ELISION Ensemble 2008

Liza Lim: Portrait

12.00, 9 March 2008
Jewish Museum, Glashof, Berlin
Presented as part of Maerzmusik 2008

ELISION Ensemble, Simon HEWETT conductor
Susan NARUCKI soprano
Andrew WATTS counter-tenor
Genevieve LACEY recorder

Works of Liza LIM including Ochred String (2007) for oboe, viola, violoncello, doublebass; Weaver-of-fictions (2007) for solo alto Ganassi recorder; Sensorium (2007) (Libretto by Patricia Sykes) for soprano, counter-tenor, contrabass and tenor Ganassi recorders, viola d'amore, baroque triple harp; Songs found in dream (2005) oboe, bass clarinet, alto saxophone, two percussion, violoncello, doublebass; and Mother Tongue (2005) (Poetic text by Patricia Sykes) for soprano and 15 instruments.

TON

Scena for mobiles, audience and instrumentalists (creation 2008)

15.00 15 March 2008
11.00 and 15.00, 16 March 2008
St. Elisabeth-Kirche, Invalidenstrasse 3, Berlin-Mitte
Presented as part of Maerzmusik 2008

Liza LIM music
Volker MÄRZ mobiles and sculptures
Sabrina HÖLZER idea and conception

TON, a 'Scena for mobile, audience and instrumentalists' was conceived by the Berlin-based stage director Sabrina Hölzer together with the Australian composer Liza Lim and the fine artist Volker März especially for the St. Elisabeth-Kirche in Berlin-Mitte. This neo-classical church by Karl Friedrich Schinkel was fire-bombed by Allied forces during World-War II and remained a ruin in East Berlin. Since 1999 it has been partially restored with a glass ceiling as a way of reactivating the space as a venue for the arts.

TON, consisting of two 'chapters' can be visited in its first part as a performance with four musicians of the Australian Elision Ensemble and in its second part, as an installation. The main room of the church covered by a ceiling of glass will be hung with diverse large 'mobiles' with spans between two to ten metres wide and comprising hovering sculptural figures by the Berlin-based artist Volker März made out of coloured clay. The figures will float at the audience's eye-level, freely moving around the room. The musicians are placed in various niches set at different heights around the church as sounding-sculptures that form their own mobile counterpoint communicating with these fragile shapes.

The public, regarded as a constituent of the piece itself, is in this work placed together with the musicians and the floating sculptures to create a concerted 'scene'. The 'story' is created in the imaginations of the public as they watch the circling movements of numerous figures. These 'personages' appear to come from different contexts yet establish fleeting connections with each other in a to-and-fro dance in the space. The music is organised as a cyclic form in which sounds approach and recede, gradually revealing complete pieces over time. The music also comes into a dialogue with the mobiles, seemingly giving impulses to their movement and becoming part of the fantasy structure that is constructed by the audience. The foundation for this work is a number of different solo pieces by the Australian composer Liza Lim. The reference point for the musical structure is a solo work (weaver-of-fictions) played by the alto Ganassi recorder, an instrument which has a very special dreamy, sensuous quality. Against this, other pieces for tenor Ganassi recorder (the long forgetting), trumpet (Wild winged-one), clarinet (sonorous body) and alto trombone (the well of dreams) build up distinct and different layers of communication with the breath and song of the central piece.

During each one-hour performance, the audience can move freely amongst the moving figures of the mobiles. There are some places available to remain seated. As well as the live performances, there is a second chapter of the piece accessable as a sound-room-installation running from 17-24 March 2008, 12:00-18:00 hrs.

Three video-sketches of TON, made by artist Volker März can be viewed at You Tube, search "Sabrina Hölzer".

A coproduction between Zeitgenössische Oper Berlin and Elision Ensemble in collaboration with MaerzMusik Festival of contemporary music/Berliner Festspiele and the Berlin Artist-in-Residence programme of the DAAD.

The Navigator

An opera in six scenes for 5 singers and 16 instrumentalists with electronics

Presented as part of the Brisbane Festival 2008
Premiere 20.00, 30 July 2008, Judith Wright Centre of Contemporary Arts, Brisbane
Season 30 July 30 to August 2 inclusive

More information from the Brisbane Festival 2008 site

Produced by ELISION Ensemble. Commissioned by the Brisbane, Melbourne and Perth Festivals and ELISION in association with the Australian Government's Major Festivals Initiative.

ELISION Ensemble gratefully acknowledges the core financial assistance of the Commonwealth of Australia through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body; the State of Queensland through Arts Queensland; the support of The University of Queensland through the Office of the Vice Chancellor, Professor John HAY