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C03-2 While You Sleep

  • April 30, 2022

    7.30pm - 8.20pm

  • The Street Theatre

    15 Childers Street, Canberra ACT 2601

  • In Association with

A co-production with Street Theatre and Tura New Music, with support of the Australia Council Contemporary Touring Fund.

The answer to Haydn’s Creation anno 2022 lies in this state-of-the-art production that delves into the furthest ranges of human consciousness and performance physicality. Based on the classic idea of Fugue as a musical construct and as a state of mind, composer Kate Neal and animator Sal Cooper have created a work to rival Escher’s dizzying tracks of thought and vision.  

 “Cooper and Neal animate the string quartet, putting the players into motion so that they trace intricate tracks and lines of flight across the stage on foot and on wheely chairs. Those tracks correspond to tracks traced earlier, on screen, by cars running through a cartoonish landscape of twisting highway flyovers. As the cars stop and begin reversing, Neal’s music also reverses, running its melodic line in retrograde. The technical precision of string-playing was undisturbed as the players whizzed across the stage, while Abela’s playing was masterful”  (Th. Ford, Arts House 2018) 

 

Artists

Zachary Johnston, Isabel Hede, Phoebe Green & David Moran, string quartet

With Jacob Abela on keyboards

ARTIST Learn more about the artist

Artist Jacob Abela

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Australian keyboardist and composer Jacob Abela is a soloist and chamber musician specialising in the new music field. Jacob is Australia’s leading voice for the Ondes Martenot, a French keyboard instrument which predates the synthesiser. Jacob is a founding member and co-director of new music outfit Rubiks, who have enjoyed critical acclaim for their contribution to Melbourne’s contemporary music scene. Jacob also performs regularly with the Melbourne and Sydney Symphony Orchestras, and has appeared with renowned ensembles such as Ensemble Offspring, Argonaut Ensemble (BIFEM), Speak Percussion, and Synergy Percussion. Festival credits include the Bang on a Can Summer Music Festival (USA), Bendigo International Festival of Exploratory Music, Metropolis New Music Festival, ISCM World New Music Days, Sydney Festival, and Mathemusical Conversations (Singapore).