Saturday 22 September 2018: Phoebe Green + SPIRAL

BackStage are thrilled to welcome Melbourne based violist Phoebe Green in a program featuring Australian compositions for solo viola -exploring movement and gesture from the explicit, to the delicate and the transformational. To open the night, take a glimpse into the sound world of SPIRAL, featuring the premiere of a new work by Oscar Smith.

Following the music, BackStage Music invite you to have a glass of wine and join the conversation - where are Sydney’s living spaces for living music? Why do we need these spaces to exist? How we can make more music happen? Panellists include:

Phoebe Green (Melbourne based performer)
Jenny Duck-Chong (local Sydney musician, chamber music presenter)
Kerri Glasscock (CEO of Sydney Fringe, culture savior & venue rescuer)
Lex Davidson (City of Sydney Strategy Advisor – Live Music and Performance)
+ Lamorna Nightingale and Elizabeth Jigalin (BackStage Music)
Moderated by Matthew Lorenzon (music journalist and academic)

PROGRAM

SPIRAL
Oscar Smith - Iron Filings
Sarah Elise Thompson - Bixler 225

Phoebe Green - viola
Iannis Xenakis - Embellie (1981)
Simon Steen-Anderson - Study for String Instrument #1 (2007)
Alex Pozniak - Quest (2011)  *guest artists Jim Nightingale on Baritone saxophone
Liza Lim - Amulet (1992)
Lisa Illean - Cranes (2016-17) NSW premiere*

Phoebe Green (viola)

Violist Phoebe Green is a versatile performer with a focus on 20th century, contemporary and exploratory repertoire. A passionate advocate of Australian composers with a unique voice Phoebe is a regular figure in the new music scene in Melbourne. Phoebe has commissioned works for viola and other instruments from composers including James Rushford, Helen Gifford, Robert Davidson, Rae Howell, Wally Gunn and David Chisholm. In 2014 Phoebe performed with percussionist Leah Scholes as part of New Music Network’s Mini Series a program of celebrating works Phoebe has commissioned since 2005, attended the 47th International Summer Course for New Music in Darmstadt, Germany, and was awarded the Stipendienpreis for Interpretation. In 2015 Phoebe presented a solo recital at the Bendigo International Festival of Exploratory Music.

James Nightingale (baritone saxophone)

James Nightingale is the alto saxophonist with Australia’s premier saxophone quartet, Continuum Sax and has performed regularly as a casual musician with Sydney’s orchestras since 1993. In 2016 he toured to the United Kingdom and the USA with the Australian Chamber Orchestra and Barry Humphries and performed with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra in the Australian Premiere of Gerard Grisey’s ‘Four Songs for Crossing the Threshold’. James served as President of the New Music Network from 2007-2015, an organisation dedicated to the promotion and presentation of new musical works in Australia. He has been a member of the peripatetic music staff at Sydney Grammar School since 1997 and is a senior woodwind examiner for the Australian Music Examinations Board (NSW). In his spare time he volunteers as a programmer and presenter at Fine Music 102.5.

SPIRAL

SPIRAL is a 7 piece Sydney-based New Music group characterised by their quirky Minimalist vibe, Grungy sound and energetic attitude. Formed in 2016, the ensemble has played many concerts including appearances at the Red Rattler Theatre, 107 Redfern, and at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music as part of VIVID New Music at The Con in 2017. Our 2018 program features 3 new commissioned works from various Sydney Composers.