Easter at The Piano Mill 2019

A sonic treasure hunt for music, art, and architecture, directed by Vanessa Tomlinson

Sunday 21 April 2019
2pm – 5.30pm

This year featured The Oxbow by Vanessa Tomlinson, new compositions for The Piano Mill by Steve Newcomb (Astronauts Aviary Antics) and Alistair Noble (Tiangong) plus sound installations by Stephen Adams, John Ferguson, Paul Bardini, & Erik Griswold.

Oxbow composer/performers include:
Lagavulin – Sonic Dreams, Erik Griswold and Vanessa Tomlinson
Samuel Pankhurst, Caleb Colledge, Chloe Kim, Brodie Macallister, Kristin Beradi, Jodie Rottle, Liam Flenady, Jan Baker-Finch, Vanessa Tomlinson
Stephen Adams work Sunset inside the listening room featured Hannah Reardon-Smith and Danielle Bentley
Scatter was created by Erik Griswold, John Ferguson and Paul Bardini

2019 creatives:
Stephen Adams, Nic Allen, Jan Baker-Finch, Paul Bardini, Danielle Bentley, Kristin Berardi, Andrew Campbell, Caleb Colledge, Brieley Cutting, Louise Denson, Merinda Dias-Jayasinha, John Ferguson, Liam Flenady, Catherine Grant, Anna Grinberg, Erik Griswold, Michael Hannan, Greg Harm, Lynette Lancini, Chloe Kim, Nic Martoo, Therese Milanovic, Stephen Newcomb, Alistair Noble, Colin Noble, Samuel Pankhurst, Kayleigh Pincott Alex Ranieri, Hannah Reardon-Smith, Jodie Rottle, Catalynne Scott, Tamarind Taylor, Vanessa Tomlinson, Liam Viney, Yolande Vorster, Chris Ward

Sonic Dreams

by Vanessa Tomlinson

In Sonic Dreams, Vanessa Tomlinson asks both performers and audience to imagine the sounds of extinct and critically endangered animals. In some cases the literal sounds of the animal's vocalizations, gestures and habitats are evoked, while in other cases we become involved in a much more poetic imagining of place, history, and loss. By placing the locus of the composition in the internal imaginations of the participants, Tomlinson implicitly invites us to listen to our sonic environment, and to imagine alternative futures.

Each performance of Sonic Dreams is site-specific, and includes animals from the local area of the performance. Sonic Dream, Stanthorpe, was created for Easter at The Piano Mill 2019.

Performed by Clocked Out
Erik Griswold - Prepared Piano and
Vanessa Tomlinson - Percussion, found objects, and toys

Sunset inside the Listening Room

by Stephen Adams

Three human performers join a host of birds on the sonic journey from sunset into darkness in a gully below The Piano Mill at Harrigans Lane.

Human musicians: Hannah Reardon-Smith (piccolo, bass flute), Danielle Bentley (cello), Stephen Adams (flute, ocarina, field recording operation). Field recording by Stephen Adams, Harrigans Lane, 19 March 2018.

Bird lead musicians: Golden Whistler, Lewin’s Honeyeater, Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo
Bird supporting cast (in order of appearance): Spotted Pardalote, Grey Fantail, New Holland Honeyeater, Bell Miner, Superb Lyrebird, Australian King Parrot, Yellow-faced Honeyeater, Crimson Rosella, Laughing Kookaburra, White-throated Treecreeper, Nightjar Owlet, Eastern Yellow Robin, Pied Currawong, Emerald-spotted Tree Frog, Masked Lapwing, and diverse unidentified nighttime insects and other birds.

Trailer Drive-by

by Caleb Colledge

Coming from nowhere and hooning through the otherwise quiet and peaceful gathering came Caleb Colledge and Kayleigh Pincott, with chauffeur Bruce Wolfe. With a custom made drumkit trailer and deluxe megaphone, the duo started with blues inflected strains that went more and more wild, piercing the valley.

Astronauts Aviary Antics

by Steve Newcomb

"Your mission, if you choose to accept it, is to be a sonic explorer for the next 12 minutes." (from the score). From inside the Piano Mill it feels like you are in the trees, interacting with the birds, taking flight. Avian Astronaut Antics references this avian life - especially the bellbirds encountered on the drive up the range through Cunninghams Gap on the drive from Brisbane to the Mill - and also the 50th anniversay of the landing on the moon. Anything is possible.

"Easter autum night.
Vast openess. Spinning world.
Silent song of birds" (from the score)

Featuring: Steve Newcomb, Colin Noble, Alistair Noble, Joyce To, Jocelyn Wolfe, Therese Milanovic, Michael Hannan, Brieley Cutting, Alex Ranieri, Catherine Grant, Erik Griswold, Catalynne Scott, Anna Grinberg, Liam Viney, Vanessa Tomlinson.

Tiangong

by Alistair Noble

Alistair Noble's beautiful Tiangong turned the Piano Mill into a "palace of heaven," and the exquisite cello performance of Danielle Bentley brought a whole new sound dimension. In the composer's words: "The work takes the form of a quasi-concerto for cello and the Piano Mill. ‘Tiangong’ means Heaven Palace, and is a term used in traditional Chinese Buddhist and Taoist thinking. It is also the name of a space station”

Featuring: Steve Newcomb, Colin Noble, Alistair Noble, Therese Milanovic, Michael Hannan, Brieley Cutting, Alex Ranieri, Catherine Grant, Joyce To, Erik Griswold, Catalynne Scott, Anna Grinberg, Liam Viney, Vanessa Tomlinson, and Danielle Bentley

The Hive

by Erik Griswold

The Hive features all the pianos of The Mill playing a looping arpeggio, each slightly out of sync with each other. Blurred rhythms, micro-tunings, and subtle differences in timbre combine to produce an other-worldly moiré effect. It was composed for the original launch of The Piano Mill in 2016, and has been played every Easter since.

Performed by Steve Newcomb, Colin Noble, Alistair Noble, Therese Milanovic, Michael Hannan, Brieley Cutting, Alex Ranieri, Joyce To, Jocelyn Wolfe, Catherine Grant, Erik Griswold, Catalynne Scott, Anna Grinberg, Liam Viney, and Vanessa Tomlinson.

The Grand Finale

by Erik Griswold and Vanessa Tomlinson

George's trumpet calls us towards "Beatrice Rock" and down the mountain. Vanessa and Jan grapple with a 5-metre long swath of yellow cloth while a gaggle of melodicaists tremolo and swell their way through the procession. Finally the whole crew makes their way to Suntory Stage for a spirited rendition of "The Night Parrot."

Featuring: George Griswold, Beatrice Tomlinson, Brodie McAllister, Vanessa Tomlinson, Jan Baker-Finch, Kayleigh Pincott, Kristin Berardi, Catalynne Scott, Steve Newcomb, Colin Noble, Erik Griswold, Anna Grinberg, Chloe Kim, Caleb Colledge.

The Oxbow Soundwalk

Conceived and curated by Vanessa Tomlinson, The Oxbow saw more than 20 musicians and sound artists, plus a visual artist, poet, and movement artist, collaborate together to create a site-specific sound walk through the bush. Launched through a performance on Sonic Dreams, the audience were sent out on an hour long sonic excursion encountering listening signs, underwater/underground listening stations, environment inspired piano improvisations, bush drummers, a forrest of cymbals, new work for trombone and pre-recorded sounds, semaphore poetry, works for balloon and dancer, whirlie and voice, percussive flautist and actor.

Piano at the Borrow Pit

Leaving Lagavulin concert venue the audience set off on an hour long soundwalk through the bush on the Harrigans Lane property in the Granite Belt district on the QLD/NSW border. After passing through a series of listening "signs" (Imagine the Sound of Megafauna; Imagine the Sound of Trees Listening), they reached the first stop; a recently planted piano at the Borrow Pit, played here by Kayleigh Pincott. At the same location Leah Barclay had setup a listening station "Listening Underwater at the Borrow Pit" using hydrophones to listen in to the underwater environment.

Featuring: Kayleigh Pincott, Catalynne Scott, Stephen Newcomb, Colin Noble, Anna Grinberg

Everything Old is New

Operating a drumkit, bellows, analogue synth components and managing rain and mist, sound master Sam Pankhurst greeted audiences on to The Oxbow Soundwalk with drones, gurgles, and meteorological artefacts.

Cymbal Web

Audiences came across Caleb Colledge performing, just off the main path, standing inside a web of cymbals. Simultaneously referencing a washing line, a boxing ring and a caged animal, Caleb wandering through his domain caressing, hitting, vibrating and swinging over 20 cymbals suspended by ropes in the middle of the forest.

Improvisation at Wombat Rock

Drummer Chloe Kim, perched atop Wombat Rock, creates a lush soundscape which alternatively melds with the forest and punctuates it. Delicate cymbal textures give way to sudden bursts of tom toms that echo across the granite faces of Wombat Rock.

The Evolution of Crisis

Brodie McAllister is a regular at the Piano Mill, well seasoned at sounding the valleys, rocks and forest of this bushland. In The Evolution of Crisis he uses layering of trombone sound emanating from the undergrowth to meld with his live sound. Performing on the Talisker Stage deep in the forest he creates blankets of sound, much like the mist which surrounds him.

Semaphore Poetry

Flickering between the trees over 40 metres apart, two bodies recited poetry to one other in Semaphore. The yellow flags earnestly signalled from the fallen tree to the open paddock with the audience passing between the performers in the valley. Featuring George Griswold and Isabelle Noble (semaphore) and poetry by Vicki Kelleher.

Fabric River

Using fabric, balloon, and movement, percussionist Vanessa Tomlinson and eurythmist Jan Baker-Finch perform on the Oxbow Trail. The yellow fabric, balloon, and costume cut across the landscape like a Christo installation come to life, while their delicate and detailed sound and movement highlight and counterpoint those of the forest around them.

Whirling Voice at Split Rock

Kristin Berardi's beautiful and poignant improvisations hung upon the mist, in her site-specific performance atop Split Rock, on the Oxbow Soundwalk. Accompanying herself with a harmonic whirly, the gentle drone provided a launching point for her organically unfolding modal explorations.

Nice Coal Dwan

"Nice Coal Dwan" is a performance piece exploring the sounds of historic campfire objects from Harrigan's Lane. It features Liam Flenady as his exuberant and robotic character Coal Dwan. The premiere took place at a the fourth Easter at the Piano Mill on 21 April 2019, a day described as "beautiful and sunny" by Coal Dwan.

Renata Buziak's nature-inspired works have been a defining visual feature of all the Easter at The Piano Mill Events. In 2019 she installed stunning banners on the Oxbow trail of botanical imagery created with flora from Harrigan's Lane, and including the poetry of Vicki Kelleher.