I’m delighted to have had my work Frumious featured on Australian Youth Orchestra’s tour across Europe and China, culminating in a homecoming concert at the Sydney Opera House, conducted by Krzysztof Urbański.
If you missed the live ABC Classic broadcast, here it is below as a podcast. Presented by Russell Torrance, I’m interviewed briefly before it begins!
Image: Oliver Brighton
The video clip of Vibe Rant (flute, clarinet, vibraphone) is now available - check it out below!
Su-An Ng has made a seriously cool film. She describes it as, “a playful, abstract interpretation of a day in the life of an old squabbling couple. The quirks and nuances of this relationship is explored through a cacophonous world of shapes, colours and textures”.
Vibe Rant is performed by new music champions Ensemble Offspring. The piece forms part of their Offspring Bites 2 release, which features the music of Aussie composers Cassie To, Bree Van Reyk, Andrea Keller, and and Melody Eötvös. There’s also a bespoke film for each piece, too!
Thrilled to be presenting at ASME NSW’s 2019 Composition Day. Come along on June 22!
Join special guest composers Paul Stanhope and Holly Harrison as they present sessions exploring composition strategies for the classroom and workshop draft student compositions. This day has been approved by NESA for 4 hours of professional development.
Schedule:
10:30 – Registration and morning tea
11:00 – Holly Harrison
12:00 – Paul Stanhope
1:00 – Lunch (provided)
1:30 – Workshopping student compositions and Q&A
2:30 – Evaluation & Discussion
3:00 – Conclusion
I’m excited to share that the Australian Youth Orchestra are taking my work Frumious (2013) on tour to Germany and China in July. Conducted by Krzysztof Urbański, and featuring pianist Jan Lisiecki, the tour caps off with a homecoming concert at the Sydney Opera House.
You can book tickets via this link.
I’m back after a crazy fun time in Miami! Many thanks to the inspiring folks at Nu Deco Ensemble, and conductor Jacomo Bairos, for an amazing run of shows! It’s been grand. A special mention to the incredible soprano Jessica Jones, who absolutely rocked my And Whether Pigs Have Wings.
It was a real privilege to be programmed alongside Tanner Porter, Jessica Meyer, Sam Hyken, and Tei Shi, who are all fabulous people, composers, and performers. Check out their stuff - now! All photos below taken by Alex Markow.
2Hz (Hamish Upton and Zela Papageorgiou) form a Melbourne-based percussion duo that investigate and perform 20th and 21st century percussion music. Their performances include experimental and exploratory improvisations and works inspired by their love of alternative, contemporary, and classical music.
For their Southside Summer program, 2Hz have tailored a recital around the concepts of journey and story telling. Featured works include Tweedledrum by Sydney superstar Holly Harrison, a ‘percussion battle’ for two performers. Javier Alvarez’s Temazcal puts the maraca soloist in a theatrical dialogue with a cinematic backing track, while Christopher Deane’s Mourning Dove Sonnet evokes a delicate ballad for solo vibraphone, with angular rhythms and extended techniques.
Sunday 17th February, Classic Cinemas, Elsternwick, Victoria, 5pm
I’m delighted that the wonderful Eighth Blackbird continue to play my Lobster Tales and Turtle Soup across the US! Since January, Lobster Tales has ventured to Montana, St. Louis, and Genoa, Italy, with outings scheduled for San Antonio, Richmond, Memphis, Alabama, and Michigan!
The program features a bunch of rad new music, including:
Angélica Negrón: Quimbombó
Jonathan Bailey Holland: The Clarity of Cold Air
Julius Eastman: Stay On It
Jessie Marino: Rot Blau
Viet Cuong: Electric Aroma
Holly Harrison: Lobster Tales and Turtle Soup
Nina Shekhar: ice ‘n’ SPICE
I’m super pumped to head back to the US in February - this time to Miami! The amazing Jessica Jones and Nu Deco Ensemble give life to my new arrangement of And Whether Pigs Have Wings, for soprano and large ensemble. It’s across three nights, too - that’s a hat trick!
404 NW 26 St
Miami, FL 33127
Lobster Tales and Turtle Soup (for flute/piccolo, clarinet in Bb/bass clarinet, violin, cello, percussion, and piano) and Balderdash (for string quartet) are now published via the Australian Music Centre. Follow the links below to purchase, loan, or view samples of scores and parts.
Lobster Tale and Turtle Soup (2016) score and parts (including eScore)
World premiere performance of Bend/Boogie/Break by Ensemble Offspring, 29th September 2018 at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.
Ensemble Offspring: Véronique Serret (violin) Rowena Macneish (cello) Claire Edwardes (percussion) Zubin Kanga (piano) Jason Noble (clarinet) Lamorna Nightingale (flute).
I’m excited to announce that I’m writing a new work for the Monash Academy Orchestra in 2019, as part of the MLIVE Series. The piece is generously supported by the Monash University Ed Byrne Commission and will be conduced by Jessica Cottis. More info can be found at MLIVE.
Holly Harrison New Work (world premiere)
Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No.2 in C minor
Tchaikovsky Symphony No.4 in F minor
Berlin-based Ensemble Garage have just released a live video of my 2015 work, Frogstomp. This is version 2.0 with baritone sax! Listen out for the frog. . .
Enyato Duo give Frogstomp a spin on November 30!
Fresh from their adventures at the Bang on a Can Festival, Enyato Duo make their Athenaeum debut on November 30th at 6pm!
Joined by sensational guest flutist Tamara Kohler (Rubiks), Enyato is pleased to present an exciting Australian-focused program including world premieres of works by 2017 Pythia Prize-winner Samantha Wolf and Sydney interdisciplinary juggernaut Tim Hansen. Wolf's work, Out of the Depths, explores the uses of water and time as ways to prepare the bass clarinet, and Hansen's soliloquy North Head serves as a timely reminder of the deep scars that line our country in these turbulent times. Enyato are also excited to present works by Holly Harrison, Thea Rossen, Ross Edwards and the Australian premiere of a gem for piccolo and music box by US composer Nicole Randall Chamberlain.
Enyato Duo @ Melbourne Athenaeum Library
Percussion: Thea Rossen
Woodwind: Luke Carbon
Guest Flute: Tamara Kohler (Rubiks)
Some fun photos from The Hourglass Ensemble’s show in the Utzon Room last week, featuring surprise costume elements for my Lobster Tales and Turtle Soup! Photos by Mark Xiao.
Rubiks Collective’s Melbourne performance of Lobster Tales and Turtle Soup is now out on ABC New Waves. The other featured composers are Melbourne-based Samantha Wolf, Samuel Smith, and Jacob Abela. The program is produced and presented by Duncan Yardley.
The Hourglass Ensemble play Lobster Tales and Turtle Soup as part of their upcoming Utzon Room show. It’s my Sydney Opera House debut, so I’m pumped! Other Australian works by Matthew Hindson and Andrew Ball too. More info here.
Flutes - Ewa Kowalski
Clarinets/director - Andrew Kennedy
Violin – Alastair Duff-Forbes
Cello – Steve Meyer
Percussion - Timothy Brigden
Piano - Anna Rutkowska-Schock
Repertoire
RACHMANINOFF Trio “Élégiaque” for violin viola and piano
HARRISON* “Lobster Tales and Turtle Soup” for flute clarinet violin cello percussion piano
BALL* “Three Dreams in Pulse”, sonata for clarinet and piano
HINDSON* “Repetepetition” for flute and vibraphone
KAPUSTIN Trio for flute cello and piano
* denotes Australian work
Some words about my Airbender premiere:
From Clinton White of Limelight:
‘The CSO showcases three outstanding Australian composers in this satisfying concert.
In August 2015, The Observer reported fears that the bassoon had become an “endangered species”, noting that “[a] campaign called Save the Bassoon now aims to remind the public of the importance of this engaging member of the woodwind section and to encourage young musicians to take it up.”
With the instrument in the mind of young Australian composer, Holly Harrison, and in the hands of brilliant bassoonist, Matthew Kneale (described by Matthew Hindson as the “rock-god of the bassoon”), its future is rock-solid safe.
Far from being buried in the woodwind section, the bassoon goes well and truly front and centre in Harrison’s high-energy Airbender for bassoon and string quartet. The composer, who plays drums and percussion in the improvised rock duo Tabua-Harrison, says her piece “imagines the bassoon as a type of sonic airbender, conjuring up an array of sounds driven by air! … [and] is further inspired by slap bass solos, prog-rock guitar ‘shredding’, and bluegrass sonorities.”
Giving the work its world premiere performance, Kneale rose to the challenge fearlessly, delivering all the work’s in-built qualities. He built boundless energy through its driving rhythms, raced along the keys with seemingly effortless virtuosity, and showcased his instrument’s amazing agility and incredible range. The quartet’s part, played here by the Omega Ensemble, is quite understated, giving the bassoon free rein, but pouring a solid foundation, maintaining the rhythms for Kneale’s musical gymnastics.’
Read the full article here.
Below images courtesy of Canberra Symphony Orchestra.
And from Helen Musa of City News:
‘First up was “Airbender for bassoon and string quartet”, by Holly Harrison, who was present on this occasion to talk about the work briefly, as were the other two composers.
The audience was asked to view the bassoon as the “dark horse” of instruments, but there was nothing obscure about star soloist Matthew Kneale, who teased every bit of colour from his chosen instrument in an exciting, urgent performance.
After a solo opening, the Omega Strings came in to provide the driving rhythms to (largely) a dancing dialogue between strings and bassoon, which eventually slowed momentarily before Harrison’s jazz-like inclinations revealed themselves in a lively exchange between the bassoon and violins.
This composer has repeatedly proved wrong the old cliché that there is no humour in music with her mischievous, quirky experiments and the usical conversation turned to what sounded like a dialogue of ships horns sounding in a fog, before returning to the energetic, driving rhythms which characterised the composition.’
Read the full article here.
I’m hugely excited for the premiere of my latest work Airbender for bassoon and string quartet as part of Canberra Symphony Orchestra’s Australia Series. It’s been a real treat working with ‘rock-god’ of the bassoon, Matt Kneale. Also on the program is Cyrus Meurant’s Concertino for Clarinet, featuring David Rowden, and a new work by Stuart Greenbaum, featuring harpist Meriel Owen. All soloists are accompanied by Omega Ensemble.
Thursday 25 October, 2018
Gordon Darling Hall, National Portrait Gallery, Canberra 6.30-7.30pm
20/20 Celebrating twenty years with twenty new portrait commissions
Matthew Kneale Bassoon Soloist
Meriel Owen Harp Soloist
David Rowden Clarinet Soloist
Omega Ensemble
Veronique Serret Violin
Airena Nakamura Violin
Neil Thompson Viola
Paul Stender Cello
Kyle Ramsay-Daniel Double Bass
HOLLY HARRISON: New work for bassoon and string quartet (new commission, 2018)
STUART GREENBAUM: New work for harp and string quintet (new commission from the CSO, 2018)
CYRUS MEURANT: Concertino for clarinet and string quartet (2017)
Next week, Lloyd Van’t Hoff gives A Mad Tea-Party another airing, this time at the Port Fairy Spring Music Festival. I hear it’s sold out! The work was originally written in 2009, during my undergrad days. Lloyd and I revised the piece in March for the Four Winds Festival, trying out some new electronic sounds (for 2018). It’s the opener to Mozart’s Clarinet Quintet, so no pressure or anything!
Details:
Port Fairy Spring Music Festival
Saturday 13th October, 3:30 PM, St John’s Church
Mozart’s beloved Clarinet Quintet is brought to life by ABC Young Performer of the Year, Lloyd Van’t Hoff with the Flinders Quartet. This sunniest of works is the epitome of lyricism and charm, especially in such assured musical hands. To open the concert, Lloyd’s more virtuosic and playful side is given free rein in Australian composer Holly Harrison’s exuberant and witty A Mad Tea-Party, one of her many brilliant works inspire by Carroll’s ‘Alice in Wonderland‘
Harrison A Mad Tea-Party
Mozart Clarinet Quintet K 581
