Australia’s premier new music ensemble perform a blistering meld of contemporary-classical music that pushes physical boundaries in a show at the Redland Performing Arts Centre entitled The Wreck of Former Boundaries.
Formed in Melbourne in 1986, Elison’s work has focused increasingly on pushing physical boundaries in search of certain kinds of visceral and expressive experiences. The ensemble is driven by the desire to explore long-term co-creative processes with composers and the desire to imagine, develop and build new technical and expressive means.
The scores they have commissioned propose new forms of musical thinking, reflecting the energies of the ELISION musicians, and the group promises to bring this all to its first concert at RPAC at 7pm on Saturday, November 4.
Aaron Cassidy’s The Wreck of Former Boundaries, is a blistering meld of live electronics and electric lapsteel guitar. Consumed with a fascination for curves, arcs, bubbles, and foams, it is a music that sets movement, energy, force, and velocity against various states of friction, resistance, viscosity, and elasticity. Its material bends and grinds, wobbles and pulls, flickers and swerves, leaps and twists, gurgles and coils, erupts and explodes.
The major centre piece of the concert is Richard Barrett’s world-line, an interlocking cycle of compositions featuring the electric lap steel guitar (in a tuning and setup devised in collaboration with Daryl Buckley, to whom it is dedicated), together with various combinations of piccolo trumpet/flugelhorn, percussion and electronics.
Elison has performed at venues such as the Berlin Philharmonie, Saitama Arts Theatre Tokyo, Pompidou Centre, Sydney Opera House and Vienna Konzerthaus. Consisting of Daryl Buckley (electric lap-steel guitar), Graeme Jennings (violin), Peter Neville (percussion), Tristram Williams (trumpet) and Benjamin Anderson (trombone), it delivers a visceral and textured performance.
The performance is the first in Queensland for eight years as part of the Cleveland Contemporary Music Event (CCME). The CCME runs from late October through to early November and will be a unique opportunity to hear the best new music in Australia. It will be a celebration in sound not to be missed, over five nights and three weekends. In addition to this performance by ELISION, the CCME will feature concerts from Topology and The Kransky Sisters, Kupka’s Piano, Lawrence English and David Bridie.
Tickets to The Wreck of Former Boundaries are $20 - $45, or you can buy tickets to three or more CCME concerts for $35 each. For bookings and further information visit rpac.com.au or phone 3829 8131 (booking fees are $4.10 by phone and $5 online per transaction).