Multitudes

multitudes is a four-concert series at Moonah Arts Centre, showcasing the outcomes of violist Katie Yap’s Freedman Fellowship project. 

It sees her collaborate with four of Australia’s most exciting musicians - not just in performance, but also in composition. Through the joyful process of improvisation and co-composition, she and her collaborators have created four new works, which will see their Lutruwita/Tasmania debuts in this concert series. 

Each based on one of Judith Wright’s exquisite bird poems, these works bring together myriad elements that make up an artist. Each work celebrates a juxtaposition - old/new; human/nature; Chinese/Australian; and folk/classical. This is a classical concert series like no other: come experience the intimacy, warmth, and vitality of these new works and collaborations.

CONCERT #1 - MIGRANT SWIFT | Friday 13 June, 6pm

Combining renegade guzheng player Mindy Meng Wang’s traditional Chinese music with Katie’s classical viola, the pair explore what it means to connect to your culture through music, and bring deep traditions into a multiplicitous modern world. Their concert program celebrates this meeting, and seats some of the most beautiful traditional Chinese music next to works by Ravel and Pärt, before coming together in improvisation to create something genuinely new. 

The centerpiece of the program is the Lutruwitan/Tasmanian premiere of Mindy and Katie’s co-composed work, Migrant Swift, named after Judith Wright’s poem of the same name. It evokes the daring of both human and animal migration over oceans and untold distances. This is the story of Mindy and Katie’s families; of so many people in journeys both chosen and forced; and of the strength hidden in tiny, feathered bodies.

CONCERT #2 - NIGHT HERONS | Saturday 14 June, 2pm

Night Herons sees Katie Yap joins forces with long-time friend and collaborator, violinist/violist/singer/composer Emily Sheppard for this very special concert celebrating the nexus of classical and folk forms, and the spectacular resonance of open-tuned strings that embrace and envelop the voice. From works by Alice Chance and Hawai’ian composer Leilehua Lanzilotti, they explore folk music from around the globe, improvisation, and Emily’s much-loved work Aftermath.

At the center of the program is the Lutruwitan/Tasmanian premiere of their collaboratively composed piece Night Herons, named after Judith Wright’s poem of the same name. Written in their shared language of folk harmonies and complex grooves, it’s inspired by dreaming and wonder, and the whispered connection of strangers brought together in the face of wild birds on a wet, sunset-gleaming road.

CONCERT #3 - BLACK COCKATOOS | Saturday 14 June, 6pm

Black Cockatoos brings together renowned early keyboardist and composer Donald Nicolson with Katie Yap in a joyful exploration of old and new. With works ranging from medieval abbess and mystic Hildegard von Bingen, through Telemann and Strozzi of their musical homeland of the baroque period, it culminates in a rare collaboration in the classical world.

Donald and Katie have co-composed Black Cockatoos for harpsichord, baroque viola, and electronics. Based on Judith Wright’s poem of the same name, this semi-improvised piece draws on influences from Hildegard von Bingen, JS Bach, and 70s electronic music pioneer Jean-Michel Jarre. Evoking the unsettling moments before a storm, and the heavy wildness of the black cockatoo’s wingbeats, it rounds off a concert not to be missed.

CONCERT #4 - PASSENGER PIGEONS | Sunday 15 June, 2pm

This concert sees Katie team up with powerhouse duo Bowerbird Collective, whose mission is to make art for nature and tell stories that strengthen emotional connections to the natural world. With a program juxtaposing city and country through works by Missy Mazzoli, Anne Cawrse, and traditional folk music; it culminates in a very special co-composed work by Bowerbird and Katie, called Lament for Passenger Pigeons, after Judith Wright’s poem of the same name. 

Lament for Passenger Pigeons tells the story of the passenger pigeon, a North American bird once so numerous that flocks would cover the sky like a winged eclipse, but quickly brought to extinction through over-hunting in the early 1900s. Using transcriptions of its unusual call by behavioural scientist Wallace Craig as thematic material, cinematic soundscapes, and the emotional journey of Judith Wright’s poem from anger and mourning to hope, it is a truly transporting experience.