I’ve worked with the Calligram boys a few times already, but in this case it’s much more of a ‘proud sister moment’ than your regular old shout-out. My brother Noah has written and directed his first feature film ‘Bloom’. Hitting festivals and your screens in 2024.
Here’s the trailer, featuring the theme we composed: “4:17”.
I was an honoured participant in last year’s Hatched program with the amazing Ensemble Offspring. Wrote this little cretin of a work for their musicians based on the sounds of metal, meteors and mashing.
It was an absolute pleasure to throw myself into a bunch of sounds and techniques I never would have had the chance to explore outside of a group of musicians who live and breathe weird and unconventional music. I want to say a big thank you to Damien, Claire, Lamorna, Jason, Blair and Natalia for being such wonderful mentors throughout the week and into the future.
Feel like one-upping me? You should apply: https://www.ensembleoffspring.com/hatched-academy
My old high school Mansfield State High is celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2023!
This year’s top string orchestra Camerata (which I played in ten years ago) had a very special line up of young players, so their director Lisa Stevenson commissioned a work from me to make their year extra memorable. After a bit of regression to my teenage self and some wish fulfilment from my current self, I came up with this work, After Dark.
Here’s the blurb/letter I wrote to them:
Dear Lisa and Camerata,
Ten years ago I sat where you are now, playing some of my favourite pieces like Iditarod (Newbold) and St Pauls Suite (Holst). When I was asked to write a piece for you, I was told that you were an exceptional group of string players, so I wanted to write you something deserving of your skill level that challenges you musically, stylistically and technically. Writing something that is simultaneously modern, challenging and appealing to young musicians is a tricky task, but one I enjoyed a lot. I tried to think back to what sort of pieces I enjoyed playing in Camerata as a fresh-faced 16 year old, but also what I enjoy now as a 26 year old with a music degree. Some of my fondest memories of being a high schooler and early university student revolved around nightlife. Whilst the daytime was filled with study and work, the night was liberating. Many special events happened at night – concerts with friends in the evening (those are still my favourite memories of Mansfield), celebratory dinners, late night gelato stops among bright city lights and the stillness and peace of the early morning.
After Dark is a descriptive piece that will take you on a journey from dusk until dawn. It mixes both classical and popular styles, and I hope you enjoy some of the more modern classical techniques I’ve written into it. As the sun sets, Boisterous birds at sunset demolish your eardrums – think lorikeets in Sunnybank or Carindale! A night out among restaurants and jazz bars fuses elements of jazz and ‘sophisticated’ restaurant music. It’s cool, a bit intellectual, and has a few dank harmonies for you to wallow in. Bright Lights, Big City overwhelms you with glittering subdivisions that move in and out of sync – I think of Botanical Gardens fairy lights, flashing neon signs, headlights on cars or standing on balcony looking out over sparkling city views. Party Pop Banger takes us to a house party or nightclub. I’ve seldom been to these places, but when I have, my nerdy friends and I have all enjoyed sitting back and picking the DJs to shreds over mixing techniques. If Igor Stravinsky founded a nightclub, this is what I’d imagine would play there - it’s high energy and high adrenaline rhythm, and there’s even a double violin ‘rap’ solo. Alone, under the stars… takes us into the early hours of the morning before dawn – a lush, shimmering accompaniment and a lonesome solo voice are all we need to experience the serenity and incorporeality of lying under an expanse of stars.
I hope you enjoy this piece and that it inspires you to pursue all your musical endeavours with fervour, curiosity and joy. Thank you all for your support of new music!
With much thanks,
Izzy (2022)
Also featured for your entertainment is a picture of my Year 12 Maths C class where you can see me leaning back arms crossed like a poser in my performance uniform.
In 2018 I was the honoured recipient of the Queensland Conservatorium’s Silver Harris and Jeff Peck Composition Award, which takes the form of a commission. This year I’ve been fortunate enough to write for the Queensland Conservatorium Symphony Orchestra and conductor Johannes Fritzsch.
My piece, Misadventure on a Childhood Tune, is my tribute to the first piece I ever learnt to play on the piano: Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. Originally known as ‘Ah, vous dirai-je maman’, this melody has been the subject of variation-ing for centuries by the likes of Camille Saint-Saëns, Franz Liszt, Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart among others. For me, this tune was (and still is) the subject of many a nerdy singing-game in my friend circles.
In Misadventure on a Childhood Tune you’ll hear the tune backwards, inside-out, with the note values reversed and with intervals sorted from smallest to largest amongst other transformations. The opening is a chaotic nebula - a cloud of space dust and the birth of our star - on a chord made up of every interval in the tune stacked vertically on top of each other. It accelerates into a vivacious tune (actually the original tune played backwards!) which is brought to a halt by a repeated rhythm made of the original rhythmic values turned inside out. Some woodwind 'shooting stars' bring us to a dreamy inversion of the tune before erupting into a final supernova to end the piece.
Misadventure on a Childhood Tune will be performed alongside Ives’ The Unanswered Question and Strauss' epic Ein Heldenleben at 7:30pm October 16th 2020 in the Queensland Conservatorium Concert Hall.
Thanks to the ABC New Australian Music Fund, Natalie Williams and the Muses Trio have been able to commission a new piano trio suite, Fire Dances, keeping the conversation alive around the recent Australian bushfire tragedy. I’m honoured to have been chosen to represent Queensland in this epic team of Australian women composers.
My contribution, Will-O-Wisp, is a quirky and mischievous scherzo. In folklore, Will-O-Wisps are cheeky little spirits that look like tiny flames.
I’m really looking forward to hearing the whole suite on ABC Classic FM in November, just in time for Ausmusic Month. In the mean time, the Muses have some sneaky previews on their Facebook page.
The Fire Dances Suite is a national collaboration consisting of composers Elena Kats-Chernin (NSW), Natalie Williams (ACT), Cathy Applegate (NT), Maria Grenfell (TAS), Hilary Kleinig (SA), Nat Bartsch (VIC), Olivia Davies (WA) and Isabella Gerometta (QLD).
Follow the Muses Trio: Therese Milanovic (piano), Christa Powell (violin) & Louise King (cello)
Beams and Waves is a work based on the architecture of the Tree of Knowledge memorial in Barcaldine, Queensland. The memorial is constructed of 3,449 beams of wood suspended on the inside of a large box surrounding the tree. Waveforms created by the beams being suspended at different lengths show the negative space of where the branches would have stretched out were the tree still alive.
Different perspectives on the architecture offer different visual experiences. From the outside, the beams appear to be phasing in and out of each other. From the inside, the waves and negative space can be viewed in their full glory. Looking down, the view becomes kaleidoscopic; the reflection of the beams can be seen in conjunction with the roots of the tree underneath the patterned glass. Beams and Waves explores these perspectives and renders them as sonic structures, jutting themes and rhythmic grooves. Expressive melodies recall the branches of the tree, stretching out amongst the architecture.
Beams and Waves was commissioned by Camerata - Queensland's Chamber Orchestra for their 2018 regional Queensland tour. Watch a video of their live perfomance of Beams and Waves underneath the Tree of Knowledge in Barcaldine:
Camerata - Queensland's Chamber Orchestra was live.
Bold new contemporary dance works from four of Australasia's hottest young choreographers. EDC partners with the Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University (QCGU) to present Converge, a dynamic choreographic platform for national and international dance artists and featuring the works of emerging composers and musicians from QCGU.
