DECLASSIFY

So, I promised at the end of our season finale episode last week that I would separate a couple of minutes here just to have a moment of reflection and some dedicated time to say thank you to all of you out there that are listening. It’s almost been two years since I came up with the idea of interrogating classical music and creating some sort of space or resource where we could have conversations. I hadn’t really been a podcast person and only occasionally listening to the odd true crime and naturalist podcast here and there, but realised that this would be a great way to listen to thoughts and exchange ideas. And so in late June of 2020, Declassify was born and its first episode with Felicity Wilcox was broadcast only 6 weeks later. 

If you’ve been following from the start, the first season across 2020-2021 was dedicated to unpacking some of the greater issues of diversity, representation and education that were plaguing classical music and reflecting its increasing exclusivity and inaccessibility to broader audiences (and to musicians themselves). Season 1 mainly focused on Australia and so came Season 2: The Aftermath. As some of you know, this was in the hope of shifting the conversation to one driven by more action and one on a more international scale. This season spanning August 2021 to March 2022 was dedicated to chatting to individuals who had put into place programs, methodologies and approaches from quota-driven programming techniques through to starting their own conservatoriums, to push for change across the classical music industry. I hope it has been enlightening and hopeful for you all as it has been for me. 

I just want to quickly thank all the guests across both seasons for taking part in this adventure and what I hope will continue to exist as an amazing resource to everyone out there. Just as a heads up, the podcast will continue to be available via podcasting services, Apple and Spotify until the end of this year in December, where it will then shift into an online archive made available on Sound Cloud and Youtube (where it already has a home), with all the transcripts staying permanently on my website should anyone need access to it and the podcast resources. 

Now most importantly, I wish to thank each and every person who has listened to this podcast over the last two years. You’ve emboldened me to further my own commitment to change in art music or classical music and have been such a remarkably supportive community as this space grew. The podcast is coming to an end as I think it is time for me to shift my focus, as per the theme of season 2, into action! Again, thank you to all for listening, I could not have done this without you all and I hope if anything, this podcast has sparked some ideas and conversations for you too. 

Wishing you all the best and best of luck, and maybe sometime in the future, catch you all next time. 

Victoria 

It is already the finale for SEASON 2: THE AFTERMATH and as a quick announcement, it is also the last ever episode of the DECLASSIFY podcast, but I will touch more on that later.  Today’s guest for the finale of the podcast is none other than artist, sound researcher, educator, curator and currently the artistic director of experimental arts company Liquid Architecture, Joel Stern. Joel was appointed the artistic director of Liquid Architecture in 2013 where in this capacity he has curated and produced festivals, exhibitions, concerts and publications in Australia and internationally. He has also led independent organisations including OtherFilm and Instrument Builders project. His interests as an artist, curator and researcher (where he currently teaches at Monash University) include sound, power, control, surveillance, social practice, experimental music and non-human or machine listening. This podcast finale explores intersections of making sound and listening, how to train one’s ear to be socially active and the power of artist-led interventions, research and movements.

Resources

https://liquidarchitecture.org.au/artists/joel-stern

https://liquidarchitecture.org.au/investigations/why-listen 

Seth Kim-Cohen ‘My Body Blushed to the Whistle of the Birch’ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8n9CjgUnVlI  

Christof Migone ‘Hit Parade’

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdakgA9VXSo 

This week Declassify welcomes on aboard a guest that is quite remarkable and someone who reflects much of the spirit of the podcast – interdisciplinary practices, cross-genre listening and collaboration. Shruti is a composer, producer, and conductor from Los Angeles. Her work has spanned the film/tv, pop, and concert worlds, and she often finds herself involved in projects that mix genres and experiences. She has worked at Hans Zimmer's Remote Control Productions and collaborated with artists including Alicia Keys. Her work has been used by/for The National Geographic, The United Nations, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, and the 2016 Summer Olympics. In fact, Shruti hosts her own show "Let's Shake On It" centered around bringing together esteemed and diverse musicians in conversation and collaboration in hopes of increasing transparency in the music industry and eliminating genre. And In March 2020, Shruti founded Sound Travels, a remote hire platform and educational resource to help musicians during COVID and beyond. In this episode, Shruti and Victoria examine what is means to make music that expands and breaks the mold of classical, and how we can make music new, exciting and imagination together. 

Resources
https://www.facebook.com/LivingMusicwithNadiaSirota/

https://theculturejournalist.substack.com/p/the-digital-hustle

https://www.shrutikumar.com/ 

Details about works:
SALT (feat. London Contemporary Orchestra)'  

Composer/Producer: Shruti Kumar 

Conductor: Hugh Brunt 

Recording Engineer: Fiona Cruikshank 

Mix Engineer: Eva Reistad 

Mastering Engineer: Heba Kadry

Guitar: Brandon Walters 

Sitar: Bishi Bhattacharya

Synths: Shruti Kumar

Electric Bass: Emily Retsas (@emilyretsas)

Artwork: Anna Azarov & Ellie Pritts (@annaazarov & @elliepritts)

'LAST CALL (feat. Shungudzo)'  

Composer/Producer: Shruti Kumar

Lyricist: Shungudzo Kuyimba

Featured Artist: Shungudzo

Songwriters: Shungudzo Kuyimba, Shruti Kumar

Vocal Arranging: Shungudzo Kuyimba

Engineers: Fiona Cruikshank (Church Studios - London), Eva Reistad (EastWest Studios - Los Angeles), Shruti Kumar 

Mix Engineers: Vira Byramji, Shruti Kumar

Mastering Engineers: Alex Sterling (Precision Sound), Heba Kadry 

Musicians-- 

Vocals: Shungudzo Kuyimba

Conductor: Hugh Brunt, featuring the London Contemporary Orchestra

Additional Violin: Stephanie Matthews

Additional Viola: Marta Honer

Additional Cello: Ro Rowan

Electric Bass: Emily Retsas

Guitar: Brandon Walters

Sitar: Bishi Bhattacharya

Drums: Aaron Steele

Percussion: Hal Rosenfeld 

Piano: Shruti Kumar

Synths: Shruti Kumar

Electronics: Shruti Kumar

Sampling, programming: Shruti Kumar

 Artwork: Anna Azarov & Ellie Pritts

This week’s episode of DECLASSIFY welcomes on board someone whose research and collaborative-interdisciplinary approach to music making has influenced my own practice since I attended her composition seminar as a Conservatoire student back in 2015. This is none other than prolific composer, musician, performer and noise artist and currently Professor of Music at Monash University, composer and performer Professor Cat Hope. Described by Gramaphone Magazine as “one of Australia’s most exciting and individual creative voices,” Cat creates music, art and performances that are conceptually driven ranging from animated graphic scores for acoustic and electronic combinations and for improvisation, with a fascination with low frequency sound. Paired with her research practice and her artistic direction of Decibel ensemble, Cat’s academic research engages with contemporary Australian music, digital music, noise music, gender equity and music technology. With such multi-faceted experience and expertise, this episode explores exclusive new music groups, how to break boundaries, the effect of marketing and what it means to make music collaboratively. 

Resources:

Cat Hope website: https://www.cathope.com/ 

https://research.monash.edu/en/persons/cat-hope 

FOLLOW DECLASSIFY: @declassifypodcast on instagram
CONNECT WITH VICTORIA: Instagram : @victoriaavpham

And it’s a new year! And we’re going back to the second half of Declassify Season 2. We’re straight into the grit of unpacking the classical music industry and where this is all headed in terms of strategizing change, contemplating collaboration in conservatoires and educational models as well having a think about broader funding models. There is no better person to consider that the prolific performer, director, researcher and now Principal at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, the National Conservatoire of Wales, Professor Helena Gaunt. Helena was A professional oboist for many years and founding member of the Britten Sinfonia, her career in higher education has spanned teaching, academic development, research and enterprise. This episode unpacks the notion of the social role of the musician in society and how classical music education, funding and models can rise to this contemporary challenge. 

RESOURCES

Information about Professor Helena Gaunt: https://www.rwcmd.ac.uk/staff/helena-gaunt 

Articles about the BMus program:
BMus (Hons) Music - Instrumental and Vocal | Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama (rwcmd.ac.uk) 

Paving the way: RWCMD's BMus | Music Teacher (musicteachermagazine.co.uk) 

Welcome back to Declassify Season 2 and we’re already on our last episode of this year! This week is someone quite remarkable and someone whose work I am sure many of you already know: Australian and Uk-based flautist, curator, educator and arts producer – Tamara Kohler. Tamara has performed and premiered countless new works of music for festivals around the worlf such as the Eighth Blackbird Creative Lab, Bang on a Can Festival and Darmstadt. She is the founding member and co-Artistic Director of contemporary ensemble, Rubiks Collective – an ensemble whose mission is about showcasing contemporary music rising Australian and international artists. She is also a curatorial member COMA, UK. Her passion for mentoring young artists, curating cross-art experiences and for contemporary new art music is boundless and in this episode, Tamara talks approaches to new music making, interdisciplinary practice and collaboration as education and access.

Resources:

Tamara’s Website: http://www.tamarakohler.com/about 

RUBIKS: https://rubikscollective.com/ 

COMA new music festival:  http://www.coma.org/ 

COMA new music repertoire catalogue: http://www.coma.org/catalogue/ 

Tamara’s Podcast MyThirdEar: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/my-third-ear/id1111802017

Article by Tamara ‘Concert Experience: Let’s Blur the Lines’: http://www.cutcommonmag.com/concert-experience-lets-blur-the-lines/ 

Article by Tamara ‘Creativity within Society’: https://musictrust.com.au/loudmouth/inside-the-musician-tamara-kohler-creativity-within-society/ 

And Declassify returns! We’re already halfway through this season, so quickly! This week the podcast welcomes none other than cross-genre whiz and interdisciplinary extraordinary, composer, performer, producer and curator Danielle Eva Schwob. Currently based across New York City and Los Angeles, Danielle is a staggeringly active artist and musician across multiple forms and disciplines. Her music has been featured at Lincoln Center, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn! and Philip Glass’s MATA Festival, just to name few. In this episode Danielle discusses her interdisciplinary practice and recent works and how they sit outside, through and within the discipline of classical music and how contemporary  “classical” music is expanding its boundaries and begins to bleed into new territory. In fact, this episode asks of us – do we even need to call it classical music anymore?

RESOURCES

Danielle’s website: https://danielleevaschwob.com/ 

Out of the Tunnel Music Video (Movement I: Fast): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3JSbti93YQ&t=44s 

OVERLOADED Album (2020) by DELANILA: https://open.spotify.com/album/511OUWlIwxmbYnmJxGJbtf 

A piece that Danielle wrote for the Strad:

https://www.thestrad.com/playing-and-teaching/how-i-write-for-strings-composer-danielle-eva-schwob/13459.article

Written piece by Danielle for New Music USA: 

https://newmusicusa.org/nmbx/author/danielleschwob/

It's already episode 4 for this season, and today DECLASSIFY welcomes onboard the remarkable activist, tenor, composer and musicologist Jeremy Dutcher. Jeremy's music transcends boundaries: unapologetically playful in its incorporation of classical influences, full of reverence for the traditional songs of his home,and teeming with the urgency of modern-day struggles of resistance. A member of Tobique First Nation in New Brunswick, Jeremy first did music studies in Halifax before taking a chance to work in the archives at the Canadian Museum of History, painstakingly transcribing Wolastoq songs from 1907 wax cylinders. As he listened to each recording, he felt his own musical impulses stirring from deep within. Long days at the archives turned into long nights at the piano, feeling out melodies and phrases, deep in dialogue with the voices of his ancestors. These “collaborative”compositions, collected together on his debut LP Wolastoqiyik Lintuwakonawa, are like nothing you’ve ever heard.  Listen to this episode as Jeremy and Victoria unpack the practices of listening deeply, bringing Indigenous voices to the table and the challenges of rematriation and repatriation.

RESOURCES
Jeremy Dutcher: https://jeremydutcher.com/about/

Listen and Purchase to Jeremy's album 'Wolastoqiyik Lintuwakonama' : https://jeremydutcher1.bandcamp.com/album/wolastoqiyik-lintuwakonawa

Keeping Language Alive: https://thewalrus.ca/how-jeremy-dutcher-keeps-his-ancestors-language-alive/

An Interview with Jeremy Dutcher: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2019/mar/26/jeremy-dutcher-interview-canada-first-nation-indigenous-arias

Pauline Oliveros 'Sonic Meditations' Downloadable here: https://monoskop.org/images/0/09/Oliveros_Pauline_Sonic_Meditations_1974.pdf

Oliveros 'Listening as Activism': https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/listening-as-activism-the-sonic-meditations-of-pauline-oliveros 

Welcome back to Declassify Season 2! I am so pleased to welcome you all back to this new season, and most importantly, to begin this following season with a host of international guests and conversations. I am so pleased, not only to have returned, but to welcome Declassify’s third guest for the season, pioneering percussionist Claire Edwardes. Claire is a leading percussionist working as a soloist, recording performer and chamber musician and is the current Artistic Director of Ensemble Offspring. She is a forefront figure for the commissioning and performance of contemporary Australian music having premiered works by composers such as Harrison Birtwistle and Elena Kats-Chernin. Claire remains the only Australian to have won the ‘APRA Art Music Award for Excellence’ by an individual three times. Across this episode, Victoria and Claire unpack the myth of meritocracy, new programming, educational models and the need to break the cycles of sonic conditioning. 

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RESOURCES

Claire’s Website: https://www.claireedwardes.com/

Limelight Claire’s article: https://www.limelightmagazine.com.au/features/ensemble-offspring-embracing-the-new-and-unknown/?fbclid=IwAR1DJ91HVCmDLPb5TS0suIDUeBjbamt4wxRW4FCgYJOb01QpJvSScbU12FQ 

Claire’s Resources for Composers: https://www.claireedwardes.com/resourcesforcomposers 

Claire’s Female Composition List: https://www.claireedwardes.com/femalecompositionlist 

Ensemble Offspring: https://ensembleoffspring.com/ 

Keychange EU: https://www.keychange.eu/ 

And we return with Episode 2 of this season’s Declassify. This time this episode features none other than pioneering music educator and internationally renowned and Grammy nominated violinist, Robert McDuffie. Robert is the co-founder and artistic director of the Rome Festival for Chamber Music, and the founder for the McDuffie Institute of Strings at Mercer University – a unique course for musicians offering holistic training in music, liberal arts and business. In this episode, Robert talks about the need to reform the strucutres of the classical music industry, the significance of business acumen in the world of music and making a move towards self-governance during this crisis of classical music.
 
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Robert McDuffie Website: https://robertmcduffie.com/ 

McDuffie Centre for Strings: Mercer University -  https://sacksco.com/pr/mcduffie_center_for_strings.html 

Welcome back to Declassify Season 2! I am so pleased to welcome you all back to this new season, and most importantly, to begin this following season with a host of international guests and conversations. I am so pleased, not only to have returned, but to welcome Declassify’s very first guest for season 2 and it is none other than the incredible Jessica Cottis. Jessica Cottis is one of the most prolific Australian conductors working today having been named in 2018 as the Classical Face to Watch by the Times in the UK. In this premiere episode of Season 2, host Victoria Pham and Jessica Cottis discuss the power of silence, conducting into the future and collaborative music making to forge new pathways for future classical music.

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Resources:

Jessica Cottis website: https://www.jessicacottis.com/ 

 Non Classical trustee: https://www.nonclassical.co.uk/engage-1/2020/4/28/spotlight-jessica-cottis 

Royal Opera House: http://www.roh.org.uk/people/jessica-cottis 

Limelight Interview with Jessica about the Canberra Symphony Orchestra: https://www.limelightmagazine.com.au/features/jessica-cottis/ 

The Music Show: ‘Conducting through Silence’ – Jessica Cottis and Andrew Ford https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/musicshow/jessica-cottis-conductor-symphony-grammys-global-music-rick-howe/13260070 

Hello everyone, 

Welcome to Season 2 of the DECLASSIFY PODCAST! Firstly, I need to thank everyone who took the time to tune into Season 1 and to all of the fourteen guests who joined me in 2020 and January of this year.

And so, after much thought, DECLASSIFY returns with the apt Season title of ‘The Aftermath.’ Season 1 focused its attention towards conversations about the issues in the classical music industry – ranging its blatant narrow programming, its archaic modes of representing contemporary practitioners and audiences and its, if I dare say so, crisis in regards to its feeble connection to reality and desire to create a thriving and sustainable culture. In this Season, we will continue discussing these issues and themes but with an emphasis on making change and on action. After all, what good is it to talk things through and have a consensus and then proceed to do nothing?

The guests for Season 2 expand beyond the Australia-focused nature of Season 1 and into the international realm of classical music making. They span activists, advocates, artistic directors, board members, conductors, composers, artists and musicians whose expertise and advice might be able to give us idea of how we might change and steer the direction of classical music away from the archives. 

 I hope you will all continue to join the podcast as it passes through its second season and where I hope we can work together to find a more positive outcome and strategies in the aftermath of the last 12 months. The premiere episode of Season 2 goes live on August the 16th and I hope some of you will listen on more conversations about classical music. 

Catch you soon - your host,

Victoria

This week is a very special insight into the world of being a music critic, an arts journalist and thinking about how to listen to the new, the challenging or listening differently. Declassify welcomes Dr Harriet Cunningham is a writer and researcher, best known as music and theatre critic for the Sydney Morning Herald. She writes for publications including The Saturday Paper, Limelight and the Financial Review. She has recently completed doctoral studies at UTS writing a cultural history of Dartington International Summer School of Music. She has been known to play the violin. Join us as we unpack the world of opera, the backlash from Opera Australia in reaction to criticism, narrowing repertoire choice of major arts companies and its consequences.  

Selected Resources (full list available in transcript):

Harriet Cunningham 

http://www.acunningplan.com/index.php/about/ 

Opera Australia barring of music critic:

https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/opera/so-childish-opera-australia-artistic-director-lyndon-terracini-revokes-critics-tickets-20150103-12hait.html 

Ideas on opera and opera funding

https://theconversation.com/does-opera-deserve-its-privileged-status-within-arts-funding-84761 

Selection of Harriet’s work

https://www.australianmusiccentre.com.au/article/gender-equity-and-diversity-in-opera-summit-the-listener-s-account 


Harriet’s choices

https://www.smh.com.au/culture/music/jeremy-dutcher-pays-moving-homage-to-mother-earth-20200116-p53s0m.html

 https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/culture/music/2020/08/22/new-music-online/159801840010298

For our first episode of 2021, Declassify welcomes onboard a good friend and extraordinary performer, Paris-based Australian saxophonist, Mary Osborn. Having completed a Bachelors of music performance at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, a performance diploma and Masters of music at the Versailles Conservatoire and Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin, Mary is forming her career as a classical and contemporary performer, creator and teacher. Mary has won numerous awards at international music competitions, she has worked closely with many composers and premiered their works, and enjoys developing multi-disciplinary projects. She is currently studying chamber music at the Conservatoire de Paris with her saxophone quartet, Quatuor Loriot. This week Mary and Victoria unpack working as a performer, the importance of transcriptions, the agency of being an artist and the emerging musicians stage, and the ‘isms’ of the classical music world. 

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Resources
Mary Osborn 

Syrinx Revisted: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y99s_RnHSz0 

Quatuor Loriot

https://www.facebook.com/quatuorloriot/about/ 

Mary’s Arragmenet of Tallahatchie Concerto by Jacob Ter Veldhius (JacobTV):  https://www.boomboxshop.net/tallahatchie---ensemble.html

Merism Duo

https://singaporesaxophonesymposium.com/2018/performers/merism-duo/ 

This week, Declassify welcomes the formidable and forever-passionate CEO of the Australian Music Centre, John Davis. He has been a great advocate and supporter of contemporary Australian Music and his work has been key for establishing and broadening the Australian music scene internationally, such as his representation of Australia as the Vice-President of the International Association of Music Information Centres and for the International Society for Contemporary Music. This week we talk new music, what does the word classical even mean? Has 2020 been a time for reflection and what does community well-being mean in this ecosystem of an industry?

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Resources

John Davis

https://iamic2020.miz.org/speakers/john-davis 

Australian Music Centre

https://www.australianmusiccentre.com.au/ 

Interviews

https://themusicnetwork.com/hot-seat-john-davis-ceo-australian-music-centre/ 

John’s Op-Ed: The significance of ‘art music’ in Australia - https://theindustryobserver.thebrag.com/op-ed-amc-ceo-john-davis-on-the-significance-of-art-music-in-australia/ 

Australian Music: http://www.realtimearts.net/article/issue53/6967 

For this episode of Declassify we are joined by one of the most passionate people I know, Megan Steller. Megan is an artist manager, writer, speaker, and producer based in Melbourne. She is passionate about working with emerging artists and seasoned performers alike to help create fulfilling, diverse and creatively empowering careers in the classical music sector. As an artist manager, Megan has worked at Intermusica (UK) and Patrick Togher Artists’ Management (AUS). As a journalist, she has been published in Limelight Magazine, The Age, and The Music, and has worked in a freelance capacity for Melbourne Recital Centre, Melbourne Conservatorium of Music, Musica Viva, Melbourne Youth Orchestras, and Orchestra Victoria. With such an incredibly broad range of skills and experiences, this episode is all about the significance of community and resource-sharing across the classical music industry, the sometimes-unknown world of being an artist manager (or agent) and us asking, what about opera?

 Selected Resources (many more in the transcript):

Megan Steller

http://www.megansteller.com/ 

Rehearsal Magazine

https://www.instagram.com/rehearsal_magazine/?hl=en 

Opera Australia at a crossroads
https://musicaustralia.org.au/2020/09/opera-australia-at-a-crossroads/

As COVID wreaks havoc in the performing arts, do we still need a national opera company?
https://theconversation.com/as-covid-wreaks-havoc-in-the-performing-arts-do-we-still-need-a-national-opera-company-145461

Discrimination in Casting Black Singers at the Metropolitan Opera

https://www.middleclassartist.com/post/discrimination-in-casting-black-singers-at-the-metropolitan-opera

Opera in a post-Weinstein World 

https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2017/12/05/opera-post-weinstein-world/

This week, Declassify welcomes onboard composer and interdisciplinary artist, Kezia Yap. Kezia, another Sydney Con graduate, is currently an MFA candidate at the Victorian College of Arts where her work current work interrogates how cultural identity and the Asian-Australian experience can be explored through interdisciplinary creative practice. She is quickly gaining reputation internationally, with her works performed around Australia, as well as in Europe, Asia and the USA. Her current collaborations are with prominent female new music performers Hannah Reardon-Smith, Flora Wong, Kaylie Melville and Madi Chwasta, producing three new works as part of the SHARING SPACES project, supported by The Australia Council for the Arts. In this episode, host Victoria and Kezia, unpack the experience of being Asian-Australian, how the questions of cross-cultural dialogue and identity inform our work and experiences growing up in Australia, and the intricacies and often, contradictory nature, of being an emerging composer wanting to compose for orchestra. 

Resources:
Kezia Yap

http://www.keziayap.com/ 

Goldsmith, Kenneth. Uncreative Writing : Managing Language in the Digital Age. Columbia University Press, 2011.

Ang, Ien. On Not Speaking Chinese : Living between Asia and the West. Routledge, 2001.

This week Declassify welcomes on media artist, educator and composer, Ciaran Frame. Ciaran is passionate about cross-disciplinary collaboration and education, seeking a place in the world of data, technology and music. He has found a home in interactive and generative computer music, creating everything from sonification toolboxes to make music out of plants, to performance works where players must purchase their musical material. Our conversation in this week’s episode, Ciaran is the author and researcher behind the fantastic data collection series and publication, the Living Music Report. This week’s episode is a deep dive into data sets as inspiration for bio-music, the intricacies of stats and their revelations concerning MPA (Major Performing Arts Company) programming choices, accountability and the nature of grants and funding. 

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Selected Resources (full list available on transcript)
Ciaran Frame

http://www.ciaranframe.com/ 

The Living Music Report

http://livingmusic.report/ 

 Reactions to the Living Music Report

Australian Music Centre: https://www.australianmusiccentre.com.au/article/living-music-report-2020-major-performing-arts-organisations-under-scrutiny 

The Age, Australia: https://www.smh.com.au/culture/music/dead-white-european-males-dominate-orchestra-music-survey-finds-20200623-p5559e.html 

 Gender Equity and Diversity in Opera Summit

https://www.australiacouncil.gov.au/programs-and-resources/Gender-Equity-and-Diversity-in-Opera-Summit/ 

This week Declassify delves into a newer and fascinating part of classical music practices, or it is really classical music? Our guest for this week’s episode is acousmatic composer and researcher Alexis Weaver. Her principal interest lies in composing fixed-media acousmatic music, she has also composed soundtracks for animation, short videos, radio, theatre, and dance. In 2018, Alexis was awarded the National Council of Women’s Australia Day Prize for her research undertaken during her Honours year on the visibility and practice of female electroacoustic composers and she has just completed a Master of Music at the Sydney Conservatorium, where she teaches composition and music technology subjects. This week we unpack the immersive realm of electronic music, the act of sound-making as music, accessibility to learning about music and music technology through to resources and programs for diverse listening, representation and engagement. 

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Selected Resources (A full list is available in the transcript)

Alexis Weaver

https://www.alexismarieweaver.com/ 

https://alexismarieweaver.bandcamp.com/ 

Alexis Weaver: Increasing the Volume: The Creative Diversity and Future Visions of Female Electroacoustic Composers in Australia

https://openjournals.library.sydney.edu.au/index.php/SCM/article/view/12675 

Tara Rodgers. Pink Noises. Can be accessed on-line via this link - 

https://muse.jhu.edu/article/449269/pdf 

http://www.femalepressure.net/fempress.html Female Pressure is an excellent database and data collection group who raise awareness of electronic artists around the world. The 2020 survey can be accessed here: https://femalepressure.wordpress.com 

This week, long-time collaborators and friends Victoria Pham and artist, academic and filmmaker James Nguyen get together to talk about childhood experiences of classical music and a perspective of working with classical musicians from those outside the art world. James Nguyen is in his own words is “Asian passing,” dabbles with painting, documentary filmmaking, and conceptual art. Born on a coffee plantation in Vietnam, Nguyen arrived to Australia by plane. Having studied Pharmacy, Nguyen then pivoted to complete his Bachelor in Fine Arts and is now completing his PhD. He has been a Samstag scholar and fellow at Uniondocs NYC and been commissioned by 4A Arts Centre, Gertrude Contemporary, Bleed Festival, The National Exhibition for the Museum of Contemporary Art, and the Australian War Memorial. In this episode, a conversation between two friends revolves from early musical expressions, the odd lag of classical music’s ability to critique itself under its illusion of its elitist and apolitical position in society, the cyclical nature of research in academia, and the revealing phenomena of Hamilton.

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Selected Resources (a full list is available in the transcript):

James Nguyen: http://jamesnguyen.com.au/bio/bio 

 PhD portfolio and research: https://chobotrouble.com/ 

Yeou-Cheng

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/19/arts/music/yeou-cheng-ma-childrens-orchestra-society.html

https://www.sundayguardianlive.com/culture/yo-yo-mas-sister-yeou-cheng-continues-familys-legacy 

Maria Anna Mozart

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/sep/08/lost-genius-the-other-mozart-sister-nannerl