A Book of Hours
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Saturday, 3 May 2025
4:45 pm
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National Film and Sound Archive
McCoy Cct, Acton ACT 2601
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General Admission $40,
Concession $40
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In Association with
This event is part of MOSSO: music in motion
“Call it dance or art music or just live performance. Whatever it is – A Book of Hours is the best kind of puzzle.” – ★★★★ The Age
‘A Book of Hours’ is a revelatory screen-dance presentation featuring stop-motion film, on stage and filmed choreography with live classical contemporary soundtrack performed by Rubiks Collective, alongside stop-motion video works by visual artist Sal Cooper and choreographer Gerard Van Dyck.
Inspired by the mysteries of time and different ideas of how we spend our days, ‘A Book of Hours’ combines stop-motion filmed humans and animation on screen, choreographed musicians and wind-up toys on stage representing the embodied vulnerability of the human form.
Taking the medieval Book of Hours as the central concept of the work, composer Kate Neal references early Baroque influences (Couperin, Rameau) to reimagine the early canonical divisions of time.
PROGRAM
Multimedia live performance (50 minutes)
Four piece instrumental ensemble + live electronics + film
ARTISTS
Creative Directors: Gerard Van Dyck / Sal Cooper / Kate Neal / Rubiks Collective
Choreography / Movement: Gerard Van Dyck
Animation / Visual Media: Sal Cooper
Music / Sound: Kate Neal (with Couperin and Rameau)
Ensemble: Rubiks Collective (Tamara Kohler – flutes | Gemma Kneale – cello | Kaylie Melville – percussion)
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
**An automatic discount of 15 per cent applies when purchasing three or more MOSSO tickets in a single transaction.
**Note for Pass Holders – Festival passes automatically include entry to the 2pm-6pm ticketed events.
Click here to BECOME A MEMBER. NFSA visitor information at nfsa.gov.au/visit-us
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Saturday, 3 May 2025
4:45 pm
-
National Film and Sound Archive
McCoy Cct, Acton ACT 2601
-
General Admission $40,
Concession $40
ARTIST Learn more about the artist
Artist Kate Neal
Kate Neal is an artist with over 20 years’ experience as a composer, arranger, educator, and collaborator. In 2020/21 Neal premiered Sentiment Logistics with Sal Cooper, a TURA No Borders commission, as well as new works for Golden Gate Brass, Muses Trio and sound design for the RISING featured theatre work The Dispute. A new solo cello work Old Silences (with animation by Sal Cooper) also premiered in Brisbane and was to feature at the 2021 Art Music Awards.
In 2019 Neal premiered The Commuter Variations commissioned by the Melbourne Recital Centre (10th Anniversary), performed by Lisa Moore with animation by Sal Cooper. In 2018 Neal premiered While You Sleep, a 60min ground-breaking work for string quartet and visual media, presented by Arts House, Melbourne. In 2016 she composed Permission to Speak a vocal work in collaboration with theatre maker Tamara Saulwick. Produced and presented by Chamber Made, Permission to Speak achieved critical acclaim, and also showcased at APAM 2018.
In 2017 Neal premiered Never Tilt Your Chair at PICA (Perth Institute of Contemporary Art) with the Sound Collectors, a work for over 200 pieces of cutlery. This involved substantial instrument design and construction. Neal also composed five short bagatelles, Eurus for Arcadia Winds in the Musica Viva Schools program as well as a new work for the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, August 2017. In 2015 Neal presented her concert length work Semaphore, which won Instrumental Work of the Year as well as Performance of the Year at the APRA Art music awards, showcased at APAM (Brisbane) and pitched at Classical:Next (Rotterdam). This work showed exceptional courage in documenting ANZAC signalman, and found new ways in integrating and notating physical movement and gesture for both musicians and dancers.
In 2015 Neal was the recipient of an Australia Council for the Arts Fellowship, allowing her to compose six substantial works over two years. In 2013 Neal returned from the US to take a one-year position as Composer in Residence for the Four Winds Festival. From 2009-2013 Neal was a Graduate Fellow at Princeton University in the USA, and from 2007-2009 she was based in the UK. Neal received a NUFFIC scholarship in 1999 and studied with Louis Andriessen and Martijn Padding at the Royal Conservatory in the Netherlands.
Neal currently (2020/21) is a lecturer in Interactive Composition at the VCA, University of Melbourne.
Neal holds a BMus (VCA, Melbourne); BMus/MMus (RC, The Hague); PGDip (non western music, SC, Amsterdam); PGDip (RNCM, Manchester); PhD Graduate Fellow, Princeton University.
“Adrenalin-filled musical adventure a winner” – The Age
“Ravishing piano glissandi and arpeggiated strings” – The Australian
“Complex, rousing stuff, performed with precision” – Australian Arts Review
“Explosion of scintillating colour and intoxicating movement” – Herald Sun
Artist Rubiks Collective
“Rubiks Collective achieves the impossible. The vocal quartet is living, breathing proof that new compositions can be invigorating and inspiring, not merely intellectually niche.” – Sydney Morning Herald
Rubiks is one of Melbourne’s most dynamic contemporary art music ensembles, reimagining classical music for the modern era. Directed by Tamara Kohler (flutes) and Kaylie Melville (percussion), Rubiks showcases bold cross-art collaborations, shares untold stories and champions gender equity in the arts . Since debuting in 2015, Rubiks has been hailed as “a formidable contribution to Australia’s growing community of contemporary music makers” (Partial Durations) and commended for their “incredibly personal, strangely spiritual and ultimately deeply touching” performances (Limelight).
Rubiks’ appearance at the 2025 Festival is supported by Peter Wise.