Meetings in Australian music
7-12 May 2013
The Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University announces the next "meeting in Australian music". Encounters: India will chart connections between the cultures of the West, principally Australia, and the culture and philosophy of sub-continent India.
A number of leading Indian musicians now working in the West have been approached to participate, as well as eminent musicians strongly influenced by India, among these the American composer-guru Terry Riley, the father of so-called 'minimalism'. Among the distinguished international visitors with whom we are in touch and who have indicated an interest in participating are soprano Amelia Cuni and sound artist Werner Durand; percussion legend Zakir Hussain (tbc); trumpeter and performance artist Rajeesh Mehta; soprano Patricia Rozario; cellist Rohan de Saram and composer Param Vir. The musical program taps into a wealth of local artists including Dheeraj Shrestha, Toby Wren, Tunji Beier, Kim Cunio and Heather Lee.
Program highlights
A major musical highlight is the Queensland premiere of Transposed Heads, a "legend of India in six scenes after the novel by Thomas Mann". This opera was written in 1953 by Australian composer Peggy Glanville-Hicks, who had strong social and emotional ties with India.
Musical encounters aside, the 4-day program includes film, dance and photography through collaborations and partnerships with artistic and cultural institutions in the South Bank Precinct including
- Griffith Film School,
- Queensland College of Art,
- Queensland Performing Arts Centre (tbc) and the
- Gallery of Modern Art | Queensland Art Gallery (tbc).
The scholarly study of music, dance, film and the visual arts will be the prime focus of the Encounters: India symposium. Emerging and leading scholars and practitioners in each respective field will participate in a series of lecture demonstrations, paper sessions and panel discussions. This will be a joint Musicological Association of Australia and International Council for Traditional Music event.
The Encounters project
The Encounters project explores cultural connections between Australia and other countries or regions. An initiative of the Queensland Conservatorium Research Centre, these "meetings in Australian music" have occurred every two or three years on the South Bank campus of Griffith University in Brisbane, Australia.
Encounters I (April 2005) explored two hundred years of musical interaction between Australian Indigenous culture and white settler culture, the principal guests being leading Australian composer Peter Sculthorpe and young didjeridu virtuoso William Barton.
Encounters II (November 2007) investigated connections between Australian culture and the island cultures of the region. Among the guests were leading New Zealand composer Jack Body and Indonesian composer-pianist Ananda Sukarlan. This event also brought together the musicological communities of Australia and New Zealand for the first time.
Encounters: China (May 2010) traversed connections between Australia and mainland China, with a specific focus on Shanghai in the week of the opening of its World Expo. Among the guests were Australian composers Larry Sitsky, Julian Yu and Anne Boyd, the Chinese born composer-pianist Gao Ping and the New Purple Forbidden City Orchestra from China Conservatory, Beijing. This event also involved the student performer and composer exchanges between Queensland Conservatorium and the Central Conservatory of Music, Beijing.
Support
Queensland Conservatorium is currently seeking the support of the Australia Council for the Arts, Arts Queensland, the Australia-India Council, Brisbane City Council, Brisbane Multicultural Centre, and the Australian Music Centre.
Encounters: India is pleased to have the support of Easton-Pearson's Lydia Pearson, who has agreed to mentor Griffith University students in the creation of a suitable design package for the festival.