Adelaide Festival presents

Ngapa William Cooper

Composed and written by Nigel Westlake, Lior and Lou Bennett / With additional creative lyric content by Sarah Gory

It’s been almost a decade since composer Nigel Westlake and singersongwriter Lior shared their classic song cycle, Compassion, with the world. The pair unite again for the world premiere of Ngapa William Cooper (Grandfather William Cooper), a moving companion piece in which they are joined by an equally unaffected, yet deeply affecting voice: that of Yorta Yorta Dja Dja Wurrung singer, composer and language activist Dr Lou Bennett AM.

The liberating power of compassion is once again the theme, but this time the focus is on a still largely unsung Australian hero and revered Yorta Yorta elder, William Cooper. An early activist for the rights of First Nations peoples, Cooper’s achievements were legion – but it was a single extraordinary act of empathy that triggered Lior to set this new work in motion.

In late 1938, outraged by the way political considerations muted official responses to the Nazis’ Kristallnacht atrocities, Uncle William led members of the Australian Aborigines League on an eight mile walk to the German Consulate in Melbourne to deliver a letter of protest. This is believed to be the only such demonstration by non-Jews anywhere in the world; a remarkable display of solidarity from one dispossessed people to another and an event worthy of this dramatic, complex and radiantly beautiful score.

Vocalists Lior and Lou Bennett are joined by the Australian String Quartet, Kees Boersma (double bass), Rebecca Lagos (percussion) and Andrea Lam (piano) to perform this much-anticipated world premiere. The ASQ carry the balance of the concert with two fascinating works – Philip Glass’ “Mishima” String Quartet, an M.C. Escher illusion painted in sound, and Bryce Dessner’s arresting homage to the diaspora experience of his Jewish grandmother, Aheym.

The world premiere production of Ngapa William Cooper is part of Finding Our Voice. Finding Our Voice is supported by Restart Investment to Sustain and Expand (RISE) Fund – an Australian Government initiative, UKARIA and the following individuals and foundations: Ulrike Klein AO, Berg Family Foundation, The Yulgilbar Foundation, The Aranday Foundation, Playking Foundation and Julie Kantor AO.

Adelaide Festival presents

Myth & Passion

Poème: Chamber Landscapes

Amy Beach’s Piano Quintet and Karol Szymanowski’s Myths bookend this virtuosic and passionate program. Kitty Xiao’s In Flesh for cello and electronics is a microscopically detailed and sensual study of the instrument’s unique sound which is often described as being the instrument most like the human voice.

PROGRAM

Szymanowski: Myths Op. 30
Jakub Jakowicz (violin), Konstantin Shamray (piano)

Kitty Xiao: In Flesh
Timo-Veikko Valve (cello)

Lutosławski: Subito
Jakub Jakowicz (violin), Paavali Jumppanen (piano)

Amy Beach: Piano Quintet, Op. 67
Elina Vähälä (violin), Jakub Jakowicz (violin), Christopher Moore (viola), Timo-Veikko Valve (cello), Andrea Lam (piano)

This event is part of the Poème: Chamber Landscapes program.

Adelaide Festival presents

The Exotic

Poème: Chamber Landscapes

Pierre Boulez’s early opus magnum, Le Marteau sans maître, is an anarchistic work full of blissfully rapturous sounds. Like his French predecessor Debussy, represented here by his Violin Sonata, Boulez was inspired by exotic music. In Le Marteau, the composer creates a wholly new vocabulary based on various African and Asian traditions. Hans Tutschku’s Shadow of Bells concludes the evening with a meditative and hypnotic journey drawing its inspiration from Japanese temple bells.

PROGRAM

Boulez: Le Marteau sans maître
Judith Dodsworth (voice), Alison Mitchell (flute), Slava Grigoryan (guitar), Christopher Moore (viola), Kaylie Melville (xylophone), Alexander Meagher (vibraphone), Amanda Grigg (percussion), Jeffrey Means (conductor)

Interval

Debussy: Violin Sonata
Elina Vähälä (violin), Paavali Jumppanen (piano)

Hans Tutschku: Shadow of bells
Andrea Lam (piano)

This event is part of the Poème: Chamber Landscapes program.

Adelaide Festival presents

Poème

Poème: Chamber Landscapes

The work from which the title of the festival weekend was borrowed, Ernest Chausson’s Poème, was originally a work for solo violin and orchestra but is heard here in the composer’s own adaptation for chamber ensemble. The other pieces on the program explore different forms of musical narratives: Leoš Janáček’s fairy tale Pohádka, Moya Henderson’s natural reflection Kudikynah Cave and Outi Tarkiainen’s Without a Trace, a work incorporating a poem by the acclaimed Sámi poet Nils-Aslak Valkeapää.

PROGRAM

Janáček: Pohádka
Timo-Veikko Valve (cello), Konstantin Shamray (piano)

Moya Henderson: Kudikynah Cave
Australian String Quartet (Dale Barltrop – violin, Francesca Hiew – violin, Christopher Cartlidge – viola, Michael Dahlenburg – cello)

Outi Tarkiainen: Without a Trace
Paavali Jumppanen (piano)

Interval

Chausson: Poème, Op. 25
Jakub Jakowicz (violin), Australian String Quartet (Dale Barltrop – violin, Francesca Hiew – violin, Christopher Cartlidge – viola, Michael Dahlenburg – cello), Andrea Lam (piano)

This event is part of the Poème: Chamber Landscapes program.

Adelaide Festival presents

Music for a Summer Evening

Poème: Chamber Landscapes

The final concert embraces the summer evening at UKARIA and celebrates the recently deceased American visionary George Crumb. The weekend began with flute references to the music of ancient masters. In the festival’s concluding performance, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, a plausible heir of Orpheus, is introduced through a work also featuring the instrument. Kitty Xiao, a modern musical wizard, opens a door on her ability to imagine the unimaginable in music.

PROGRAM

Kitty Xiao: fluorescent cities
Percussion: Amanda Grigg, Alexander Meagher, Kaylie Melville

Mozart: Flute Quartet in D major, K.285
Alison Mitchell (flute), Jakub Jakowicz (violin), Christopher Moore (viola), Timo-Veikko Valve (cello)

Interval

Crumb: Makrokosmos vol.III, Music for a Summer Evening
Paavali Jumppanen (piano), Andrea Lam (piano), Amanda Grigg (percussion), Jeffrey Means (percussion)

FREE PRE-CONCERT TALK

Prior to the concert, join Paavali Jumppanen for Crumb and Music for a Summer Evening, a free talk from 5.45pm – 6.15pm. No ticket or registration required.

This event is part of the Poème: Chamber Landscapes program.