Australian Music Centre | Breaking sound barriers

Event Details

THESE TWO EVENTS WILL BE RESCHEDULED, DUE TO A DEATH IN THE FAMILY OF ONE OF THE MUSICIANS. DETAILS WILL BE ANNOUNCED LATER.

Contemporary classical string quartet The NOISE is giving the world premiere of seven new Australian string quartets at the Cell Block Theatre. In an historic first, the group commissioned seven of Australia’s leading composers - Andrew Ford, Rosalind Page, Paul Cutlan, Lyle Chan, Andrew Batt-Rawden, Alex Pozniak and Amanda Cole - to each write a new work.

The project is called Composed NOISE, referring the group’s strong slant towards improvisation. In fact the works are unusual in that they have been created through a collaborative process of workshopping and improvising, where the performers and composers function as equals. In this innovative process, performers become co-writers of the work, through their ability to improvise (or compose in real time).

Each member of The NOISE has been classically trained but has also explored many different styles of music, including jazz, mystic, heavy metal and Balkan, Greek and Turkish folk music. The group formed by chance in 2008, when the four musicians started having regular jam sessions in a terrace house in Darlinghurst after classical concerts and gigs. Their musical influences are as diverse as Stockhasuen, Messiaen, Shostakovich and JS Bach to Balkan and Turkish Folk music, heavy metal, jazz, Steve Rech and Jimi Hendrix.

Drawing on years of formalised classical training within strict musical forms and disciplines, the group explores the most creative way of creating music: improvisation. The art of improvisation requires a deep understanding of harmony, style and melody, and up until the nineteenth century was considered a necessary skill for the classical musician.

This cutting-edge group goes by the adage of great jazz musician Miles Davis: "Composing will always be a memory of inspiration. Improvising is live inspiration, something happening at that very moment. Do not fear mistakes. There are none."

Andrew Batt-Rawden explores graphic notation which can be projected in real time for the audience to see during performance. Paul Cutlan develops his unique marriage of notated composition and improvised material in what is his first piece for stand-alone string quartet. Alex Pozniak explores new sound possibilities through the use of amplified instruments and an array of guitar effect pedals. A virtual or interactive tour of special techniques will be used in posting his composition online. For example, click on an image of a chopstick and hear how that sounds on a cello.

Lyle Chan is fascinated with ‘game theory’. The score is determined by a game of 500 played on stage by the performers. The group has many ideas how to present this work, especially in an online environment, where users could click on the image of each hand, and hear the music that goes with it. This could be developed to the point where audience/online users could essentially create their own work, by changing the order in which sequences are played.

Amanda Cole’s work explores the use of stroboscopic light metronomes. Rosalind Page explores the work of film director, Andrei Tarkovsky (with potential for use of film as a musical ‘score’). Page has been in touch with the Tarkovsky Estate and may have permission to use visuals from the movie for her work, and for the website. Andrew Ford’s work was workshopped at the launch of the project in March at Watters Gallery in Darlinghurst.

Performers: Veronique Serret and Mirabai Peart - violin; James Eccles - viola; Ollie Miller - cello

Further information for this event is available online at the event's website or by phone on 0413 548 985 or by email to supereccles@hotmail.com

Featured Australian Works

Featured artists

• New work by Andrew Batt-Rawden
• Performer The NOISE