2024 Cybec Showcase

CONCERT PROGRAM

CYBEC 21ST CENTURY AUSTRALIAN COMPOSERS’ CONCERT SHOWCASE

30 January 2024 Iwaki Auditorium PROUDLY SUPPORTED BY

ARTISTS Melbourne Symphony Orchestra Carlo Antonioli conductor Nicholas Bochner host and presenter

PROGRAM CHRISTINE PAN Sunburnt Lichen KLEARHOS MURPHY Ikon of Nipsis (Εικόνα της Νῆψις) KATIA GEHA and they leave me in the dark MARTIN CHENEY Penchant Our musical Acknowledgment of Country, Long Time Living Here by Deborah Cheetham Fraillon AO, will be performed at these concerts.

Please note that and they leave me in the dark deals with the subject of violence against women. If you feel affected by any of the content related to this work, please feel free to step out of the auditorium.

If you or anyone you know need support on this matter 1800RESPECT is available for free, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

This concert will be livestreamed on YouTube.

Duration: 1 hour, no interval In consideration of your fellow patrons, the MSO thanks you for silencing and dimming the light on your phone.

The Cybec Foundation generously provides support for the 21st Century Australian Composers’ Program.

This concert may be recorded for future broadcast on MSO.LIVE.

Music & Ideas is supported by City of Melbourne Music and Ideas is supported by Crown Resorts Foundation and Packer Family Foundation

Since its inception, MSO’s Cybec 21st Century Australian Composers’ Program has been made possible each year thanks to the generous support of the Cybec Foundation. This program selects participants to be mentored by leading composers across Australia and each participant is commissioned to write a 10-minute piece. These pieces are performed in tonight’s showcase. Following the showcase, one of the participants will be chosen as the MSO’s Cybec Young Composer in Residence for 2025, plus commissioned to write further pieces. The MSO’s Young Composer in Residence is a position also generously funded by the Cybec Foundation.

Since the program was introduced in 2003, more than 70 composers from across Australia have had works commissioned and performed by the MSO. Most have continued onto widely diverse creative practices and the MSO has offered several subsequent commissions to graduates of the program.

MUSICIANS PERFORMING IN THIS CONCERT FIRST VIOLINS Tair Khisambeev

Assistant Concertmaster Di Jameson and Frank Mercurio#

Sarah Curro

Dr Harry Imber#

SECOND VIOLINS Monica Curro

Assistant Principal Dr Mary-Jane Gething AO#

Isin Cakmakçioglu

VIOLAS

Christopher Moore

Principal Di Jameson and Frank Mercurio#

Anthony Chataway

The late Dr Elizabeth E Lewis AM#

DOUBLE BASSES Rohan Dasika

FLUTE/PICCOLO Andrew Macleod Principal

OBOE/COR ANGLAIS Rachel Curkpatrick* Guest Principal

CLARINETS

Rosie Turner

John and Diana Frew#

TROMBONES Mark Davidson Principal

TUBA

Timothy Buzbee

Jon Craven

TIMPANI

Principal Bass Clarinet

CONTRABASSOON Brock Imison

Assistant Principal Di Jameson and Frank Mercurio#

Nicolas Fleury

Andrew and Judy Rogers#

Principal

Principal

Principal

CELLOS

Michelle Wood

Owen Morris

David Thomas

Principal

Elina Faskhi

TRUMPETS

HORNS

Principal Margaret Jackson AC#

John Arcaro

Tim and Lyn Edward#

PERCUSSION Robert Cossom

Drs Rhyl Wade and Clem Gruen#

HARP

Megan Reeve*

Abbey Edlin

Nereda Hanlon and Michael Hanlon AM# * Denotes Guest Musician # Position supported by

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CARLO ANTONIOLI CONDUCTOR Carlo Antonioli is one of Australia’s most dynamic young conductors. In 2023, he was the Cybec Assistant Conductor at the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, and was previously the Assistant Conductor at the West Australian Symphony Orchestra.

Rapidly establishing himself both with Australia’s leading symphony orchestras, and with vibrant, cutting-edge ensembles, some of Carlo’s most recent and upcoming engagements include working with the Queensland, Tasmanian and Canberra Symphony Orchestras, Orchestra Victoria, the Australian Contemporary Opera Company, the Australian, Sydney and Melbourne Youth Orchestras, the Australian National Academy of Music, Ensemble Apex, Australian Doctors Orchestra and the Stonnington Symphony. Carlo is also a composer and member of the Sydney-based Dreambox Collective.

Carlo has assisted many prominent conductors in Australia including Vasily Petrenko, Sir Mark Elder, Sir Andrew Davis, Asher Fisch, Karina Canellakis, Mark Wigglesworth and Jaime Martín, as well as Vladimir Ashkenazy and Chief Conductor Simone Young at the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. Carlo holds a Master of Music Studies (Conducting) from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and is a member of the Australian Conducting Academy.

NICHOLAS BOCHNER HOST AND PRESENTER After training in Adelaide and London, Nicholas spent 3 years as Artist-in-Residence at the University of Queensland as part of the ensemble Perihelion, forging a strong reputation as an exponent of contemporary music. He joined the MSO as Assistant Principal Cello in 1998. Since then he has appeared as a soloist, chamber musician and recitalist. He has also taught cello and improvisation at the Australian National Academy of Music (ANAM). Nicholas has always had a strong commitment to music education and community engagement. In 2010 he was awarded the Dame Roma Mitchell Churchill Fellowship to study the LSO’s iconic Discovery program and the use of improvisation in training classical musicians at the Guildhall School of Music.

In 2016, Nicholas’ considerable experience as an orchestral musician and his passion for communication led him to undertake a fellowship at ANAM where he developed, conducted and presented educational concerts for primary school children. During the fellowship he was mentored by Paul Rissmann, Graham Abbott and the legendary Richard Gill AO. Since then he has presented educational concerts for children and adults for MSO, ANAM and the Melbourne Chamber Orchestra.

In 2020 he was named the MSO’s Cybec Assistant Conductor for Learning and Engagement.

He is also the conductor of the Melbourne University Biomedical Students’ Orchestra. In support of his work as an education presenter, Nicholas has been studying conducting with Benjamin Northey and won a coveted place at the TSO’s 2019 Australian Conducting Academy.

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COMPOSERS CHRISTINE PAN Christine Pan is a Sydney-based composer known for her versatility in style and malleability in form. Her passion for powerful storytelling through music spans into various areas of gaming, science, healthcare, film and theatre.

Christine’s compositions have been featured by WASO, Sydney Wind Symphony, Ensemble Offspring, Goldner Quartet, Musica Viva, ABC Classic, and has showcased her works throughout Europe and the U.S. Christine started her career as game music composer with No Moss Studios while she was completing her undergraduate study in Composition at Sydney Conservatorium of Music.

During the pandemic, she became a resident composer for Liverpool Palliative Care Unit. Orchestra Victoria performed her musical adaptation of Introducing Teddy, as part of Midsumma Festival Season 2022 and 2023, which subsequently went on tour to Bendigo Bank Theatre and other regional libraries later in the year.

In 2023, Christine has been involved in more than six theatre productions including sound designing for Metropolis at the Hayes Theatre and complete original scores for Dumb Kids and Rhomboid, both showcased at KXT on Broadway. Christine won the Best Sound Design and Composition of an Independent Theatre Production Sydney Theatre award for Moon Rabbit Rising and made her musical directorial debut for The Village at Joan Sutherland Performing Arts Centre in collaboration with Q Theatre. She is excited to be a part of ANAM Set 2024 to work with Brisbane-born clarinettist Dario Scalabrini.

Christine also leads her own piano quintet and frequently performs at international conventions. She is a represented artist with the Australian Music Centre.

Sunburnt Lichen In the heart of Denali’s wild and unspoiled embrace, a world of wonder unfolds. Here, among the towering peaks and sprawling wilderness, one can discover the enchanting Sunburst Lichen, known by the scientific name Xanthoria elegans. Its presence is a splash of vibrant orange against the rugged Alaskan terrain. This lichen, its smallness made easy to be overlooked when the grandeur of nature surrounds you, possesses a magical quality.

Once you are aware of its existence, it is as if a secret has been unveiled. Suddenly, it’s everywhere, like drops of golden sun splattered across a vast green canvas.

Inspired by the intricate dance of this slow-growing marvel and its quest for survival, I try to sonically paint its symbiotic union with its surrounding flora, fungi, and bacteria.

Its central theme; drawn from a spectral analysis I conducted of the lichen using special computer programs; weaves and winds, mirroring the lichen’s peaceful interactions with its co-inhabitants. Various leitmotifs and their intertwining dances symbolise the ever-shifting relationships between this harmonious consortium of life. Ultimately, this composition intricately depicts my initial encounter with this modest organism beneath my feet and subsequently, my profound realization on its true significance within the tapestry of the Alaskan ecosystem. I am struck by the unwavering tenacity and vibrancy that the Sunburst lichen embodies and I hope that it can inspire us all to embrace a similar approach to life, one of strength, mutual altruism and community.

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COMPOSERS KLEARHOS MURPHY Klearhos Murphy is an Australian-Greek composer who has worked with a variety of national and international ensembles, such as the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, West Australia Symphony Orchestra, Perth Symphony Orchestra, Vienna Pops Orchestra, Willoughby Symphony Orchestra and the WAAPA Symphony Orchestra. His area of specialisation is composing and arranging music for symphonic and chamber music settings, drawing from Western Art, Byzantine chant and Greek-folk traditions.

In 2023, Klearhos was admitted into the Master of Music (Research) course at Melbourne Conservatorium of Music, focusing on utilising Eastern Orthodox theology, Greek philosophy and Greek music as conceptual bases for the creation of new works for orchestra and chamber ensembles. In December of the same year, he collaborated with AMOVA for the SARUYA Artist Residency in Fujiyoshida, Japan, where he worked on installation and performance works looking at the interaction between art, music and marine biology. Klearhos has received numerous awards and scholarships for his work, including the 2017 WAAPA Symphony Orchestra Composition Competition, Bendat Family Foundation scholarship 2018, St. Mary’s Composition Competition 2019, ROSL Award for Best Composition 2021, JCH Society Scholarship, the Kenneth Moore Memorial Music Scholarship and the Willoughby Symphony Orchestra Young Composer Award 2023.

Ikon of Nipsis (Εικόνα της Νῆψις) In Eastern Orthodoxy, icons (εικόνες) play a central role in worship and veneration. Not only are they visual-artistic representations of Christ, saints and events as described in holy scripture, but they also act as testimonies to the most important doctrine in Christianity: the incarnation of God the Son in Jesus Christ. Through this incarnation, the very capacity for one to depict God becomes possible. Furthermore, the treatment of icons in Orthodoxy is contextualised within the grander veneration of Holy Scripture, particularly the Gospels.

As the late Kallistos Ware describes, “Orthodoxy regards the Bible as a verbal icon of Christ, the Seventh Council laying down that the Holy Icons and the Book of the Gospels should be venerated in the same way”.

In this work, I take the concept of iconography to sound. Instead of focusing on the life of Christ or a saint, I focus on an integral Eastern Orthodox concept called Nipsis (Νῆψις) or Watchfulness: is the process of guarding one’s thoughts to keep the heart pure. To firmly ground the work in the Orthodox tradition, I developed a structure (formal, harmonic and rhythmic) based on an excerpt from St. Nikephoros the Monk’s 13th-century work On Watchfulness. In doing so, I believe the work has a justified structure that is found in a tradition to which I am striving to contribute. It is not my intention to write a work designed to be venerated, but to bring light on a concept integral to the Orthodox faith, and also to highlight the paramount event of Incarnation.

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COMPOSERS KATIA GEHA Katia Geha is an Australian-Lebanese composer who recently completed her Honours as part of her Bachelor of Music (Composition) at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. A recipient of the Myron Kantor Bequest, Katia composes experimental performance art music and studied under Dr Damien Ricketson, Dr Paul Stanhope, Dr Benjamin Carey and Professor Liza Lim AM. She has written for all ensembles including choral, orchestral, solo and chamber, as well as scores for a number of short films.

In 2020, her work was published by Orpheus Music, and Katia was a winner of the Open Fanfare Competition with Artology. In 2022, her arrangement was performed and broadcasted on Channel 7 for ANZAC day, and later that year her first orchestral work was a finalist in the Sydney Conservatorium’s Orchestral Reading Competition. In 2023, Katia was a participant at both Impuls Academy in Graz, Austria and Darmstadter Ferienkurse in Darmstadt, Germany. Since 2021, Katia has been the librarian for the Australian World Orchestra having the opportunity to work with Australia’s top international and national musicians and tour with Zubin Mehta AC and Alexander Briger AO. Katia plans to continue her studies in composition and performance art in central Europe. and they leave me in the dark and they leave me in the dark is a work that unpacks the consistent violence and death against women globally, indefinitely referencing the numerous amounts of murders where men have disposed of a women’s body through placing their remains in garbage bags and throwing them away. From a compositional standpoint, this work was created via photocopying my separate body onto a blank score and using those as general structural guidelines in the work. Specifically, this work resonates with the murder of Shraddha Walkar in 2022, where her body was cut into 35 separate pieces, her face was charred to disfigure her identity and the pieces of her body were disposed of gradually in the forest of Chhatarpur in India.

This work is dedicated to the women we have lost under these circumstances.

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COMPOSERS MARTIN CHENEY Martin graduated from the Elder Conservatorium at the University of Adelaide with a PhD in Composition (2023) and First Class Honours in the Bachelor of Music Education (Most Outstanding Graduate, 2009). He co-founded the Adelaide Wind Orchestra (AWO) in 2012 which has attracted high-profile guest artists including internationally renowned conductor Dr John Lynch. Martin is currently writing a new clarinet concerto for AWO to be premiered at the 20th World Association for Symphonic Bands and Ensembles (WASBE) conference in South Korea in July 2024, featuring Arcadia Winds’ Lloyd Van’t Hoff as soloist. AWO has performed and recorded a number of Martin’s pieces, including their World Premiere of Tangent: symphony for wind orchestra in 2021. In 2022, he was one of the mentor composers for the ReClassified festival presented by Recitals Australia, under the direction of Australian composer, Anne Cawrse. Martin composed his first film score in 2023 for Within The Pines (dir. Paul Evans Thomas), which is yet to be released. He is represented in Australia

by Matt Klohs Music and internationally by Murphy Music Press, LLC. Outside the world of composing, Martin is a music theatre lecturer, repetiteur, music director and pit orchestra pianist with experience in over 50 professional, amateur and educational productions. He is a published Arts writer and critic who writes for his own website, Sharp Four Reviews, and has by-lines at the Australian online magazines FilmInk and CutCommon. Martin currently lectures in the Bachelor of Music Theatre at the University of Adelaide.

Penchant Penchant began its life with a distinctly different purpose than the one it now fulfills. My original intention was to unpack a noteworthy observation I made during my years working as a music director in the realm of music theatre. The use of two seemingly innocuous musical qualities – namely, the lydian mode and harmonic inversions – have the ability to stop time (narratively speaking). Liberal use of these techniques, particularly in underscore and more emotionally ambiguous moments, seems to hold the dual effect of forward motion and timelessness in tandem. Restlessness and contentment, together. Somehow.

Or, at least, that’s the piece I began composing. But, truth be told, the longer I spent in that soundworld, the less I felt compelled to “do” something with it – for it to be About Something – and the more I just wanted to sit in it, and enjoy it. And that’s how Penchant was born. It’s many of my harmonic, melodic and rhythmic instincts rolled into a celebration of how music brings me joy. To hear Penchant is to get to know its composer a little better.

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