Ensemble Offspring Releases Solo series On YouTube
Ensemble Offspring has released a series of videos entitled Lone Hemispheres: The Solo Sessions as one of its responses to music-making in the COVID era.
Sponsored by a COVID grant from the City of Sydney, Many months in the making, our series of 12 videos were recorded at Baker Street Studios, highlighting modern masterpieces alongside seminal Australian instrumental solos. You may have seen snippets of some of these videos on Facebook in recent weeks, but all 12 videos have now been released for viewing as a set on YouTube. The videos feature solo works by composers such as Kate Moore, Andrew Ford, Kate Neal, Liza Lim and Kaija Saariaho. They are perfect for that post lockdown new music fix – watch one a day for 12 days and watch the set slowly change – or binge all 12 in a row!
Creative director of the series Michelle St Anne (The Living Room Theatre) explains: “My theme was ‘all dressed up with no place to go’, hence the socks and bare feet combined with high fashion. The videos are in black and white and a still life is featured on the left of the performer for each work, highlighting how the mundane of everyday life can become poetic over time.”
The videos:
1. An Extraordinary Mildness by Christopher Fox performed by Claire Edwardes (vibraphone)
2. Hook by Andrew Ford performed by Claire Edwardes (vibraphone)
3. Unanswered Questions by Tristan Murail performed by Lamorna Nightingale (flute)
4. Bioluminesence by Liza Lim performed by Lamorna Nightingale (flute)
5. Canyon 1205 by Kate Neal & Grischa Lichtenberger performed by Blair Harris (cello & electronics)
6. Sept Papillons by Kaija Saariaho performed by Blair Harris (cello)
7. Maknongan by Giacinto Sclesi performed by Jason Noble (contrabass clarinet)
8. Entr’acte by Christopher Tonkin performed by Jason Noble (bass clarinet)
9. Broken Rosary by Kate Moore performed by Freya Schack-Arnott (cello)
10. Instructions for Improvisation 4 by Alex Pozniak performed by Freya Schack-Arnott (cello)
11. Crie by Cathy Milliken performed by Véronique Serret (violin & voice)
12. Nocturne by Kaija Saariaho performed by Véronique Serret (violin)
