Ruthless Jabiru is an ensemble of pro Australian musicians in the UK. Kelly Lovelady, their artistic director, who's also the conductor, asked me 2.5 weeks ago whether or not I would be interested in joining them for a concert coming up on 31st May (which was in fact yesterday). Their recent blog post writes all about the event and its theme. Briefly: we are making an appearance at the Australia & New Zealand Festival of Literature & Arts, performing a distinctive programme of Australian and British contemporary works. Each piece reflects and presents 'the past' - magnifying the various corners of heritage and history through the sound of a string orchestra. The programme: Michael Tippett Lament from Divertimento on Sellinger’s Round (or, The Beginning of the World) Chris Williams Altjiranga Mitjina Tansy Davies Residuum Andrew Ford The Past (soloist - Russell Harcourt countertenor) Egidija Medekšaité Sandhi Prakash Rehearsal Day 1 - Wednesday 28 May 10:00-17:00 Rehearsal in the Lecture Room is upstairs on the first floor. Rehearsal Day 2 - Thursday 29 May - 14:00-21:00 Rehearsal Day 3 - Saturday 31 May - 16:00-18:00 AND Concert - 19:30-20:30 For our last rehearsal, we were in the Music Seminar Room - right opposite the Chapel. The concert was a rather surreal experience for me. Imagine the room extremely dark, not a light switched on except the light stands. You're transported 'back in time' to sticks and stones (heavy pizzicatos, accents, continuous quaver open strings, and atonal harmonic changes) and end your journey with hypnotic glissandos (Sandhi Prakash). It was definitely an experience I feel honoured to have been a part of.
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