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PERFORMERS(') PRESENT

2019: Performers(') Present

102319 performers present

Narratives – whether historical, political, or musical; whether fact or fiction – are inextricably bound to the ways we experience the world, and the art that translates these experiences.

In the decade since we began hosting the triennial Performers(‘) Present symposium, artistic research has undergone rapid and ground-shifting transformations, with the performer’s voice becoming ever more present. As with our previous symposia, Telling Stories seeks to address and evolve the kaleidoscopic issues facing 21st-century performers, as they reflect on their practice in the context of significant shifts in politics, communications and technology, and performance practice.

As musicians and performer-scholars, we tell stories. Whether in communicating through a musical narrative, through a performative act, or researching and reflecting upon the process of practising and concertising, the story is the central medium. Oxford tells us that the definitions of ‘story’ include: an account of imaginary or real people and events told for entertainment; a false statement or lie; an account of past events in someone’s life or in the development of something; a particular person’s representation of the facts of a matter; the facts about the present situation.

Since the previous Performers(‘) Present festival-symposium in 2016, social and political upheavals worldwide have so impacted daily discourse that it has become difficult to distinguish objective truths from alternative facts. In an age when social media and its trends have had profound impacts on how we process the world as performing artists and artistic researchers, it seems even more vital to probe the idea of telling stories – as a possible means of distorting discourse, but also as a beautiful conceit of great art that is vital for the well-being of our musical and cultural orbits.

The 2019 symposium explored the art of presenting music in performance in relation to our contemporary world, from the perspectives of performer, producer, audience, and within the broader cultural context.

What story will you tell?

See The Programme Booklet

Selected Symposium Performance-Presentations

Plenary Concert by Margaret Leng Tan: George Crumb's Metamorphoses - Book 1 (Asian Premiere)

Singaporean pianist Margaret Leng Tan is a musical pioneer — the world’s first toy piano virtuoso, and the first woman to be awarded a doctorate from Juilliard — whose extraordinary life’s narrative placed her in the orbit of John Cage and a lifelong champion of the avant-garde. In many ways, her work truly embodies the vision of artistic research — creativity, courage and dynamism transcending the usual concert experience. Incorporating elements of theater, performance art, and multimedia — as well as her unbridled zeal — Margaret Leng Tan’s performance of George Crumb’s Metamorphoses, Book 1 (in its Asian premiere), at the plenary concert of Telling Stories, set the ideal narrative tone for the symposium’s opening evening. Each of the ten pieces represent a response to one of Crumb’s favourite paintings. This vibrant work by the nonagenarian is Crumb’s first large-scale piano work in 40 years. It extends Crumb’s inquiry into timbral and pianistic possibilities of the instrument, utilizing amplified piano, extended piano techniques, a range of toy instruments, and even calls on the pianist to caw like a crow apropos of Vincent van Gogh’s “Wheatfield with Crows”. Watch her performance of the full Metamorphoses Book 1 above or via the button below.

Full Video

1) Temporal Exigencies: Locating the 21st Century in Art Music

Changing the Instruments: Changing the Story

Stephen Emmerson

Prof. Stephen Emmerson (Queensland Conservatorium, Griffith University) discusses his own work as a pianist and researcher, with reference to his own adaptations of Janacek’s two string quartets in versions for clarinet, cello and piano. As the introduction to his presentation, Emmerson outlines the development of performance studies as an attitude of criticality in the Western art music landscape, both in terms of performance and academia. He asserts that the central question we should be asking ourselves as artists and researchers is, “how can we make this musical tradition meaningful and vibrant?”

In this video excerpt, Emmerson helpfully provides a taxonomy for classifying various types of music performances altering an original work: transformation, recomposition, interpretation, etc. He then re-evaluates the spectrum of creative approaches without valorisng either end, proposing that we need a healthy range of representation across the entire spectrum. This could prove as a useful starting point for other performer-researchers looking to embark on their own adaptive projects.  

Keywords: Performance studies, Janacek, adaptations, reinterpretations

Changing the Instruments: Changing the Story

Stephen Emmerson

 

Abstract

This presentation will explore various issues relating to the author's adaptations of Janáček's two string quartets in versions for clarinet, cello and piano. The suggestive subtitles given by the composer – "The Kreutzer Sonata" and "Intimate Letters" respectively – imply a programmatic dimension to both works. The presentation will explore the general question of how justifiable (or not) it is to impose, not just different instrumentation (with its textural implications), but a new dramaturgy upon a composer's work. The presentation will be illustrated with video recorded extracts from performances by the author with the Endeavour Trio.

The arrangement of Janáček's first quartet for trio has some precedents and historical justification given the suggestive evidence that the composer reworked significant material for the quartet (1923) from an earlier piano trio (1909). Though the quartet has been previously arranged for piano trio with violin, the substitution of a clarinet adds a different set of possibilities and challenges notably in moving from the homogenous sounds of string instruments to a mixed ensemble of woodwinds, strings and percussion instruments. The arrangement (2017) exploits this to develop relationships between the instrumentalists - almost as distinct dramatis personae - that give Janáček's work a new sense of dynamic interaction and development. The trio version changes the narrative implied across the work. From the performer's perspective, in turn, this suggests a myriad of new interpretative decisions to preparing for performance.

The arrangement deliberately makes the confrontations between the opposing characters more overt, thereby drawing out a narrative aspect of the work that is more implied but less evident in the original quartet. As in the first quartet, the trio version (2019) presents a different form of dramaturgy between the instruments — a new story - and, with that, a new way of hearing and experiencing this masterpiece of 20th-century chamber music.

Abstract
Full Video

Keywords: Beethoven, adaptations, reinterpretations

Hearing Beethoven Today

Igudesman and Joo

For Alexey Igudesman, “Beethoven was all about, firstly, individuality, and secondly, brotherhood. Even though we are all individuals, we are all interconnected. When there are so many split factions, we need to stand together in order to keep this world together.”  

2020 marks the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth, and to commemorate the occasion, the duo Igudesman and Joo was “commissioned by several orchestras to create programmes and reinterpret Beethoven for the 250th centennial”. As part of the Performers(’) Present Symposium, the duo worked with YST Conservatory Orchestra to workshop two of their musical reinterpretations in rehearsal: Beethoven Travels by Alexey Igudesman and After Moonlight by Hyung-Ki Joo. This video excerpt features a snippet of Igudesman’s work, preceded by his introduction to the project.  

Hearing Beethoven Today

Aleksey Igudesman, presenter
Hyung-Ki Joo, presenter
Lucy Landymore, presenter
Jason Lai, conductor
Conservatory Orchestra
Orchestral Institute of Asia

 

Abstract

Aleksey Igudesman tells the story of Beethoven's strong belief in artistic and personal freedom. In "Beethoven's Travels", each variation is treated with a national flair and cultural pizzazz from different countries, taking you on a musical kaleidoscopic journey that goes around the globe, embracing a myriad of cultures. The theme travels through nine regions of the world with a focus on Brazil, Cuba, China, India. Ireland, Senegal, Spain, Turkey, and the USA.The cultural differences are explored through regional scales and traditional rhythms and grooves, as well as a vast amount of fun and joy.

Hyung-ki Joo explores the turbulence inside Beethoven, who was not only struggling with his deafness, but also tortured by many health issues. Joo's "After Moonlight" is like a musical X-ray, or even more accurate, a musical magnetic resonance image of the famous first movement of the "'Moonlight Sonata", seemingly calm and evocative, but behind the skin, full of sound and fury.

Igudesman works with the orchestra to evoke the sound of each region of the world through playing technique, style, groove and movement. Joo will work with the orchestra for them to expand their horizons, and venture outside traditional playing techniques, using not only their instruments to make music, but their own corporal instruments too.

Choreography and movement will be integrated during the workshop for the percussion section, as well as for designated solo instruments and the orchestra as a collective.

Abstract

And the Moon Descends – At the Crossroads of East and West

Olga Stezhko

While working on her all-Debussy album “Et la lune descend” (2018, Palermo Classica), pianist Olga Stezhko became fascinated by the trans-culturalism of Debussy’s compositions. Debussy’s encounter with traditional Javanese gamelan music during the Paris Exposition in 1889 has been well-documented in history, but Stezhko takes this exploration one step further as artistic research by creating a performance of Debussy’s Cloches à travers les feuilles that features gamelans seamlessly integrating into the sounds of the piano, exploring the thresholds and overlaps between the sound possibilities of these two instruments. She asks, “What filters affect our perception of music and [are we] aware of each other’s perspectives in the East and West?” She stresses that such an inquiry is especially pertinent “in a time where objective truth is repeatedly and purposefully replaced by alternative facts, which leads to a breakdown of dialogue between different cultures… artists and performers [thus] have a vital role as agents who actively challenge societal complacency and stimulate cultural interchanges.”   

Keywords: Debussy, adaptations, reinterpretations, gamelan, society

And the Moon Descends – At the Crossroads of East and West

Olga Stezhko

 

Abstract

I became fascinated by how traditional musical idioms crossed geographic and cultural borders while working on my all-Debussy album 'Et la lune descend' (2018, Palermo Classica). Debussy first heard traditional Javanese gamelan music during the Exposition Universelle in Paris in 1889. The encounter was one of the original inspirations for his groundbreaking explorations in rhythm, colour and tonality that affected almost every other major composer of the 20th century.
Debussy's captivation with the East - especially Japan and Indonesia was underpinned by his deep understanding of both the music and visual arts. This stood in stark contrast to the exoticised thrills that surrounded much of 19th century's engagement with the Orient. I will use Debussy's piano suites as a starting point for a discussion that explores the boundaries between creative exchange and cultural exploitation within the historical and political context.
Immersing myself in Debussy's world led me to a deeper evaluation of the essence of musical performance. It is an art of the present, yet the process that underpins a meaningful musical interpretation is slow and painstaking and requires a wide interdisciplinary knowledge beyond the field of music. While musical performance is an expression of the artist's personal journey, those individual experiences create meaning and resonate with audiences when they reveal the formative milestones that are universal across different cultures and generations. This in turn helps us relate to each other across the continuum of history.

Abstract
Full Video

Keywords: Mozart, chamber music, social interplay

Analysing and Performing Mozart's Music of Friends

Edward Klorman

Edward Klorman (McGill University) examines the aspect of social interplay written into Mozart’s chamber music, in “Analyzing and Performing Mozart’s Music of Friends”, based on the ideas that he developed through performing and coaching this music. For Mozart and his milieu, music both simulated and stimulated conversation, so re-visiting the socialities of 18th-century chamber music settings can give us ideas for the different ways that we can make music today. 

Analysing and Performing Mozart's Music of Friends

Edward Kloorman

 

Abstract

This presentation examines the analysis and performance of Mozart's chamber music from the perspective of social interplay. A long tradition of comparing chamber music (especially string quartets;) to artful conversation reflects the intricate sense of interaction among the instrumental parts. Klorman imagines chamber compositions as a game in which each instrumental part may be understood as an individual player or character, capable of competing with, seducing, deceiving, or outwitting the others as the music unfolds.

Abstract
Full Video
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Stateless Odyssey

Sally Blackwood

Stateless Odyssey, for Bleach Festival 2020 at Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia, is a work-in-progress by Sally Blackwood (opera architect, DMA candidate at Sydney Conservatorium of Music), Lawrence English (composer) and Vanessa Tomlinson (composer). It examines the notion of search for home and belonging. This work is inspired by Homer’s Odyssey, and alludes to Australia’s still contentious island history and policy on refugees and asylum seekers. It also challenges the assumptions of opera as one confined to the opera houses, by exploring alternative modes of presenting: one that is site-specific and site-responsive, and eschews lavish setups and uses present technology to draw audiences in.

Keywords: Immigration, voyage, contemporary opera, Australia

Stateless Odyssey

Sally Blackwood

 

Abstract

Practice-based research exploring Stateless Odyssey - a new hybrid operatic work-in-development co-created by Sally Blackwood (opera architect), Lawrence English (composer) and Vanessa Tomlinson (composer), commissioned by Bleach Gold Coast Festival Australia.

Where are we coming from? Where are we going to? Stateless Odyssey is the search for home. Belonging. A voyage across the sea and into the heart and soul. The work is a contemporary response to our current humanitarian crisis, our state of apathy, and our perpetual cultural amnesia. Reclaiming the grand narrative of the epic voyage home, the work explores identity, memory, family, community and our personal relationship to place. Bringing together the diverse and exceptional experience of co-creators Blackwood, English and Tomlinson - this site-responsive work being created on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia for Bleach Festival 2020, is an aural and visual journey across time and space. An operatic voyage of epic proportions, this urgent and timely new sound art operatic work aims to explore the myth of The Odyssey in striking contrast with the more immediate stories of ocean voyages in search of home. The audience will confront the vast expanse of the sea and take shelter in their human installation of bodies and stories aurally interwoven in the landscape. Drawing inspiration from the coastal acoustic environment, live vocal and percussive music will sit alongside the deep voice of nature.

Pre-recorded electro-acoustic sound drawn from environmental sources, will be augmented and manipulated with technology ranging from, the intimate use of miniature handheld audience speakers to the overpowering use of long-range acoustic technologies. The work stretches the boundaries of audio technology and innovation to create an expansive and simultaneously intimate performance experience. Stateless Odyssey is part of the world-wide movement to liberate opera from the bounds of the opera house and re-imagine what opera can be.

Abstract
Full Video
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Keywords: Crumb, analysis, autoethnography, phenomenology

An Autoethnographic Approach to the Analysis of George Crumb's "Five Pieces for Piano"

Churen Li

In this presentation, Churen Li (Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music and Yale-NUS) shares the thought process of performing George Crumb’s Five Pieces for Piano, using a qualitative method borrowed from social sciences, autoethnography. Autoethnography draws upon “research, writing, story and method” to “connect the autobiographical and personal to the cultural, social and political.” (Ellis 2004, xix) Its form includes “concrete action, emotion, embodiment, self-consciousness, and introspection portray in dialogue, scenes, characterisation and plot.” (ibid.)

As a performer, Li achieves this by recounting her act of performing through phenomenology, a form of inquiry that premises that all perception originates from the body rather than the mind. By exploring the relationship between herself and the performance / instrument, Li hopes that her research could help facilitate 21st-century artistic research for performers.

An Autoethnographic Approach to the Analysis of George Crumb's "Five Pieces for Piano"

Churen Li

 

Abstract

Musicology has largely focused on studying the hermeneutic and theoretical implications of the music-as-text. However, in the moment of performance, the performer's mental inquiry is focused on the physical experience - the technical challenges and somatosensory sensations- of playing the instrument. Furthermore, the performance of extended techniques that are commonly utilized in new music compositions, subverts ingrained sensorimotor habits and necessitates further research with regards to performance practice.
I employ an autoethnographic research process to articulate my own experience of performing, linking it to a theoretical framework derived from phenomenology. Phenomenology takes as its intellectual premise that all perception originates from the body rather than the mind, offering a methodological framework to extract knowledge about the unique ways that a performer experiences himself/herself as an embodied being during the event of musical performance. As a method of inquiry, phenomenology has a long history, but I employ the interpretations of the more recent scholarly work of Enactivists such as Varela, Rosch, and Thompson (1991) and Colombetti (2014) to inform my understanding of phenomenological tools.

This lecture-recital will explore using autoethnography as a method of performer's analysis, through a performance of George Crumb's Five Piano Pieces. I will also discuss how autoethnography has influenced and enhanced my artistic process. Similar studies undertaken by performer-researchers exploring the subjective experience of performance have focused on music from the common practice period, but it is anticipated that my case-study on avant-garde Western art music unearths new insights about the relationship of pianist to performance/instrument, as well as contributes to discourse on the role of autoethnography as a mode of artistic research and its applicability for Western art music performers.

Abstract
Full Video

2) Geographical Exigencies: Locating Art Music in Southeast Asia

Performance by Open Score Project + Plots and Narratives: Open Panel

Stories; Yours and Mine was presented by the Open Score Project (OSP), a music ensemble from Singapore comprising instrumentalists from diverse cultures and geographies, showcasing the sonic possibilities of Singapore’s multicultural heritage. Led by Syafiqah ‘Adha Sallehin (YST alumna) and Gildon Choo, this performance explores not only the story of individual ensemble members’ journeys with music through video interviews, but also tells the story of Singaporean identity and cultural diversity, as well as potential for collaborative engagement amongst different ethnic groups through music.  

In the panel discussion of the following morning, moderator Bernard Lanskey (YST Dean) notes that “the multiplicity of connections with Chinese, Arabian, Indian influences presents a vision for global hope”, as well as the “potential opportunities for future engagement” that telling innovative musical stories might represent. In this video excerpt from that panel discussion, Syafiqah ‘Adha Sallehin shares her ideas on how connectedness, inclusiveness and openness can be interweaved into the musical conversations of today.  

Keywords: Multiculturalism, identity, cultural diversity, storytelling

Stories; Yours and Mine

P Niranjan, Indian flutes
Ronald Tan, Shakuhachi
Jacky Ng, Suona
Syafiqah 'Adha Sallehin, Accordion
Gildon Choo, Pipa
Indra Chen, Guzheng
Madhaven, Veena
Rozie Hoong, Erhu
Wang Jing, Morin Khoor
Charles Chen, Cello
Frankie Lee, Bassist
Nisa Mustikawati, Angklung Toel
Eugene Toh, Frame Drum/Chinese Percussion
Govin Tan, Tabla
Riduan Zalani, Rebana/Jidur
Dr Tony Makarome, Mridangam
Ramu Thiruyanam, Conga bongo/auxiliary percussion
Choon Hong, Chinese percussion
Drum Feng Percussion Ensemble

 

ACT I: Childhood and Aspirations
ACT II: Friendship and Love
ACT III: Resilience and Spirit

 

Abstract

We're all connected, you and I. Our stories bind us together, interwoven like the silky strands of a spider's web. A web of strange but familiar memories and experiences, where amongst them are of childhood, aspirations, friendship, love and spirit. In this concert, musicians themselves will speak of their stories, and through the power of music, awaken a soulful human connection that breaks barriers and disintegrates differences.

Abstract
Full Video Part 1
Full Video Part 2

Keywords: Contemporary music, South East Asia, Nanyang

Local Stories – Tales from Nanyang

Ho Chee Kong, Syafiqah ‘Adha Bt Md Sallehin, Tan Yuting, Phang Kok Jun

What does the word Nanyang mean to composers, and how do some incorporate the stories from the Nanyang region into their works? In this video excerpt, A/Prof Ho Chee Kong (Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music) examines how the scene of a storyteller telling stories by the Singapore River to the migrant workers inspired his composition Shades of Oil Lamp. The full video showcases how his students use stories and narratives from different places in Nanyang for their works: Phang Kok Jun’s Beadwork, Syafiqah ‘Adha Sallehin’s Rintihan Nadim (Nadim’s Lament), and Tan Yuting’s 最后以后的牛车水 (Chinatown).  

Local Stories – Tales from Nanyang

Ho Chee Kong, Syafiqah 'Adha Bt Md Sallehin, Tan Yuting, Phang Kok Jun

 

Abstract

The presentation shares works by faculty, Ho Chee Kong, and Syafiqah 'Adha binte Mohamed Sallehin, Tan Yuting, and Phang Kok Jun, who were former students of the YST Conservatory of Music and whose works were part of their graduating portfolio. A common thread through these works is the embedding of local stories and cultures in the music, where different facets of the Singapore story are narrated. In Ho's Shades of Oil Lamps, a commissioned work for the Singapore Arts Festival and performed by the London Sinfonietta, it tells the tale of a story-teller by the banks of the Singapore River narrating tales to migrant workers, Syafiqah's work is based on the Singapore legend of the Attack of the Garfish from the Sejarah Melayu (the Malay Annals); Yu Ting's Chinatown sets a poem by a local poet depicting various scenes in the bustling district; and Kok Jun's Beadwork captures a slice of the Peranakan culture unique to Singapore and Malaysia. This presentation will share how the musical narratives are conveyed through the use of a combination of Asian and Western instrumentation and ideas.

Abstract
Full Video

Mediation of Hybrid Cultures

Tazul Tajuddin

What does the word Nanyang mean to composers, and how do some incorporate the stories from the Nanyang region into their works? In this video excerpt, A/Prof Ho Chee Kong (Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music) examines how the scene of a storyteller telling stories by the Singapore River to the migrant workers inspired his composition Shades of Oil Lamp. The full video showcases how his students use stories and narratives from different places in Nanyang for their works: Phang Kok Jun’s Beadwork, Syafiqah ‘Adha Sallehin’s Rintihan Nadim (Nadim’s Lament), and Tan Yuting’s 最后以后的牛车水 (Chinatown).  

Keywords: Composition, Malaysia, Mak yong, endangered artforms

Mediation of Hybrid Cultures

Tazul Tajuddin

 

Abstract

My story is about an overview landscape of musical journey in composition which inspired by visual patterns, Islamic art and cultural diversity of European and Eastern cultures. Crossing different countries my works have the palette of Malay identity but it is not constrained to just the Malay-ness but also South East Asian, especially Indonesia as 'Nusantara' region and the Malay Archipelago. I would like to share some snapshots and selection of my music such as the Arabesque, Tenunan, Median Ukiran, Gamelbati, Pantun and Topography cycles which have been inspired by Asian cultures, geometrical patterns and designs, and Western European art combined with multi-cultural contemporary ideals. Also a snapshot of my Opera Puteri Saadong, the first opera in Malay language which was premiered in Malaysia, Japan and the UK Distinguished French composer, Henri Dutilleux has described my work as an original temperament, which encompasses both rigour and new ways of thinking'. The period ranging from my time in Malaysia, East Asia, USA, UK and Europe Alongside this was my studies and brief contacts with composers and personalities such as Toshio Hosokawa, Leonardo Balada, Xavier Montsalvatge, Juan Pablo Izquierdo, Franco Donatoni, Jonathan Harvey, Michael Finnissy, Brian Ferneyhough, lannis Xenakis, Pierre Boulez among others.

Abstract
Full Video

3) Institutional Exigencies: Locating the Role of Musical Institutions in the 21st Century

Keywords: Artistic Research, Pedagogy, Higher Education

Plots & Narratives: A Story Unfolding

Panelists: Huang Hsin-Yun, Peter Dejans, Peter Tornquist, Stephen Emmerson
Moderator: Bernard Lanskey

The panel discussion between Huang Hsin-Yun (Juilliard/Curtis), Peter Dejans (Orpheus Institute), Peter Tornquist (Norwegian Academy of the Arts), Stephen Emmerson (Queensland Conservatorium) moderated by Dean of YST, Bernard Lanskey, muses on the challenges and future goals of higher education institutions in the arts. Dejans asks, “What do we want for our students? How do we ensure the longevity of our own institutions? And most crucially, do we teach what we know, or do we teach what we are after?” Artistic research itself is not a goal, but enables a sense of exploration which is essential in higher education institutions in order to give space to experimental attitudes.

Session 6: Presentations and Provocations -
Here and Now: Our Present Place & Time

Panelists: Huang Hsin-Yun, Peter Dejans, Peter Tornquist, Stephen Emmerson
Moderator: Bernard Lanskey

 

Abstract

With traditions and institutions entrenched in presumptions and prejudices that went unchecked for decades without deep critical questioning or fundamental rethinking, how do we keep classical music relevant, engaged, and grounded in a time and place in which fundamental socio-cultural ground-shifting is also expected to be embraced within contemporary artistic movements? As performers, presenters, researchers and leaders of musical institutions, what are the most promising stories currently unfolding? What long-held stories should we consider folding?

Abstract
Full Video

Confronting the Rep Dilemma

Bernard Lanskey, Stephen Emmerson, Mervin Wong, Noah Diggs, Lin Xiangning

Prof. Bernard Lanskey discusses the need for institutions to reframe curriculum and identity, by rethinking the role that the 4 “reps” – repertoire, repetition, reproduction and reputation – might serve in the way institutions are governed. Lanskey proposes focusing on identity instead of reputation, as well as playing with instead of playing, to curate programmes as concepts rather than a set of pieces, in order to get a larger possibilities of connections. 

Keywords: Mozart, chamber music, social interplay

Confronting the Rep Dilemma

Bernard Lanskey
Stephen Emmerson
Mervin Wong
Noah Diggs
Lin Xiangning

 

Abstract

Three years ago, representatives from three ConNext schools across different continents – the Royal Conservatoire The Hague, the USC Thornton School of Music, and the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music (YST) – met in Bangkok to consider some fundamental challenges potentially facing international conservatoires, framing their perceptions as the Rep Dilemma. The thesis of the Rep Dilemma was that a century of almost obsessive focus on repertoire was governing elements of institutional shaping and identity (arguably more than should be the case), with pedagogical methods being shaped by repetition and reproduction of the canon, and any questioning restricted by a fear of losing reputation. While the four 'reps' have positive values, the question was whether these were in balance with the future of music and the music industries.

Joined by a number of other schools a year later, the discussion offered that one solution might be to offer more encouragement for individual agency and student voice, and a sense of "playing with" material. Such thinking has had a considerable role in shaping this symposium, as well as influencing some of YST's key performance projects over the past few years, such as the productions Telling Beyond Words (2019), Springing (2019) and linked to Debussy's Prelude a l'apres-midi d'un faune (2018).

This conversation brings together a number of current and former YST students and collaborators to explore the experience of emerging approaches to performance – one more take on what is becoming an ongoing debate across the sector alongside reconsiderations of power relationships in music and in the conservatory.

Abstract
Full Video

Keywords: Artistic Research, Pedagogy, Higher Education

Myanmar: Music in Asia's Final Frontier

Gabriel Lee, Wai Hin Ko Ko, Gum Seng Aung Du

The tragic military coup d’état that occurred in Myanmar on February 1, 2021, was nonetheless preceded by a decade (2011-21) of hopeful liberalization which allowed for an opening of borders after over five decades of a military dictatorship. Gabriel Lee (Adjunct Faculty at YST and founder of the Music Society of Myanmar) utilized this temporal window of opportunity for a cultural exchange posing the question: “How do we encourage the growth and development of Myanmar’s musical landscape as it changes along with the rapid developments in the country?” Lee shares his insights and his journey in Myanmar since 2016, including his work with various communities that nurtured young musical talents and the presentation of high-quality concerts to local audiences. This excerpt also features a performance by Gum Seng Aung Du, a young Myanmar violinist who is also Lee’s student, playing the composition U’ChangNgau (The Bird) by Myanmar composer Kam Seng Aung.

Myanmar: Music in Asia's Final Frontier

Gabriel Lee
Wai Kin Ho Ho
Gum Seng Aung Du

 

Abstract

After more than five decades of army-imposed hibernation and international isolation, Myanmar has emerged as one of the worlds fastest growing economies since it opened up in 2011. How has its musical landscape changed along with the rapid developments in the country?

Gabriel Lee, the Founder and Director of the Music Society of Myanmar, shares the story of his journey in Myanmar since 2016 working in synergy with various communities, schools and businesses to nurture young musical talents and present high quality concerts to audiences in Myanmar.

Come and listen to his insights into Myanmar's musical landscape and the various aspects of his work running a non-profit music association in Myanmar. resonances.

Abstract
Full Video

The Story of Jazz, Music Education and Artistic Research: Influential Precursors and Current Institutional Perspectives

Michael Kahr

A leading jazz artistic researcher and pedagogue, Michael Kahr’s performance-lecture argues for jazz practice and its implied storytelling as a dynamic artistic research method. With the establishment of the jazz studies program at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Graz Austria (Kahr’s home institutions), in 1965, Europe joined the growing field of university based jazz study programs first established in the United States in the 1940s and 50s. Through embodied performance knowledge such as the presenter’s recontextualized interpretation of classic jazz canon, such as Thelonious Monk’s “Monk’s Mood”, Kahr convincingly demonstrates that the growing field of artistic research in jazz is a “vital addition to musicological research perspectives on jazz as well as to the artistic research scene in classical and contemporary music”.

Keywords: Mozart, chamber music, social interplay

The Story of Jazz, Music Education and Artistic Research: Influential Precursors and Current Institutional Perspectives

Michael Kahr

 

Abstract

When jazz became an academic field of artistic practice and research in Europe (first established at the current University of Music and Performing Arts in Graz, Austria in 1965), the availability of pedagogical, theoretical and analytical models and literature on jazz was limited. The pioneering jazz lecturers, who were primarily self-taught jazz practitioners, were required to improvise their academic teaching; part of it was the practice of storytelling by balancing traits of the jazz tradition and idiosyncratic artistic approaches.

In parallel, the tacit knowledge of professional jazz musicians was gradually explicated and distributed in the form of speculative and pedagogical jazz theories. The first landmark publication in the field appeared in 1953 with Georg Russell's The Lydian Chromatic Concept for Tonal Organisation Subsequent publications of jazz theories by authors such as Mehegan (1959), Coker (1964), Baker (1969/1974), and Dobbins (1986) have had a significant impact on the development of academic jazz education. All these publications are based on the authors' personal artistic practices, their positions within the collective practices of the jazz scene, as well as on theoretical concepts derived from the European tradition in music theory.

This paper discusses influential precursors of artistic research in the history of academic jazz education and explores the epistemological dimension of jazz practices in the teaching of and research on the jazz tradition.

The study draws from an artistic research project on identity in the history of jazz in the Austrian city of Graz and considers the context of current institutional frameworks in a speculative outlook on potential future research. Through an artistic performance on piano and a video presentation of a compositional research project, the presenter demonstrates results from his exploration of embodied knowledge in the artistic practice of European pioneers in modern jazz and their impact on the current improvisatory practice.

Abstract
Full Video

4) Technological Frontiers: Contemporary and Electronic Music Developments

Connected Improvisation

Karst de Jong, Shane Taylor Constante

“Connected Improvisation: Sharing Stories over Time and Distance”, led by Karst de Jong (The Hague) and Shane Taylor Constante (YST) reflects upon a particularly modern challenge – the need for musicians to find technological solutions to playing together across geographical distance. “Connected improvisation” began in 2016 when students from five ConNext institutions were brought together to improvise using video-conferencing technology. This particular session of connected improvisation brings together four players (two cellists, one violist, one pianist) from The Hague (Netherlands) and three players from YST (one violinist, one clarinettist, one voice percussionist). The latency inherent in internet connections caused a slight delay of the visuals and audio, but the musicians were able to utilise the latency to achieve an artistic result that would not have been possible in the same room.  

Analysing and Performing Mozart's Music of Friends

Edward Klorman

 

Abstract

This presentation examines the analysis and performance of Mozart's chamber music from the perspective of social interplay. A long tradition of comparing chamber music (especially string quartets) to artful conversation reflects the intricate sense of interaction among the instrumental parts. Klorman imagines chamber compositions as a game in which each instrumental part may be understood as an individual player or character, capable of competing with, seducing, deceiving, or outwitting the others as the music unfolds.

Abstract
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5) Creation, Curation and Composition: Inclusive, Brave and Ecletic

Finding Stories Beyond the Dots

Karin Schaupp

Karin Schaupp (Head of Classical Guitar, Queensland Conservatorium, Griffith University) presents on her experiences incorporating acting techniques into her on musical performance, and later, pedagogy. In this excerpt, she shares details of her early acting studies, and presents snippets from the one-woman play that was written for her, entitled “Lotte’s Gift” and based on her grandmother’s memoirs. Her experiences with applying acting techniques to musical performance have demonstrated “a substantial performance enhancement to be gained by both performer and audience by an instrumental musician working with acting techniques”, an observation that is corroborated by the few studies undertaken on this subject. She notes that “the focus goes from the performer themselves onto communication with the audience. Performer focuses on the what they’re saying, the stories thy are telling, rather than the ‘how’”. In today’s multimedia age, perhaps such multidisciplinary explorations combining the aural, visual and kinaesthetic are especially pertinent for connecting with audiences.    

Finding Stories Beyond the Dots

Karin Schaupp

 

Abstract

Karin Schaupp has had an international career as a concert guitarist and she has also trained extensively as an actor and used her skills to create multiple cross-platform projects. Through this process she discovered the immense expressive potential of applying acting techniques to musical performance.

In this lecture-recital Karin will share an overview of her projects and the artistic research intrinsic to her process. She will also discuss how she applies acting techniques in her teaching at tertiary level and why she feels these techniques have the potential to fill a notable gap in the training of instrumentalists

Abstract
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Paulo de Assis explores Beethoven’s op. 61

Paolo de Assis

Paolo de Assis (Orpheus Institute) leads the Conservatory Orchestra conducted by Lien Boon Hua to explore Beethoven’s famous Violin Concerto op. 61 in its piano iteration, interspersed with other selections from 18th century orchestral repertoire and concluding with a quartet-version of the concerto.  

Paolo de Assis explores Beethoven's op. 61

Paolo de Assis

 

Abstract

In Beethoven's catalogue, the number "61" refers to a concerto for violin and orchestra AND to a concerto for piano and orchestra. The first version of the violin concerto was composed in November-December 1806, the piano version in June 1807, and the violin version - as it has been printed - only in 1809. They all have differences and passages not completely clear if written down by Beethoven himself. Moreover, the character of the concerto seems to be upset by the original Cadenza Beethoven wrote for the piano version. Thus, this is a musical entity that poses a number of interesting questions: what is a musical work? How are musical works transmitted over time? What is the function of performance? Is it the reproduction (of what?)? Is it the reenactment (of what?)? Or is it a mode of problematising what we think to know,?

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Performance by Varsha

Varsha

Indian fusion band, Varsha, presents an innovative concert of original compositions that draws extensively on Indian karnatic rhythms as well as the idiomatic possibilities available to each instrument in the band (drums, electric guitar, double bass, mridangam and Indian classical singing). The confluence of musical styles weaves together by an ingenious mastery of both the classical and non-classical, as well as Western and non-Western, and is a demonstration of creativity and research-through-praxis.  

Varsha

Sai Vigneshwar, vocalist
Tony Makarome, mridangam
Mohamed Noor, percussion
Sai Akileshwar, percussion
Paul Danial, guitar

 

Abstract

In this performance, expect a colourful variety of sounds and music as Varsha will be premiering new original compositions along with the group's arrangements of classic jazz standards.

Veteran guitarist Paul Danial will be performing alongside Varsha Being versatile in the styles of blues, rock, country, funk and metal, Paul Danial will add to the unique sound of Varsha.

Varsha delivers a wide variety of music styles ranging from jazz and Indian classical to popular Indian music, promising a synergy of styles, with rhythmic music as the foundation for compelling improvisations. The diversity of musical traditions that local group members Sai Vigneshwar, Sai Akileshwar, Tony Makarome and Mohamed Noor represent is paralleled by each musician's maturity in his respective genre.

With musical roots that are primarily Indian, Varsha finds inspiration in the likes of Miles Davis, Charlie Parker, John Coltrane,Steve Gadd, John McLaughlin, L Shankar, Zakir Hussain, Mandolin U Srinivas, Shakti and The Mahavishnu Orchestra.

Debuting at The Esplanade's Kalaa Utsavam - Indian Festival of Arts in November 2014, the group has since pushed the boundaries of traditions with the synergy of styles through original compositions and performances, translating their enthusiasm to audiences. Through evolution, exploration and creativity, Varsha is set to ensure there will be no dry spell in the music scene.

Abstract

Keywords: Karnatik, Monteverdi, L’Orfeo, interculturalism, feminism

Finding Stories Beyond the Dots

Charulatha Mani

Are the boundaries of musical cultures loaded imaginations? This question becomes acute when one explores intercultural music-making, like for Charulatha Mani (Queensland Conservatorium), who sings Karnatik music (from South India). Her doctoral work studies how Karnatik music and early Baroque opera (specifically the first decade of 17th century) could intersect. In this presentation, Charulatha breaks down her thought processes, by unloading the cultural baggage of the “female Karnatik singing body”, and examining how vocal techniques from seemingly different artistic institutions could collide. The result culminates in her video “Monteverdi Reimagined”. 

Stratified Story-telling: 'L'Orfeo meets Karnatic Singing

Charulatha Mani

 

Abstract

When stories are told, there is without doubt an explicit narrative being curated and shared. However, underlying this overtly told tale, there lurks another implicit one that is shared by the musicking body; this story derives from tacit cultural-semiotic encrustations and unspoken somatic challenges and boundaries In this paper, I draw on my two decades of immersion in the traditional vocal music practice of South India, Karnak music, and my research into 17th century singing-acting practices of Italian opera, to tell a two layered story.

The first story is one that explicates the artistic processes involved in creating 'Monteverdi Reimagined, an intercultural imagination of 17th century Italian composer, and prime proponent of Opera, Claudio Monteverdi's first "fable in music;" LOrfeo.

The second story layer shall unfold in-situ, during the presentation - a dynamic shaping my embodied experiences in creating this intercultural production using gesture, bodily movements, drama, and facial expressions, the very facets of music-making that are currently devalued, specifically in the context of women performers, in the field of Karnatik music. The interface at which the exterior and interior stories meet is the "facing" that the conference shall provide, by way of an audience.

This paper proposes one way by which intercultural music-making can draw on the process-centricity that the recently burgeoning field of Artistic Research in Music affords. It also exposes the intractable truths pertaining to the female Karnatik singing body, not least the suppressing of bodily movement, sensory acknowledgement and gesture, and presents an exemplar model that could be viewed as one that challenges preconceptions and gender-based prejudices by adopting the methodological lens of what I propose as a case of socio-culturally interrogative artistic research in music."

Abstract
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