ELISION Ensemble
Encyclopedia
The ELISION Ensemble is a chamber ensemble specialising in contemporary classical music
,
concentrating on the creation and presentation of new works.
The ensemble comprises a core of around 20 virtuoso musicians from Australia and around the world.
Since 1986 it has maintained an active schedule of concert
s, recordings, broadcast
s,
and music-theatre/opera
, installation art
and new media art
performances, principally in Australia and Europe.
During 2008 the ensemble presented 36 individual works, including 11 world premieres, in 18 concerts or events in Melbourne
, Sydney
, Brisbane
, Berlin and London. Its 18th compact disc
was released in 2009 (see Discography).
ELISION combines its Australian perspective with a long-term exploration of complex musical aesthetics, and in so doing has
developed an international reputation for Australian new music and performance practice.
Paul Griffiths
, in Modern Music and After, writes of ELISION
"… whose splendiferous range of colours … has produced a kind of sensuous complexity that may be uniquely Australian".
and virtuosic end of the contemporary classical compositional spectrum.
A strong element of this music is the sheer difficulty of its performance;
multiple compositional layers, complex and heavily detailed musical notation
pose significant interpretative challenges. Interplay between the resultant unpredictabilities and performative decisions required by complex multi-layered and paradoxical strands of information embedded in notational practice can lead to a frustration for the player, or to a fascination born of engagement in the act of "what it is to make music". The latter is a key aspect for the members of ELISION; a further is the physicality of performance, the intimate connection between the musician and the instrument.
The ensemble has commissioned
and premiered new works from Richard Barrett
, Chris Dench,
Brian Ferneyhough
, James Dillon
, Michael Finnissy
,
Aaron Cassidy
, Evan Johnson, Timothy McCormack
and others associated with the so-called new complexity
movement.
A very long-term collaborator is Australian composer Liza Lim
who has written three operas and over twenty smaller works for ELISION and its members.
Other composers who have written for the ensemble include
Franco Donatoni
, Aldo Clementi, Karlheinz Essl
, Volker Heyn, Richard Rijnvos
and Australians
John Rodgers
, Timothy O'Dwyer, Dominik Karski, David Young, Brendan Colbert and Michael Smetanin.
and sonic
arts, including new media
, but particularly installation art
.
Examples include Opening of the Mouth (composer Richard Barrett
, installation artist Richard Crow; Perth
1997), Sonorous Bodies (composer Liza Lim
, video artist Judith Wright; Brisbane
1999 and Berlin 2001)
,
or DARK MATTER (Barrett and Norwegian installation artist Per Inge Bjørlo; Brisbane 2002 and Berlin 2003).
These works stem from close collaboration between composer, visual artist, sound artist and musicians, and frequently occur in musically unusual locations (disused power stations, old railway workshops, backstage, galleries), and create a "total art work" aiming to envelop the audience visually as well as sonically.
ELISION's activity in music theatre/opera
production, most recently The Navigator
(composer Liza Lim
, director Barrie Kosky
; Brisbane and Melbourne 2008, Moscow and Paris 2009), can be viewed as a continuation of an artistic relationship which began in 1993 with performances of The Oresteia
(Melbourne 1993).
Beyond notated music, ELISION has also maintained a strong thread of structured improvisation
performance, often within cross-artform events, such as the seven-night long Bar-do'i-thos-grol (The Tibetan Book of the Dead) (composer Liza Lim, installation artist Domenico de Clario; Lismore
1994 and Perth 1995) (described as "one of the most astonishing creations in recent Australian music performance"). The use of improvisation as a creative laboratory to generate sonic understandings, subsequently informing more formal processes, has occurred with composers Richard Barrett and John Rodgers, and recently in What Remains (composer/performers John Butcher
and Timothy O'Dwyer; Brisbane 2007).
; several founding members remain in the ensemble.
While resident in Melbourne it built an international reputation, making its first European appearance in 1991.
In 1996 it relocated its administrative base to The University of Queensland, Brisbane
, and was a resident company at the Judith Wright Centre of Contemporary Arts
in Brisbane from its opening in 2001 until 2008.
ELISION has received government funding from arts council
s including the Australia Council
, Arts Victoria and Arts Queensland.
The ensemble has also secured funding from government and private sources in Europe, particularly to commission
new work.
ELISION is operated by a not-for-profit incorporated association, whose membership is dominated by musicians in the ensemble.
), Genevieve Lacey (recorder
), Paula Rae (flute
), Peter Veale (oboe
), Richard Haynes
(clarinet
), Carl Rosman
(clarinet
), Timothy O'Dwyer (saxophone
), Ysolt Clark (horn
), Tristram Williams (trumpet
), Benjamin Marks (trombone
), Peter Neville (percussion), Richard Barrett
(electronics
), Daryl Buckley (electric guitar
), Marilyn Nonken (piano
), Marshall McGuire (harp
), Satsuki Odamura (koto
), Graeme Jennings (violinist) (violin
), Erkki Veltheim (viola
), Séverine Ballon (violoncello), Joan Wright (double bass
).
Compilation compact discs featuring tracks performed by ELISION:
English usage of the word elision, meaning "a cutting of the air … as the cause of sound".
Contemporary classical music
Contemporary classical music can be understood as belonging to the period that started in the mid-1970s with the retreat of modernism. However, the term may also be employed in a broader sense to refer to all post-1945 modern musical forms.-Categorization:...
,
concentrating on the creation and presentation of new works.
The ensemble comprises a core of around 20 virtuoso musicians from Australia and around the world.
Since 1986 it has maintained an active schedule of concert
Concert
A concert is a live performance before an audience. The performance may be by a single musician, sometimes then called a recital, or by a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra, a choir, or a musical band...
s, recordings, broadcast
Broadcast
Broadcast or Broadcasting may refer to:* Broadcasting, the transmission of audio and video signals* Broadcast, an individual television program or radio program* Broadcast , an English electronic music band...
s,
and music-theatre/opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
, installation art
Installation art
Installation art describes an artistic genre of three-dimensional works that are often site-specific and designed to transform the perception of a space. Generally, the term is applied to interior spaces, whereas exterior interventions are often called Land art; however, the boundaries between...
and new media art
New media art
New media art is a genre that encompasses artworks created with new media technologies, including digital art, computer graphics, computer animation, virtual art, Internet art, interactive art, computer robotics, and art as biotechnology...
performances, principally in Australia and Europe.
During 2008 the ensemble presented 36 individual works, including 11 world premieres, in 18 concerts or events in Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
, Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
, Brisbane
Brisbane
Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...
, Berlin and London. Its 18th compact disc
Compact Disc
The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...
was released in 2009 (see Discography).
ELISION combines its Australian perspective with a long-term exploration of complex musical aesthetics, and in so doing has
developed an international reputation for Australian new music and performance practice.
Paul Griffiths
Paul Griffiths (writer)
Paul Griffiths is a British music critic, novelist and librettist. He is particularly noted for his writings on modern classical music and for having written the libretti for two 20th century operas, Tan Dun's Marco Polo and Elliott Carter's What Next?.-Biography and career:Paul Griffiths was...
, in Modern Music and After, writes of ELISION
"… whose splendiferous range of colours … has produced a kind of sensuous complexity that may be uniquely Australian".
Aesthetics
ELISION's musical aesthetic is at the complexNew Complexity
In music, the New Complexity is a term dating from the 1980s, principally applied to composers seeking a "complex, multi-layered interplay of evolutionary processes occurring simultaneously within every dimension of the musical material" ....
and virtuosic end of the contemporary classical compositional spectrum.
A strong element of this music is the sheer difficulty of its performance;
multiple compositional layers, complex and heavily detailed musical notation
Musical notation
Music notation or musical notation is any system that represents aurally perceived music, through the use of written symbols.-History:...
pose significant interpretative challenges. Interplay between the resultant unpredictabilities and performative decisions required by complex multi-layered and paradoxical strands of information embedded in notational practice can lead to a frustration for the player, or to a fascination born of engagement in the act of "what it is to make music". The latter is a key aspect for the members of ELISION; a further is the physicality of performance, the intimate connection between the musician and the instrument.
"The ELISION ensemble … celebrated its 10th birthday with a characteristic sequence of salto mortale items, proving yet again that ‘impossible’ is a relative word. Its repertoire, once relatively eclectic, has now become sharply focused: both technically and aesthically, it specialises in ‘tough cookies’. Typically, though not exclusively, these tend to be rhythmically highly complex, with dense webs of wide-flung micro-tonal melodies, and the same horror of rests that one finds in Fauré's later chamber works. In such a context, even a new cello solo by StockhausenKarlheinz StockhausenKarlheinz Stockhausen was a German composer, widely acknowledged by critics as one of the most important but also controversial composers of the 20th and early 21st centuries. Another critic calls him "one of the great visionaries of 20th-century music"...
(Violoncello aus Orchester—Finalisten) sounded meek and mild."
The ensemble has commissioned
Commission (art)
In art, a commission is the hiring and payment for the creation of a piece, often on behalf of another.In classical music, ensembles often commission pieces from composers, where the ensemble secures the composer's payment from private or public organizations or donors.- Commissions for public art...
and premiered new works from Richard Barrett
Richard Barrett (composer)
Richard Barrett is a British composer.-Biography:Barrett began to study music seriously only after graduating in genetics and microbiology at University College London in 1980 . From then until 1983 he took private lessons with Peter Wiegold...
, Chris Dench,
Brian Ferneyhough
Brian Ferneyhough
Brian John Peter Ferneyhough is an English composer. His music is characterized by the extensive use of complex rhythmic tuplet notation which features in all his works...
, James Dillon
James Dillon (composer)
James Dillon, born October 29, 1950 in Glasgow, Scotland, is a Scottish composer often regarded as belonging to the New Complexity school. Dillon studied art and design, linguistics, piano, acoustics, Indian rhythm, mathematics and computer music, but is self-taught in composition.Honors include...
, Michael Finnissy
Michael Finnissy
Michael Finnissy is an English composer and pianist. His music is characterised by the range of extremes often found in his work; opposing binary structures are found commonly, often seen as juxtaposing textures, register and tempi...
,
Aaron Cassidy
Aaron Cassidy
Aaron Cassidy is an American composer.-Education:Aaron Cassidy was born in Illinois. He received a Bachelor of Music degree, with distinction, from Northwestern University's School of Music in Evanston, Illinois, where his main instructors in composition were Jay Alan Yim, Alan Stout, and Michael...
, Evan Johnson, Timothy McCormack
and others associated with the so-called new complexity
New Complexity
In music, the New Complexity is a term dating from the 1980s, principally applied to composers seeking a "complex, multi-layered interplay of evolutionary processes occurring simultaneously within every dimension of the musical material" ....
movement.
A very long-term collaborator is Australian composer Liza Lim
Liza Lim
Liza Lim is an Australian composer.Lim writes concert music as well as music theatre and has collaborated with artists on a number of installation and video projects...
who has written three operas and over twenty smaller works for ELISION and its members.
Other composers who have written for the ensemble include
Franco Donatoni
Franco Donatoni
Franco Donatoni was an Italian composer.Born in Verona, he started studying violin at the age of seven, and frequented the local Music Academy...
, Aldo Clementi, Karlheinz Essl
Karlheinz Essl
Karlheinz Essl is an Austrian composer, performer, sound artist, improviser and composition teacher.- Biography :Essl was born in Vienna. His studies at the University of Music in Vienna included: composition , electro-acoustic music and double bass...
, Volker Heyn, Richard Rijnvos
Richard Rijnvos
-Education and influences:Rijnvos studied composition at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague with Jan van Vlijmen and Brian Ferneyhough.He received a DAAD scholarship and attended a postgraduate course at the Musikhochschule in Freiburg....
and Australians
John Rodgers
John Rodgers (musician)
John Rodgers is a Brisbane-based Australian composer, improviser, violinist, pianist and guitarist.Rodgers had an early background in classical music. He was the leader of the Australian Youth Orchestra, the Queensland Theatre Orchestra, and the Hunter Orchestra. With these and other orchestras, he...
, Timothy O'Dwyer, Dominik Karski, David Young, Brendan Colbert and Michael Smetanin.
Cross-artform events
Beyond its traditional concert-giving activity, a distinguishing aspect of ELISION's work had been the creation of new cross-artform events, combining musical performance with the visualVisual arts
The visual arts are art forms that create works which are primarily visual in nature, such as ceramics, drawing, painting, sculpture, printmaking, design, crafts, and often modern visual arts and architecture...
and sonic
Sound art
Sound art is a diverse group of art practices that considers wide notions of sound, listening and hearing as its predominant focus. There are often distinct relationships forged between the visual and aural domains of art and perception by sound artists....
arts, including new media
New media
New media is a broad term in media studies that emerged in the latter part of the 20th century. For example, new media holds out a possibility of on-demand access to content any time, anywhere, on any digital device, as well as interactive user feedback, creative participation and community...
, but particularly installation art
Installation art
Installation art describes an artistic genre of three-dimensional works that are often site-specific and designed to transform the perception of a space. Generally, the term is applied to interior spaces, whereas exterior interventions are often called Land art; however, the boundaries between...
.
Examples include Opening of the Mouth (composer Richard Barrett
Richard Barrett
Richard Barrett was an American lawyer, white nationalist, and self-proclaimed leader in the nationalist Skinheadz movement. Barrett was a speaker and editor of the All The Way monthly newsletter...
, installation artist Richard Crow; Perth
Perth, Western Australia
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....
1997), Sonorous Bodies (composer Liza Lim
Liza Lim
Liza Lim is an Australian composer.Lim writes concert music as well as music theatre and has collaborated with artists on a number of installation and video projects...
, video artist Judith Wright; Brisbane
Brisbane
Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...
1999 and Berlin 2001)
,
or DARK MATTER (Barrett and Norwegian installation artist Per Inge Bjørlo; Brisbane 2002 and Berlin 2003).
These works stem from close collaboration between composer, visual artist, sound artist and musicians, and frequently occur in musically unusual locations (disused power stations, old railway workshops, backstage, galleries), and create a "total art work" aiming to envelop the audience visually as well as sonically.
"ELISION constructs itself not so much as a concert-performing ensemble but as a vehicle for the creation of unique and thought–provoking artistic statements … ELISION projects are ones with which one mentally carries on an argument long after the event. ELISION is a mouth."
"The Welsh composer Richard BarrettRichard BarrettRichard Barrett was an American lawyer, white nationalist, and self-proclaimed leader in the nationalist Skinheadz movement. Barrett was a speaker and editor of the All The Way monthly newsletter...
entreated an excursion into the black holes of the universe. On stools and benches welded from steel tubes in the Norwegian Per Inge Bjørlo's environment, you had the impression of being in a forest of grabbing arms. Conducted from a spaceship's cockpit, one hears the musicians of the Australian ELISION Ensemble partly shielded behind steel cages."
ELISION's activity in music theatre/opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
production, most recently The Navigator
The Navigator (opera)
The Navigator is an opera by Liza Lim to a libretto by Patricia Sykes. The work had its world premiere at the Judith Wright Centre of Contemporary Arts as part of the Brisbane Festival 2008 on 30 July 2008...
(composer Liza Lim
Liza Lim
Liza Lim is an Australian composer.Lim writes concert music as well as music theatre and has collaborated with artists on a number of installation and video projects...
, director Barrie Kosky
Barrie Kosky
Barrie KoskyBarrie Kosky's name is sometimes misspelled as Barry Kosky, Barrie Koski, Barrie Koskie. is an Australian theatre and opera director.Kosky also plays the piano, as he did in his production of Monteverdi's Poppea...
; Brisbane and Melbourne 2008, Moscow and Paris 2009), can be viewed as a continuation of an artistic relationship which began in 1993 with performances of The Oresteia
(Melbourne 1993).
Beyond notated music, ELISION has also maintained a strong thread of structured improvisation
Musical improvisation
Musical improvisation is the creative activity of immediate musical composition, which combines performance with communication of emotions and instrumental technique as well as spontaneous response to other musicians...
performance, often within cross-artform events, such as the seven-night long Bar-do'i-thos-grol (The Tibetan Book of the Dead) (composer Liza Lim, installation artist Domenico de Clario; Lismore
Lismore, New South Wales
Lismore is a subtropical town in northeastern New South Wales, Australia. Lismore is the main population centre in the City of Lismore local government area. Lismore is a regional centre in the Northern Rivers region of the State.-History:...
1994 and Perth 1995) (described as "one of the most astonishing creations in recent Australian music performance"). The use of improvisation as a creative laboratory to generate sonic understandings, subsequently informing more formal processes, has occurred with composers Richard Barrett and John Rodgers, and recently in What Remains (composer/performers John Butcher
John Butcher (musician)
John Butcher is an English tenor and soprano saxophone player who has lived in London since the late 1970s. He began playing at the University of Surrey where he was studying physics...
and Timothy O'Dwyer; Brisbane 2007).
History
ELISION was established in Melbourne, Australia in 1986 by its current Artistic Director Daryl Buckley and other musicians from the Victorian College of the ArtsVictorian College of the Arts
The Faculty of the VCA and Music is a faculty of the University of Melbourne, in Victoria . VCAM is located near the Melbourne central business district, on two campuses, one - the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music - on the Parkville campus of the University of Melbourne, and the other - the...
; several founding members remain in the ensemble.
While resident in Melbourne it built an international reputation, making its first European appearance in 1991.
In 1996 it relocated its administrative base to The University of Queensland, Brisbane
Brisbane
Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...
, and was a resident company at the Judith Wright Centre of Contemporary Arts
Judith Wright Centre of Contemporary Arts
The Judith Wright Centre of Contemporary Arts in Fortitude Valley in Brisbane, Queensland provides a 300-seat performance space, art gallery, artist studios, screening room and workshops with theatre rehearsal spaces for music, dance and circus. Opened in 2001 it is named after Judith Wright, who...
in Brisbane from its opening in 2001 until 2008.
ELISION has received government funding from arts council
Arts council
An arts council is a government or private, non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the arts mainly by funding local artists, awarding prizes, and organizing events at home and abroad...
s including the Australia Council
Australia Council
The Australia Council, informally known as the Australia Council for the Arts, is the official arts council or arts funding body of the Government of Australia.-Function:...
, Arts Victoria and Arts Queensland.
The ensemble has also secured funding from government and private sources in Europe, particularly to commission
Commission (art)
In art, a commission is the hiring and payment for the creation of a piece, often on behalf of another.In classical music, ensembles often commission pieces from composers, where the ensemble secures the composer's payment from private or public organizations or donors.- Commissions for public art...
new work.
ELISION is operated by a not-for-profit incorporated association, whose membership is dominated by musicians in the ensemble.
Current membership
Deborah Kayser (sopranoSoprano
A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...
), Genevieve Lacey (recorder
Recorder
The recorder is a woodwind musical instrument of the family known as fipple flutes or internal duct flutes—whistle-like instruments which include the tin whistle. The recorder is end-blown and the mouth of the instrument is constricted by a wooden plug, known as a block or fipple...
), Paula Rae (flute
Flute
The flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...
), Peter Veale (oboe
Oboe
The oboe is a double reed musical instrument of the woodwind family. In English, prior to 1770, the instrument was called "hautbois" , "hoboy", or "French hoboy". The spelling "oboe" was adopted into English ca...
), Richard Haynes
Richard Haynes (musician)
Richard Haynes is an Australian clarinettist.Haynes studied clarinet and bass clarinet at Griffith University, Brisbane with Floyd Williams, Brian Catchlove and Diana Tolmie, and at the Hochschule der Künste Bern with Ernesto Molinari and Donna Wagner-Molinari. Haynes specialises in the...
(clarinet
Clarinet
The clarinet is a musical instrument of woodwind type. The name derives from adding the suffix -et to the Italian word clarino , as the first clarinets had a strident tone similar to that of a trumpet. The instrument has an approximately cylindrical bore, and uses a single reed...
), Carl Rosman
Carl Rosman
Carl Rosman is an Australian clarinettist.Rosman studied with Phillip Miechel in Melbourne, then with Peter Jenkin at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music...
(clarinet
Clarinet
The clarinet is a musical instrument of woodwind type. The name derives from adding the suffix -et to the Italian word clarino , as the first clarinets had a strident tone similar to that of a trumpet. The instrument has an approximately cylindrical bore, and uses a single reed...
), Timothy O'Dwyer (saxophone
Saxophone
The saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...
), Ysolt Clark (horn
Horn (instrument)
The horn is a brass instrument consisting of about of tubing wrapped into a coil with a flared bell. A musician who plays the horn is called a horn player ....
), Tristram Williams (trumpet
Trumpet
The trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...
), Benjamin Marks (trombone
Trombone
The trombone is a musical instrument in the brass family. Like all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player’s vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate...
), Peter Neville (percussion), Richard Barrett
Richard Barrett
Richard Barrett was an American lawyer, white nationalist, and self-proclaimed leader in the nationalist Skinheadz movement. Barrett was a speaker and editor of the All The Way monthly newsletter...
(electronics
Electronics
Electronics is the branch of science, engineering and technology that deals with electrical circuits involving active electrical components such as vacuum tubes, transistors, diodes and integrated circuits, and associated passive interconnection technologies...
), Daryl Buckley (electric guitar
Electric guitar
An electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...
), Marilyn Nonken (piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
), Marshall McGuire (harp
Harp
The harp is a multi-stringed instrument which has the plane of its strings positioned perpendicularly to the soundboard. Organologically, it is in the general category of chordophones and has its own sub category . All harps have a neck, resonator and strings...
), Satsuki Odamura (koto
Koto (musical instrument)
The koto is a traditional Japanese stringed musical instrument, similar to the Chinese guzheng, the Mongolian yatga, the Korean gayageum and the Vietnamese đàn tranh. The koto is the national instrument of Japan. Koto are about length, and made from kiri wood...
), Graeme Jennings (violinist) (violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
), Erkki Veltheim (viola
Viola
The viola is a bowed string instrument. It is the middle voice of the violin family, between the violin and the cello.- Form :The viola is similar in material and construction to the violin. A full-size viola's body is between and longer than the body of a full-size violin , with an average...
), Séverine Ballon (violoncello), Joan Wright (double bass
Double bass
The double bass, also called the string bass, upright bass, standup bass or contrabass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra, with strings usually tuned to E1, A1, D2 and G2...
).
Critical acclaim
" … an uncompromisingly radical attitude to the presentation of the music, treating each piece as a score for a total art work, involving installation artists to design the sets for their performances and taking their audiences on a journey, not only through the music but through the performance space itself."
"ELISION has gone the distance and established itself not only as one of Australia's finest contemporary music ensembles but as an ensemble of international standing …"
"Elision is a unique venture with a wonderful record of explorations of cross-cultural and intermedia composition and performance, engagements with architecture, medicine and science, and enjoys a capacity to develop unique and successful international collaborations. It has changed the face of Australian music, not only in its support for talented composers and musicians, but in ways of presenting music for new audiences. Elision has also cleverly developed an international market for its work by commissioning composers from other countries and by partnering overseas ensembles in productions. It has achieved a remarkable touring record."
"Conventional people may choose to stay at home."
"Chris Dench (b. 1953) has become a part of the musical life of Australia, as has Richard Barrett (b. 1959) in works written for the Elision ensemble, whose splendiferous range of colours (with a prominent tuned percussion centre, including angklung, mandolin and guitar, as well as full stretches of winds and strings) has produced a kind of sensuous complexity that may be uniquely Australian."
"What we need is the regular chance to see the other greats of new music—Frankfurt's Ensemble ModernEnsemble ModernEnsemble Modern is a chamber ensemble dedicated to the music of modern composers. Formed in 1980, the group is based in Frankfurt, Germany and made up variously of about twenty members from numerous countries....
, Paris's Ensemble IntercontemporainEnsemble InterContemporainThe Ensemble InterContemporain is a French chamber orchestra, based in Paris at the Cité de la musique and IRCAM, which specialises in contemporary classical music....
, Klangforum Wien, Amsterdam's Ives Ensemble, Australia's ELISION Ensemble—to experience other ways of interpreting the greats of the
20th and 21st centuries, and to hear their unique performance practices at the cutting edge."
"From time to time one still comes across the idea that modernist music, by its very nature, is ugly and inexpressive, and that the newly tuneful composers of the last couple of decades have saved the art from going down some blind alley. If evidence were needed to counter that notion, a recent CD of solo works by Brian Ferneyhough (Etcetera KTC 1206), played by the extraordinary musicians of the Australian group Elision, would do the trick."
Discography
Compact discs released by ELISION:- Elision Ensemble (1992), RCA BMG/Ariola CCD 3011
Music of Giulio CastagnoliGiulio castagnoliGiulio Castagnoli is an Italian composer.Castagnoli graduated in literature , piano and composition before postgraduate degrees in composition at the Hochschule für Musik Freiburg with Brian Ferneyhough , and at Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome with Franco Donatoni...
, Chris Dench, Michael Whitticker, Richard BarrettRichard Barrett (composer)Richard Barrett is a British composer.-Biography:Barrett began to study music seriously only after graduating in genetics and microbiology at University College London in 1980 . From then until 1983 he took private lessons with Peter Wiegold... - Driftglass (1992), ONE-M-ONE Records 1M1CP 1018
Music of Chris Dench, Liza LimLiza LimLiza Lim is an Australian composer.Lim writes concert music as well as music theatre and has collaborated with artists on a number of installation and video projects...
, Richard BarrettRichard Barrett (composer)Richard Barrett is a British composer.-Biography:Barrett began to study music seriously only after graduating in genetics and microbiology at University College London in 1980 . From then until 1983 he took private lessons with Peter Wiegold...
and Alastair MacDonald - Garden of Earthly Desire (1992), Dischi Ricordi CRMCD 1020
Music of Liza LimLiza LimLiza Lim is an Australian composer.Lim writes concert music as well as music theatre and has collaborated with artists on a number of installation and video projects...
, Sandro Gorli, Franco DonatoniFranco DonatoniFranco Donatoni was an Italian composer.Born in Verona, he started studying violin at the age of seven, and frequented the local Music Academy...
, Mauro Cardi and Gerard Brophy - Richard Barrett/Elision Ensemble (1993), Etcetera KTC 1167
Music of Richard BarrettRichard Barrett (composer)Richard Barrett is a British composer.-Biography:Barrett began to study music seriously only after graduating in genetics and microbiology at University College London in 1980 . From then until 1983 he took private lessons with Peter Wiegold...
including the cycle negatives - The Oresteia (1994), Dischi Ricordi CRMCD 1030
Memory theatre (opera) by Liza LimLiza LimLiza Lim is an Australian composer.Lim writes concert music as well as music theatre and has collaborated with artists on a number of installation and video projects... - Skinless Kiss of Angels (1995), ABC ClassicsABC ClassicsABC Classics is the classical music record label within the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. It is internationally recognised as Australia's premier classical music label, with a catalogue of more than 500 titles...
/Under Capricorn 446 625.2
Music of Michael Smetanin - After the Fire (1996), Vox Australis VAST 019-2
Solo music by Richard Hames, Michael Whitticker, Liza LimLiza LimLiza Lim is an Australian composer.Lim writes concert music as well as music theatre and has collaborated with artists on a number of installation and video projects...
, Chris Dench, Allesandro Melchiorre, Timothy O'Dwyer - the intertwining—the chasm (1998), Institute of Modern Art, ISBN 187579227-9
Booklet documenting installation-performance works by Domenico De Clario and Liza LimLiza LimLiza Lim is an Australian composer.Lim writes concert music as well as music theatre and has collaborated with artists on a number of installation and video projects...
1994–1996, with CD of improvisations by ELISION - Brian Ferneyhough Solo Works (1998), Etcetera KTC 1206
Music of Brian FerneyhoughBrian FerneyhoughBrian John Peter Ferneyhough is an English composer. His music is characterized by the extensive use of complex rhythmic tuplet notation which features in all his works... - The Heart's Ear (1999), ABC ClassicsABC ClassicsABC Classics is the classical music record label within the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. It is internationally recognised as Australia's premier classical music label, with a catalogue of more than 500 titles...
/Under Capricorn 456 687.2
Music of Liza LimLiza LimLiza Lim is an Australian composer.Lim writes concert music as well as music theatre and has collaborated with artists on a number of installation and video projects... - Opening of the Mouth (2000), ABC ClassicsABC ClassicsABC Classics is the classical music record label within the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. It is internationally recognised as Australia's premier classical music label, with a catalogue of more than 500 titles...
/Under Capricorn 465 268.2
Music of Richard BarrettRichard Barrett (composer)Richard Barrett is a British composer.-Biography:Barrett began to study music seriously only after graduating in genetics and microbiology at University College London in 1980 . From then until 1983 he took private lessons with Peter Wiegold... - ik(s)land[s] (2005), NMC D089
Music of Chris Dench - Transmission (2006), NMC D117
Music of Richard BarrettRichard Barrett (composer)Richard Barrett is a British composer.-Biography:Barrett began to study music seriously only after graduating in genetics and microbiology at University College London in 1980 . From then until 1983 he took private lessons with Peter Wiegold... - Aldo Clementi: Works for Guitar (2007), Mode RecordsMode RecordsMode Records is an AmericaContemporary classical music|n record label based in New York City, New York, whose primary focus is modern classical, avant-garde, and new music. Composers featured include John Cage, Morton Feldman, Iannis Xenakis, and Harry Partch. Performers include Aki Takahashi,...
182
Featuring guitarist Geoffrey Morris - Negatives (2009), NMC D143
Music of Richard BarrettRichard Barrett (composer)Richard Barrett is a British composer.-Biography:Barrett began to study music seriously only after graduating in genetics and microbiology at University College London in 1980 . From then until 1983 he took private lessons with Peter Wiegold...
. Re-issue of 1993 Etcetera KTC 1167 but including codex I (2001)
Compilation compact discs featuring tracks performed by ELISION:
- Terra Incognita (1994) Dischi Ricordi CRMCD 1027
Music of Alessandro Melchiorre - Works by Akira Nishimura (1998), Fontec FOCD 2560
- Shu Hai practices javelin (2002), Mode RecordsMode RecordsMode Records is an AmericaContemporary classical music|n record label based in New York City, New York, whose primary focus is modern classical, avant-garde, and new music. Composers featured include John Cage, Morton Feldman, Iannis Xenakis, and Harry Partch. Performers include Aki Takahashi,...
117
Music of Chaya CzernowinChaya CzernowinChaya Czernowin is an Israeli composer, and Walter Bigelow Rosen Professor of Music at Harvard University....
Name
The ensemble takes its name from an archaicArchaism
In language, an archaism is the use of a form of speech or writing that is no longer current. This can either be done deliberately or as part of a specific jargon or formula...
English usage of the word elision, meaning "a cutting of the air … as the cause of sound".
External links
- ELISION Ensemble official website. Principal source for article.