In conjunction to NGV's Escher x Nendo exhibition, we were asked to curate a 4 months long NGV Friday night music series by the NGV that would represent that same relationship between Escher and Nendo, but with Escher's inspirational figure - Bach. To illustrate this concept, instead of choosing one composer, we have chosen a diverse range of top composers and performers well known in Australia for this collaboration. 18 weeks, 4 Composers, 18 performing artists, 1 sound designer, each with their own distinctive style and instrumentation. They were invited to recompose, reinterpret what Bach really means to them in this day and age. 4 new pieces were commissioned by the NGV.
Bach is like Escher, he was a master at manipulating sound into complete musical master pieces, just as Escher was a master at manipulating visuals into multi-dimensional optical illusions. If Nendo represents the contemporary self of Escher, we ask who would an example of that for Bach?
Musicians + Composers:
Ton Gould AM - Piano/composer
Graeme Lyall AM - Alto saxophone
Ben Robertson - Double bass
Gianni Marinucci - Flugelhorn
Tamara Murphy - Double bass
Lachlan Davidson - Multi-instrument flutes, saxophones, clarinets
Benjamin Martin - Piano/composer
Krishna Martin - Piano
Matthew Hindson AM - Composer
Laura Vaughan - Viola da gamba
Rachael Beesley - Baroque violin
Lizzy Welsch - Baroque violin
Laura Moore - Viola da gamba
Nicholas Buc - Composer
Nicole Tj - Piano
Thomas Lo - Violin
Rebecca Proietto - Cello
Marty Hicks - 2 hours multi-channel soundscape based on Bach