The Eleventh Hour Theatre, 170 Leicester St, Fitzroy VIC 3065
World premiere season
A cross-cultural ensemble of traditional Japanese and Baroque instruments featuring performers from Melbourne and beyond
Concert Head:
Miyama McQueen-Tokita, koto
Brandon Lee, koto
Henry Liang, sho
Laura Vaughan, viola da gamba
Julia Fredersdorff, Baroque violin
Ryan William, recorders
Alexander Ritter, countertenor
Curated by Andrew Byrne
Program includes the world premiere of the latest collection from Mamoru Fujieda’s Patterns of Plants and early Baroque and Japanese traditional music.
Two performances - Sat 2 Sept, 7.30 pm and Sun 3 Sept, 5 pm
Concert Support:
Japanese post-minimalist composer Mamoru Fujieda has spent 26 years creating music based on the electrical activity of living plants. The result is his magnum opus, an ongoing series of compositions titled Patterns of Plants.
The latest collection of Patterns of Plants will be premiered in Melbourne in September 2023 by a special cross-cultural ensemble established by Astra for this project led by virtuoso players Miyama McQueen-Tokita (koto) and Laura Vaughan (viola da gamba). Fujieda is taking an active role in the project and plans to travel from Japan to attend the premiere.
About MAMORU FUJIEDA’S PATTERNS OF PLANTS
Working with the “Plantron,” a device created by botanist and artist Yūji Dōgane, Fujieda measures electrical fluctuations on the surface of the leaves of plants and converts the data into sound. Through a process he has likened to searching “in a deep forest” for “beautiful flowers and rare butterflies,” he listens for musical patterns and uses them as the basis for composing short pieces, which he then groups into collections reminiscent of Baroque dance suites.
With subtle variations of tone and timbre, Fujieda creates a sensuous and evocative musical universe, suggesting a fascinating mixture of European early music, the traditions of Japan, and modern science.
Presented by Astra Concerts