NEW MUSIC AUSTRALIA
Presents
SynC - MICHAEL ATHERTON AND GARTH PAINE
SONIC ALCHEMIES
6.30 pm Saturday 27 September, 2008
CONSERVATORIUM OF MUSIC, Recital Hall East
Q: What do you get when you cross a hurdy-gurdy with an electron?
A: An Encounter!
Q: What do you get when a Wacom tablet duels with a telescopic didjeridu?
A: Cyberdidj!
Q: What do you get when a Turkish lute or a guitar signals a 24 processor sound engine?
A: Sonic Alchemy!
See and hear these answered in a dynamic electro-acoustic exploration by SynC.
Price: $20 full/$12 Concession and Under 30
Bookings (02) 8256 2222, tickets at the door or Online
Enquiries: Philippa Horn, Manager, NMA
Phone - 0411 606 077; email - philippahorn@optusnet.com.au
SynC is Michael Atherton (ancient and contemporary acoustic instruments) and Garth
Paine (computer, control surface, sensors). Focusing on the interface between acoustic
and electronic music, SynC is an experimental ensemble for acoustic instruments and
live electronics. This composition and performance collaboration seeks to contextualise
ancient and modern musical languages within a single form. It does so by utilising
ancient and contemporary acoustic musical instruments (eg. oud, hurdy-gurdy, gongs,
marimba, and percussion) as the sonic foundation for complex live electronic processes,
which generate a vast array of timbral environments, responsive to the acoustic input,
but simultaneously independent. Wacom drawing table and Wii controllers are used as
multidimensional control surface and sensors in live performance, allowing the duo to
discard the constraints of the laptop. SynC was one of 20 international ensembles
selected to perform at IRCAM in the Centre Pompidou for NIME Paris (2006), and for
NIME New York (2007).
Garth Paine is a senior lecturer in Music Technology and Researcher at the MARCS
Auditory labs, University of Western Sydney, where he leads the Virtual, Interactive
performance research project (VIPRe). He is internationally regarded as an innovator in
the field of interactivity in new media arts. His immersive interactive environments have
been exhibited in Australia, Europe, Japan, USA, Hong Kong and New Zealand. Garth has
composed many hours of music for theatre, dance and documentary. SynC is the
research space in which he seeks to establish new dialogues between the digital and the
acoustic, sculpting sounds in real-time that are viscous and fluid. Garth has a
particularly deep feeling for the quality, the texture and weight of sound, creating a rich
and rewarding musical experience that reflects the physicality and potential of
computer-based digital re-mediation of the acoustic sound.
Michael Atherton is a composer-performer, professor of music and associate dean
(research) at the University of Western Sydney. In 2003 he was awarded a Centenary
Medal for services to Australian society. His book, Australian Made Australian Playe: a
study of Australian musical instrument makers and subsequent publications, have raised
international awareness of Australian innovation. Michael was recently a featured
composer in the Aurora Festival (2008). His five world premieres included Songs of
Stone and Silence, a setting of David Campbell’s poetry composed for Halcyon,
commissioned by by Ars Musica Australis; Runsten, a suite commissioned by the ABC for
lutenist Tommie Andersson; and Utility Horn Groove for mixed ensembles,
percussionists, rap artists, dancer and performing cars, which was televised around the
world. Michael’s recordings include Ankh - the sounds of ancient Egypt; Ankala with
didjeridu master, Janawirri Yiparrka; and Parallel Lines with Garth Paine.