Music
Q&A with Robin Fox from Transducer
Ticketmaster is excited to give Melbourne live event fans the chance to experience new and experimental music via the performance of Transducer by Speak Percussion at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl. This event will allow the audience the rare privilege of watching a performance from the SMMB stage – a treat normally reserved for performers themselves. Ticketmaster wanted to know more, so we fired a few questions at one of the performers, Robin Fox. Here is what he had to say about the unique and exciting performance the audience can expect.
Ticketmaster: For audiences who aren’t familiar with experimental/new music, what can they expect to experience at Transducer at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl?
Robin Fox:Audiences can expect an immersive sound experience that challenges pre-conceptions about music and performance. The sound world is built largely from electro-magnetic fields and the instruments need to be ‘managed’ as much as played. This is new work made with new bespoke instruments. It would be almost impossible to play happy birthday or any other tune with these things. So leave your pre-conceptions at the door and open your ears and minds to this experience.
TM: What makes Transducer so unique?
RF: Is anything truly unique? Yes and no. Transducer is a new work made with new instruments. Each of these instruments has taken some inspiration from somewhere. The pendulum array, for example, owes a lot to Steve Reich’s Pendulum Music (1968). The history of experimental music is rich with invention and innovation. Transducer is another point of departure in the very many-faceted field of contemporary music. Creating new work involves reducing the sum of the creators’ experience into a focussed singularity around a particular idea. In this case there are two creators. Therefore the outcome of the combination of these two sets of experience around the idea of transduction is bound to produce new and unique results.
TM: The audience will also see Karlheinz Stockhausen’s Mikrophonie I. Can you tell us about that work?
RF: Mikrophonie 1 is an amazing work. Stockhausen’s ability to hone in on the essence of the new technologies around him was incredible. In this ground-breaking work he explores the harmonically rich sound world of a single tam-tam and uses, for the first time, the microphone as an active ‘instrument’ in the performance of the work. The microphone becomes a stethoscope in the hands of the microphonists as they range across the surface of the tam-tam in search of detail and resonance.
TM: You are collaborating with Speak Percussion, can you tell us a bit about them?
RF: Speak are an amazing ensemble. It’s rare to find artists that can effectively straddle established repertoire and new experimental work. Speak does this seamlessly. Eugene and his collaborators are constantly asking the questions what is percussion and how is it relevant? Both valid and both being answered in every finely nuanced performance that they give.
TM: Are you excited to be performing at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl?
RF: YES! I love the Sidney Myer Music Bowl. I’ve never performed there before. I love the idea that the audience will be gazing out at the hill. It will be a memorable experience for all.
TM: Can you tell us a little about some of your other current projects?
RF: I am about to perform my new RGB laser work at the Barbican in London. I’m nervous and excited. This work is also currently being transformed into a Colour Organ installation which will allow people to experience the thrill of controlling sound and laser light simultaneously. Thanks go out to the good people at MONA for backing yet another experiment of mine! I’m also working on some software that will visualize the sound of Richard Tognetti playing Bach for the forthcoming Synaesthesia event at MONA in August. A new work with Stephanie Lake is also in development an exciting aspect of which is the exploration of human capacitance.
Transducer by Speak Percussion will be performed at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl on Friday August 1 and Saturday August 2. Click here to purchase your tickets now.
