Frederike Palmen, soprano
Katinka van Driezum, oboe
Ward Reimerink, guitar

This work was written in one day as part of the week-long composer performer initiative, Eendagsliederen. I chose to set the Persian poem 'displaced' set in it's original language, Farsi. Here is the text in both Farsi and English:

Ke îm o kojâyîm
Che migûîm o dar che kârim?

pâ sokhî Kû?

be entezâre pâsokhî
                                  asab mîkeshîm

va be Latmeye pejhvâkî
Kûhvâr
            Dar ham mîshekanîm

(English)

Who are we and where are we to find
what we say and what we are doing?

Is there an answer?

While we are waiting for that answer
                                                              we turn nervously around each other

The impact of its echo
would forgive us
                            like a mountain

Displaced For Soprano, Oboe, And Guitar

I wrote this song for Jerboah immediately after seeing them perform at Roest, Amsterdam. I had arrived late and they had well finished their set when they all jumped back up and played the whole set again for me and 3 or 4 others (of course the rest of the pub were keen to hear them again!) As they played, this song formed instantaneously in my head. I knew exactly what I wanted to do!

The piece is inspired by a funny quote I saw: "Exposure is not good for artists. People have died from too much exposure!" With the current declining artistic climate and the frustration that goes with it, I decided I wanted to write something edgy and angsty about what it's like for artists fighting for a crust. I came to Jerboah with just a text and a few riffs and we worked on it together. Their flavour is unmistakable and really brings the tone of the words!

Jerboah - JustGotta

This is just a demo giving a musical impression of the work-in-progress animation film "Corso" by illustrator and animator Tim de Groot of Studio Mittens.

Studio Mittens' Corso - music demo

The ebb and flow of the relationship between the voice and violin builds in layers. Reverberating textures of the violin spread out and expand providing a cloud of sound for the voice to rest upon or pass through until the entire piece dissipates, inevitably, into breath, then silence.

The poem is about the resonances of words, voices and sounds as they echo across time, languages and relationships. The sounds, rhythm and rhyme reinforce the ways in which utterances linger in time and space once the moment of change has passed.
The libretto is adapted by the composer from the poem a word broke by Ann Nadge. The concept for the poem is by Anthony Leigh Dunstan.

[excerpt of text] 
                                                                                               A 
 
word        broke                in my mouth                  today        a
 
whisper           of all thoughts         in mind                            All
 
histories               and worlds    lie spent                                 neither 
 
in front                                    nor behind.

....

ebb for voice, violin and reverb

Anthony Leigh Dunstan began his studies in 2002 and graduated from the Sydney Conservatoirum of Music Sydney with a Bmus (honours first class - 2005) and an Mmus (2011), and from Conservatorium van Amsterdam with an Mmus (2011) where he wrote and directed his theatrical work under the influence of nostalgia for solo baritone and large ensemble. During this time he studied with Michael Smetanin (AUS), Mary Finsterer (AUS), Richard Ayres (UK/NL), and Willem Jeths (NL), as well as Fabio Nida (IT/DE), and Tristan Murail (FR).

Anthony composes in a constant period of self-criticism and reactionary questioning of personal style. The focus is to develop an ingenuous artistic expression concerning the motivations and processes employed that precede and are governed by the overall intention of any given work. As an example, the pilot opera (three selected scenes) de tweede mijl: an ego opera was inspired by the experiences of volunteering at a homeless shelter while in search of inspiration in the cracks of society and was commissioned by Yo! Opera festival (NL) and premiered in 2011. Issues of globalisation and integration as well as a reactionary concern among the younger generations for less-advantaged minorities has gradually influenced his own personal expression, with a particular focus on the forgotten or mistreated. Within Amsterdam, Visisonor Stichting’s concert series Black Pencil, and emerging community based research and project centres such as Rhizomatic,  as well as international Dutch-based festivals Incubate (Tilberg)  and Voi-z (Zwolle)  all address these concerns in their own manner. International UK-based theatre-maker Matthew Peacock (Streetwise Opera) produces performances featuring homeless and disadvantaged men and women trained through his vocal and acting workshops. These forms of proactive events and productions continue to influence a shifting generation of socially aware artists, including Anthony. All his works are equally affected by this current trend among the artist community.

Anthony is currently working on the full version of his opera de tweede mijl: an ego opera which premieres March 2014, as well as various solo and ensemble works including a song-cycle about dementia sufferers. In terms of research projects, he is working with the organizations Not for sale and Redeem The Shadows primarily focused on human trafficking.

thin skin - 19th July '09

for baritone and large ensemble.
premiered 10th June 2011, Amsterdam.
Performed by Charles Hens and musicians from the Conservatorium van Amsterdam.

Under the influence of nostalgia is laden with stuttering and stammering musical gestures inspired by the life and work of Sydney obscure poet Michael Dransfield. The work exploits various speech impediments for material with the characteristics of stuttering at it's core.

under the influence of nostalgia - 10th June '11

What if you only ever heard the sounds of the sea always and forever?

anthonyleighdunstan

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