In Residence | Past

14–24 October 2019

Thomas Meadowcroft – So Long Country

From the 14–24 October, composer Thomas Meadowcroft developed a new work entitled So Long Country, featuring Speak Percussion and the Malaysian master of traditional Kelantan instruments, Kamrul Hussin.

With contrasting playing traditions and an eclectic collection of instruments, the musicians assembled their collective memory to make songs from an imaginary place in the future, formed by rising sea levels. Part satire, part fantasy, part farewell, So Long Country brings forth an imagined future and makes valuable comment on current globalised music-making practices.

This residency was made possible by a partnership between UKARIA and the Australia Council for the Arts.

Andrew Schulz – Dark Well

Composer Andrew Schulz developed Dark Well, an immersive site-specific composition of about 90 minutes for two pianos, visual and audio projections and lighting design. The work consists of a music score which will be performed live with some pre-recorded sounds, amplification and various extensions to normal performance technique. The work is intended for staging in a dark space such as a quarry, silo, water tank, mine shaft, or a cave.

This residency was made possible by a partnership between UKARIA and the Australia Council for the Arts.

18–25 February 2019

Archie Roach and Paul Grabowsky – Tell Me Why

Indigenous singer/songwriter Archie Roach and jazz pianist Paul Grabowsky were in residence at UKARIA in February 2019, developing a new album to coincide with the release of Archie's memoir Tell Me Why – an idea that resulted from a conversation after their sold out concert at UKARIA in November 2018.

LEAVING A MEMORY – BY DYLAN HENDERSON

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FRIDAY DECEMBER 14 – SATURDAY DECEMBER 22 2018

ANNA GOLDSWORTHY

Pianist and writer Anna Goldsworthy develops her first novel in the artist's studio at UKARIA Cultural Centre.

"A series of stories, constructed loosely on the form of variations. The theme of this book is the rites of passage of a woman's life; the variants take the form of time and circumstance. These interconnected stories chart the seven ages of Ruby, an Australian woman, based on stories my grandmother told me. The final work is at once epic in scale – spanning nearly nine decades of a woman's life – but constructed as a mosaic. Central to it is a portrait of a marriage, and through this the stories examine the trauma of war."

– Anna Goldsworthy

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5–9 NOVEMBER 2018

NICK WALES – KINETIC WONDERLAND

From 5–9 November, award winning Australian musician and composer Nick Wales was in residence at UKARIA. The residency marked the first stage in the creative development of a new work entitled Kinetic Wonderland – a collaboration with Japanese kinetic sculptor artist Shun Ito. Their shared vision is to create a space of beauty, peace and wonder through music and visual art with immersion into the vibrations of the natural world.

Both artists use technology in organic ways. The music of Nick Wales incorporates the organics of acoustic instruments interwoven with digital manipulation and electronics. Shun Ito's metallic sculptural work is similarly based in technical precision, creating organic forms that move in space to reflect the complexity and beauty of nature.

Shun Ito travelled from Japan to join Nick Wales for the residency, which also included musicians Bree van Reyk (percussion), Veronique Serret (violin), Jess Green (voice and electric guitar), Alyx Dennison (voice and keys), and designers Bob Scott (sound design), Tony Assness (theatre design) and Damien Cooper (lighting design). Kinetic Wonderland is produced by Virginia Hyam and Julianne Pierce from creative producing company Art Engineers.

Key creative personnel in residence at UKARIA:

Nick Wales | composer

Shun Ito | kinetic sculptor

Bree van Reyk | percussion

Veronique Serret | violin

Jess Green | voice / electric guitar

Alyx Dennison | voice / keys

Bob Scott | sound design

Tony Assness | theatre design

Damien Cooper | lighting design

Virginia Hyam | producer

Julianne Pierce | producer

This was the final residency for 2018 as part of a partnership between UKARIA and the Australia Council for the Arts.

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OCTOBER 2018

PAUL KELLY, JAMES LEDGER, ALICE KEATH AND THE SERAPHIM TRIO

THIRTEEN WAYS TO LOOK AT BIRDS

Birds have fascinated poets for centuries, not just for their song and flight but as symbols: of hope, freedom, love, communication, peace, luck good and bad, and migration. And what better way to honour them than by sending songs out into the air?

In a new song cycle commissioned by the 2019 Adelaide Festival from an idea by Anna Goldsworthy, Australian music legend Paul Kelly and leading Australian composer James Ledger have written thirteen new songs and soundscapes inspired by birds. Using the words of John Keats, Thomas Hardy, Emily Dickinson, Judith Wright, Gerard Manley Hopkins, Gwen Harwood, A.D. Hope and others, each poem is its own world – delicate and intimate at times, colossal and soaring at others, with all states in between.

Paul Kelly and James Ledger will be joined by celebrated piano trio Seraphim (Anna Goldsworthy – piano, Helen Ayres – violin and Tim Nankervis – cello) and singer-songwriter Alice Keath to create a unique marriage of electronics, acoustic instruments and the human voice, celebrating winged creatures from the barn owl to the nightingale, from the thornbill to the falcon, from the magpie to the swan.

The final creative development of this project was held at UKARIA in October 2018.

Thirteen Ways to Look at Birds will premiere at the Adelaide Town Hall on Friday 1 and Saturday 2nd March 2019.

JAMES LEDGER ON THIRTEEN WAYS TO LOOK AT BIRDS – LIMELIGHT MAGAZINE

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SEPTEMBER 2018

GORDON HAMILTON AND TOM THUM

Queensland-based composer and conductor Gordon Hamilton and international beatboxing sensation Tom Thum developed new works that will be premiered in upcoming performances in Cologne, Germany.

You can see a little bit of what they produced in this video of their new work Rosella Resurrection – aptly named after a parrot flew into the glass window while they were thinking of a name.

This was the first residency as part of a partnership between UKARIA and the Australia Council for the Arts.

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11–13 JULY 2018

QUARTET AND COUNTRY

A commissioning initiative between UKARIA, the Port Fairy Spring Music Festival and the Australian String Quartet.

Key creative personnel in residence at the UKARIA Cultural Centre:

Ursula Yovich Indigenous Composer / Performer
Djakapurra Munyarryun Indigenous Composer / Performer
Iain Grandage Collaborator on compositional elements
Australian String Quartet Performers

PROJECT OVERVIEW

Supported by UKARIA, Ulrike Klein AO, and the Klein Family Foundation.

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5–9 FEBRUARY 2018

SYZYGY ENSEMBLE, THE SONG COMPANY AND DR KATY ABBOTT

HIDDEN THOUGHTS

Hidden Thoughts is a daring new work by Dr Katy Abbott. Based on the anonymous confessions of 200 women and featuring live audience participation, the work is in its final stage of collaborative development.

Composed for The Song Company and Syzygy Ensemble, two of Australia's leading ensembles, Hidden Thoughts is a 60-minute work based upon responses to an online survey devised by Dr Abbott and author Kaz Cooke, consisting of a series of questions intended to uncover the most intimately held thoughts of the women that took part.

Concert audiences will be surveyed in the same manner and their responses integrated into each performance, and it is for the purpose of this integration that Dr Abbott, director Thomas de Mallet Burgess and the musicians of Syzygy Ensemble and The Song Company will travel to UKARIA Cultural Centre for a creative development residency, from 5–9 February 2018.

PROJECT OVERVIEW

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SATURDAY 27 JANUARY – SUNDAY 4 FEBRUARY 2018

MUSICA VIVA AUSTRALIA

FUTUREMAKERS 2018–2019

Pianist Aura Go and percussive artist Matthias Schack-Arnott, Musica Viva's FutureMakers 2018-19 artists, were joined by the initiative's leadership team and mentors for a nine-day residency at UKARIA.

This residency began the fellows’ time in FutureMakers and was focused on capacity building and artistic leadership mentorship for them. Under the direction of Genevieve Lacey, theatre director Naomi Edwards, innovation and strategy director Lynette Nixon, independent producer Michaela Coventry and leadership expert Chris Kotur worked closely with the participants to guide their creative business skills and artistic development as they commenced their time in the initiative. The residency allowed the FutureMakers artists to work intensively on future musical and business plans, including time to begin shaping the music-centred performances projects they will develop over the two years of their involvement. Professor Margaret Barrett and Karlin Love from The University of Queensland was also at the residency continuing their interviews and research on FutureMakers, the outcomes of which will be featured in forthcoming publications on radical education programs.

Following the UKARIA residency, the full details of the FutureMakers 2018–19 activity and the two inspiring emerging leaders involved over these two years was announced.

DOWNLOAD THE MEDIA RELEASE

PROJECT OVERVIEW