Yangan-Killarney Road 1910

Late last year, I had the privilege of having a piece premiered at a concert in Melbourne, and shortly after that, we recorded it with the help of Matt Ng of Altamira Guitars in Hanson-Dyer Hall at the Melbourne Conservatorium. As I mentioned in my last post, the piece is called Yangan-Killarney Road 1910, and is performed here by the extremely talented and highly musical guitarist Natalie Poloni. It was wonderful to work with her on this piece, and my sincere thanks also must go to Ken Murray and to Peter and Rasika Crowley, who commissioned the piece last year as part of the Guitar Perspectives composition award.

Peter Crowley is also an author, and has a new book out called Townsend of the Ranges. It’s the story of an overlooked yet extremely important surveyor of early colonial history in Australia, Thomas Scott Townsend. You can find out more about it here via the National Library of Australia website.

I’m working on some new recordings and songs, so hopefully these should see the light of day later this year.

Recording Perspectives

This evening we held a recording session for the piece I composed as part of the Guitar Perspectives commission. The piece is called Yangan-Killarney Road 1910, and it was memorised and performed for this recording by the extremely talented Natalie Poloni. Natalie also premiered the piece a few weeks ago at a concert on October 17th. Many thanks to Peter and Rasika Crowley for the commission, to Ken Murray for organising things, and to Matthew Ng for filming and recording the proceedings. It’ll be up online before too long, so I’ll be sure to post a link here when it is.

Other things are happening - I’ve been in the studio a little bit, working on new songs and other pieces too. So maybe some of that will emerge next year. I’ve also been doing some recording with dear friend and kindred spirit Jackie Marshall, for a new project with the Black Square Quartet, with arrangements by Robert Davidson.

Natalie Poloni recording Yangan-Killarney Road 1910 in Hanson-Dyer Hall, Melbourne Conservatorium, 12th November 2024. On the left is Matthew Ng, who recorded and filmed the proceedings.

Hard Time

I was asked to be a part of a Guitar Concert at Melbourne Conservatorium a couple of weeks ago - a concert that showcased the University’s quite extensive guitar collection. I played a 12-string and did a version of Skip James’ Hard Time Killing Floor Blues, alongside Head of Guitar Ken Murray on the Baritone guitar. I think it sounded pretty good.

The Conservatorium’s Guitar Perspectives program recently also commissioned me to write a piece for solo Guitar, which is having its world premiere in a couple of weeks on Thursday October 17th in the Kenneth Myer Hall at the University of Melbourne’s Ian Potter Southbank Centre. The piece is called Yangan-Killarney Road 1910, and will be performed by current Masters student and guitar virtuoso Natalie Poloni.

If you’re interested in coming along - it’s a free event and you can get a ticket here.

Chris Pickering and Ken Murray during soundcheck for Guitar Perspectives Instrument Showcase concert at Hanson-Dyer Hall, Ian Potter Southbank Centre, Melbourne.

Guitar Perspectives

I’ve been commissioned to write a new piece of music for solo guitar as part of the University of Melbourne’s Guitar Perspectives award. It’s very exciting to get this opportunity, and even better is that it’s got me dusting off my classical nylon string guitar to help write it. This guitar is very special, as it was made specifically for me by luthier Simon Ramsey back in 2010 thanks to a generous grant from Anita and Mark Ramsey. I’m trying out some different tunings too, to see if we can come up with something different - I’m usually a standard tuning kind of guy, so this will be interesting.

Simon Ramsey Acoustic Guitar, made for CP in 2010.

The piece will be premiered later this year, so I’ll update when there’s date set for the performance, which will likely be in Melbourne.

Refracted

For those of you wondering if I’ve been writing any new music, well, I have. Some of it is getting premiered this week at a concert in Naarm/Melbourne in The Hanson-Dyer Hall within the Ian Potter Southbank Centre at University of Melbourne. It’s on Wednesday May 3rd at 7:00pm, and the new piece is something I’ve written for Piano Trio format called ‘Looking Out From A Glass Forest’. Piano Trio is Piano, Violin, and Cello, by the way.

It’s free admission for this one, but you’ve got to register: https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/conservatorium-graduate-composers-concert-refracted-terrain-tickets-529918288867

Fuzzy Trios

Got a couple of events coming up, one of which will feature the premiere of some new music.

The Experiment are playing a set on Sunday April 30th as part of the Fuzzy Sunday festival series at Coburg RSL. Tickets are $30 and available via https://events.humanitix.com/fuzzy-sunday-30-april-2023. Ben can’t make this one, so we’ll be performing with former experimenter Steve Pope. Should be fun.

Then, on Wednesday May 3rd at 7:00pm, one of my pieces that I’ve written for Piano Trio (piano, violin, and cello) will be having its world premiere at Hanson-Dyer Hall in the Ian Potter Southbank Centre on Sturt St, South Melbourne. It’s free to come along but you need to register and book, which you can do so here: https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/conservatorium-graduate-composers-concert-refracted-terrain-tickets-529918288867

Fuzzy

Next show for the Experiment will be joining the lineup of Fuzzy Sunday at the Coburg RSL on Sunday April 30th, 2023. It’ll be great to play for a like-minded audience and join a bunch of other great bands too.

Shortly after that on Wednesday May 3rd 2023, a piece I’ve composed for Piano Trio will also be performed in concert at the Hanson-Dyer Hall in the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music Ian Potter Centre, Southbank. It will be performed by Trio Jojomi, and this will also be the world premiere.

There’ll be ticket details up for both of these soon!

Twice

The Experiment is kicking off 2023 with a couple of gigs:

Friday February 10th at Coburg RSL, Coburg - two sets from 8:30pm, free entry.

Saturday February 25th at Edinburgh Castle Hotel, Brunswick - two sets from 6:00pm, free entry.

Kicking and screaming and wailing and feeling. That’s us.

Services

The Experiment have a gig - we’re getting match-fit to play Coburg RSL on Friday November 4th, 2022. There’ll be two sets of gems from the back catalogue and maybe some newer stuff you’ve never heard before. Who knows. It all kicks off at 8:30pm.