to obtain the pdf kit, please contact the school via email music@cranbrook.nsw.edu.au.
I have often thought that music has the power and privilege to both reflect the values of a community, a mirror if you will, and the opportunity to speak into the cultural fabric and set a course that propels the community forward. For these sorts of reasons, for Cranbrook School's 100th year, the School embarked on a significant commissioning project of new musical works to celebrate its Centenary.
Our goal was to commission some of Australia's leading and emerging composers to capture the voice and sound of our school. In addition, we had a desire for this project to be available to the broader music education community. With this in mind, 10 works were commissioned from these composers: Matthew Hindson, Gerard Brophy, Brian Hogg, Paul Jarman, Ella Macens, Katia Beaugeais, Brian Hogg, Adrian Kingwell, Alex Pozniak and Luke Byrne.
The engagement of these composers gave Cranbrookians the ability to work with and achieve the vision of a living composer - a rare opportunity for students. The composers were asked to challenge our budding musicians, and compose with aspiration and professional precision and excellence, at a professional level the boys could aspire to, creating pieces which would in addition make a significant contribution to young musicians and ensembles working outside of Cranbrook and across the world.
We also had a desire for the commissioning and performance
process to reflect three themes that our Headmaster regularly
touches on and that underpin our music program - community,
conversations and curiosity. The process of preparing for the
premiere of the pieces at the iconic Sydney Town Hall and City
Recital Hall provided us a chance to bring to life true
conversations across the generations - both spoken and unspoken -
between parents, staff, Old Cranbrookians and our Junior School
and Senior School boys.
The 10 compositions were as follows:
•
Atomic Tangerine for string orchestra by
Matthew Hindson
• The Front for symphony orchestra and massed choir by
Luke
Byrne
• Memories on the Shoreline for SATB Choir,
piano and violin by Ella
Macens
• Soloing Free for SSA Junior Choir by Paul
Jarman
• The Happy Warrior SSA Choir for Junior School Massed
Choir by Paul Jarman
• EQV for String Quartet by Alex
Pozniak
• organ for Jazz Ensemble and Electronics by Adrian
Kingwell
• To Be for Concert Band by Brian Hogg
• Psalm for Piano Quintet, Percussion and SATB Choir by
Gerard
Brophy
•
Latitude 33° South for clarinet and piano by
Katia Beaugeais
Upon reflection and with a bit of 'daylight' now between the last echoes of our Centenary Concert in 2018, it is easy to see how, in a school, it's possible to quickly move on to the next project, performance and event. However, ripples of this project continue to move through our community. Recently, a recording of Katia Beaugeais' Latitude 33° South was recorded by the ABC, and a fantastic HSC Music 2 education resource has been co-written by the composer and our Senior School Head of Music, Phillip Beverley, to accompany this recording. In addition, our composition teacher Alex Pozniak has released an education resource to accompany Hindson's Atomic Tangerine. (These education resources are available by contacting us: music@cranbrook.nsw.edu.au )
Our boys and community are now emboldened to embrace and be curious about the new, and there is a momentum that has been generated by asking, and answering, the 'what if' questions. What if we were to commission and premiere 10 new works? What would that look like? Are we good enough to do this? Where do we need to improve in order to perform these? In answering these questions, we unlocked, and continue to identify and navigate, numerous pathways both for our students and staff for future growth as musicians and teachers. In some ways, the Centenary Project was a trojan horse vehicle to enable a lot of other aspects of music-making and culture-building to occur.
Were there challenges? Of course! For anyone considering embarking on a commissioning process, it is important to adequately plan and above all allow enough time both for the commissioning and the rehearsal. Constant communication with the composers is also critical in achieving a work that truly represents the sound of your school or organisation. My sincere gratitude is extended to all of our commissioned composers for contributing to the artistic fabric of Cranbrook School in its Centenary, forming a tangible part of our future legacy.
The full album of commissioned works is available for listening on Soundcloud. Vignette videos about the premiered works are available on Vimeo: Organ by Adrian Kingwell; To Be by Brian Hogg; EQV by Alex Pozniak; Soloing Free by Paul Jarman; Atomic Tangerine by Matthew Hindson and The Front by Luke Byrne. A live performance of The Front can be watched here.
© Australian Music Centre (2019) — Permission must be obtained from the AMC if you wish to reproduce this article either online or in print.
Subjects discussed by this article:
Dr Luke Gilmour is Director of Co-Curricular at Cranbrook School.
Comments
Be the first to share add your thoughts and opinions in response to this article.
You must login to post a comment.