Mona and the festival of modern art

Mona-Foma is back again in Hobart and is receiving warm support.  It is not often that St Mary's Cathedral is packed for a concert and the audience gives a standing ovation to the performers.  However, Nick Tsiavos and his talented group were received enthusiastically, as they presented their particular take on new music, Byzantine chant, free jazz and new minimalism.  Deborah Kayser's incredible voice rose and fell in pure simplicity against a background of liminal bass tones and imaginative, sensitive percussion.  In this performance  the ancient did indeed become modern and the playing was passionate and beautiful.

Following the Liminal performance another packed audience listened to  Rod Thomson playing a number of organ pieces by Messiaen.   These meditations and musical visions also reflected Greek, Hindu, Indonesian, Japanese and jazz influences and were played in masterly fashion by the organist.  The cathedral resonated with the joy and splendour of the music celebrating power and majesty and the muted tones of the meditations on suffering.   This concert too was enthusiastically received and makes me wonder whether Brian Ritchie playing his shakuhachi flute    can possibly be any more inspiring next week.

Music is a place

A highlight for me of our recent Museum of Old and Modern Art festival (Mona-Foma) was an interview with Philip Glass, accompanied by a recital from talented Hobart group 22SQ of Glass's brilliant Concerto for Saxophone Quartet.  After a dazzling performance the group received an enthusiastic ovation from the audience and praise from Glass, who then sat down with Mona-Foma curator Brian Ritchie to talk about saxophones, India and the way Glass's music had developed.   It was an interesting and engaging conversation, during which Glass revealed that he  had always wanted to know where music came from.  Eventually he realised he was asking the wrong question.  

Music, he said, is a place.

This event was held in the beautiful Bahai Centre in Hobart, a work of art in itself and well worth a visit.  The soprano, Joan Edwards, also performed there during the festival.  She sang two song cycles composed by Andrew Ford, the last one with a string quartet.  She sang beautifully and the blending of voice and instruments was particularly appealing.