A Seddon musician is relishing a rare chance to perform in concert with one of the world’s largest pipe organs.
Australian Art Orchestra artistic director Peter Knight said the AAO will be joined by Sydney collective Ensemble Offspring next month to present Exit Ceremonies, a concert built around performances on Melbourne Town Hall’s ornate grand organ.
The musicians will unite with American experimental music giant Alvin Lucier and composer-pianists Austin Buckett (Australia) and Simon James Phillips (Germany) to explore the extraordinary array of sonic effects only achievable with large pipe organs.
“Exit Ceremonies creates new rituals for the organ, and explores the meeting points of classical, jazz and experimental music,” Knight said.
“It also aims to be accessible and to draw the audience into a totally immersive, sensual experience.”
Exit Ceremonies will also use reel-to-reel tape machines, turntables, electronics, percussion, vocals, trumpet and strings in combination with the town hall’s grand organ – one of the world’s largest such instruments, which uses 90,000 cubic feet of air every minute.
Lucier’s commission for AAO, called Swings, will have its world premiere at the concert.
Buckett’s Aisles is a new work, which draws on diverse inspirations from minimalism to hip hop.
Aisles sets up looped conversations between the pipe organ, turntables, percussion, strings, voice and Knight’s trumpet.
Working with subtle timbres and structures to build a complex composition, Phillips’
Flaw uses a mix of multi-layered impacts acoustic and electronic instruments.
Exit Ceremonies will be performed at Melbourne Town Hall for one night only, at 7.30pm, Saturday, February 6. Tickets $35/20. Bookings: aao.com.au/exitceremonies.
