Avantwhatever Monthly - June 2014
Jessica Wilkinson & Simon Charles
with Jenny Barnes and Carmen Chan
Performing:
Marionette
marionette, written by Melbourne poet Jessica L. Wilkinson, is a poetic biography of cinema actress Marion Davies, whose silencing by the early cinema provides a powerful metaphor for her subsequent ‘silencing’ by her lover of 30 years, William Randolph Hearst. marionette is an attempt to locate the voice of a woman whose story can never be fully told. In this performance, Wilkinson teams up with composer Simon Charles to articulate the threads of this broken narrative while preserving its ever-elusive quality. The performance involves a live interwoven soundscape of spoken word excerpts from marionette (Wilkinson), vocal technique (Barnes), percussion (Chan) and electronics (Charles).
Suite for Percy Grainger
Draws on the prolific archive of anecdotes, letters and ideas that Grainger left in his wake, and references Grainger’s early explorations into electronic and ‘free music’, including recordings made by himself and Burnett Cross in the early 1950s.
The Alderman
134 Lygon St
Brunswick
Sunday June 29
Entry $10 | 4pm
Avantwhatever Monthly is held the last Sunday of every month at The Alderman in Brunswick - join the Avantwhatever group on Facebook or go to www.avantwhatever.com and sign up to the mailing list to hear about upcoming releases and events.
Artist Details:
Jessica Wilkinson
Jessica Wilkinson holds a PhD in Creative Writing from the University of Melbourne, Australia. She is Senior Lecturer in Creative and Professional Writing at RMIT University, Melbourne. Her poetry and essays have appeared in numerous journals including HOW2, Cultural Studies Review, Criticism: A Quarterly for Literature and the Arts, Overland and Cordite. She is the founding editor of RABBIT: a journal for nonfiction poetry. Her book (poetry) marionette: a biography of miss marion davies was published by Vagabond in 2012 and has been shortlisted for the 2014 Kenneth Slessor Prize. Her next poetic biography, Suite for Percy Grainger, will be published in 2014. She recently won the 2014 Peter Porter Poetry Prize.
Simon Charles
Simon Charles is a composer, saxophonist and electro-acoustic musician. He has composed works for various ensembles and individuals, including the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Speak Percussion, Lizzy Welsh, Duo Non-Zero and the Arcko Symphonic Project. His mentors have included Peter Ablinger, Anthony Pateras, John McCaughey and David Tolley.
www.simoncharlesmusic.com
Jenny Barnes
Jenny Barnes (1981) is a vocalist, performer and video maker currently based in Melbourne. Barnes achieved a Masters Degree in Applied Linguistics and a Bachelor of Music in Jazz Performance and has studied under the tutelage of predominant vocalists in New York City, Lisboa, Berlin and Oslo. Barnes has travelled extensively throughout rural Australia, Western Europe and South East Asia gathering fuel for her work into the musicality of language. Jenny’s work was exhibited alongside that of Meredith Monk (USA), Jaap Blonk (Netherlands), Fatima Miranda (Spain) and Amanda Stewart (Australia) among others, in 'Vocal Folds' an exhibition at Melbourne’s prestigious Gertrude Contemporary.
http://
Carmen Chan
Carmen Chan is a percussionist and multidisciplinary artist who takes a holistic approach to music and its presentation. Her project 'Do You See What I Hear?' has taken graphic scores into the public domain and invited interpreters ranging from professional musicians to non-musicians to become engaged. The project has been featured at Shepparton Art Museum 2010, in the International Alliance of Women's Music blog, and in a performance-workshop with the Hong Kong New Music Ensemble in 2013. Carmen was also invited to present her work at the Notations21 European tour and symposium in Utrecht, the Netherlands in 2012.
http://
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