Edge Sky Self (2020) for speaker, flute, clarinet in Bb, violin, marimba and double bass, is a setting of the poem Edge Sky Self by the late Candy Royalle, a poet and spoken word performance artist from Sydney. The piece was written as a commission and presented by an ensemble as part of Melbourne's Homophonic! concerts in the Midsumma Festival 2020. Kind permission from the Estate of Candy Royalle and University of Western Australia Publishing to set Royalle's poem is acknowledged. Performers: Eleanor Jackson (spoken word), Laila Engle (flute), Karen Heath (clarinet), Zachary Johnston (violin), Thea Rossen (marimba) and Miranda Hill (double bass). The performances took place at La Mama Courthouse Theatre, Carlton on 30/1, 31/1 and 1/2/2020. Edge Sky Self © Christina Green 2020 (music), and Candy Royalle (text). Photo © Jo Smith 2020.

Edge Sky Self

Solo ukulele piece written and performed by Christina Green on ANueNue tenor ukulele, © Christina Green 2012.  The title of Line of Flight comes from French philosopher Gilles Deleuze, who uses the term to talk about moving out of the known and into the new and unknown.  Line of Flight has been chosen to accompany Recover, a quilt piece by Flossie and Patience Peitsch (see image), part of the Belonging exhibition 2016.

Some Days/Life I Can Live

Line of Flight

A song about children in Ulan Bator, Mongolia. No Permanent Address - Words and Music © Christina Green, 2003. Christina Green, vocals, guitar and bass. Tracey Roberts, keyboard. Recorded by Hugh McDonald, Melbourne.

No Permanent Address

This song is about good times at the home of a London friend, and is from my CD Mindless Fun (2004), cover art Jo Smith, recorded/engineered Andrew Parker.  At Spider House © Christina Green 2002.

Mindless Fun

Mindless Fun (2004 independent CD)

At Spider House

Improvisation based on Pauline Oliveros's text score entitled Ear Rings, involving a group of four players creating segments in pairs/smaller combos and finally coming together as a group.  Performed by Christina Green (leader/coordinator, soprano recorder and baritone ukulele), Catherine Golden (North Sydney Strings Ensemble, bass recorder and double bass), John Dabron (North Sydney Strings Ensemble, violin) and Allison Balberg (North Sydney Strings Ensemble, viola da gamba), at Western Sydney University, Friday 2nd September 2016, as part of the Creativity Unlimited Festival.

Improvisation based on Ear Rings by Pauline Oliveros

Ear Rings - Christina Green, Catherine Golden, John Dabron and Allison Balberg

A song about Irene Warehouse, a community arts space in Pitt Street, Brunswick, Melbourne (Aus.). I first visited Irene in order to go to Barricade Books, an anarchist bookshop which had moved there from Sydney Road Brunswick, and also attended a lo-fi singer-songwriter performance there. The 'artistry' mentioned in the song is a reference to paste-up art by Melbourne's Baby Guerrilla, whose work adorns many walls in public space in Brunswick, Footscray and other western suburbs of Melbourne. As I wrote this song I revisited Irene to see how it felt a few years since I was last there, and I was delighted to see this artwork, which has inspired me in the last year or so as I have seen it around the inner suburbs. The song incorporates some of Baby Guerrilla's description of her work, with her enthusiastic support. Irene Warehouse © Words and Music Christina Green 2015, and photo in the circus space © 2016 Christina Green.  Performed by Christina Green (tenor ukulele/s, vocal, stomp box, tambourine) and Hayley Anderson (violin).  Image © Baby Guerrilla (photo by Christina Green).

Irene Warehouse

This song is based on the story of Inky, an octopus who lived at the National Aquarium of New Zealand in Napier, who escaped from his aquarium in April 2016 and is believed to have returned to the sea at nearby Hawke’s Bay.

Inky the Octopus © Words and Music Christina Green 2016.  Performed by Christina Green - alto voice, ukulele, guitar, harmonica, electric bass and shaker.

Image © Tracey Roberts 2017.

Inky the Octopus

A short piece in the AB form of many Scottish folk tunes, celebrating the graciousness of Melbourne's City of Stonnington. Stonnington © Christina Green, with Tracey Roberts (keyboard part), 2013. Performed by Christina Green (8 string ukulele), Tracey Roberts (keyboard) and Louise Godwin (cello). Recorded by Gerry Putnam (New Hampshire) and Hugh McDonald (Melbourne).  Photo by Jo Smith @ Melbourne Ukulele Festival 2016.

My CD

Stonnington

This piece was inspired by the rescue in July 2008 of Columbian/French politician and activist Ingrid Betancourt, and fourteen other hostages, from captivity in the Columbian jungle, where they had been held by FARC members for six years.  Performed by the Southern Cross Philharmonia orchestra, conductor Gerald Gentry.  Free! © Christina Green 2008.  Posted with kind permission of Bianca Rooman, SCPO.

Free!

A piano work accompanying video by Josephine Telfer, screened in Federation Square, Melbourne, 2010, The Light in Winter Festival curated by Robyn Archer.   The video was created Josephine Telfer from images of jellyfish taken on South Melbourne beach.  My intention in composing the music was to try to capture the 'feeling-tone' of the images as I experienced it.  Image © Josephine Telfer.  Music © Christina Green 2010.  Performed by the composer and recorded by Stax, Dandenong Ranges, Melbourne.

Cosmos

Native Language was composed for kalimba and tarogato, but is open to performance on a range of instrument combinations.  The original idea for the piece came from a Deep Listening Piece of experimental composer Pauline Oliveros (1932-2016), A Series of Mini Pieces (1992).  I employed a familiar kalimba tuning as the 'native language'.  The piece goes through various feels and sections, exploring a range of tonal areas available on the kalimba in this tuning, and working with counterpoint for the two instruments with a look back to the contrapuntal style of the two-part inventions of J. S. Bach, with a different harmonic palette.  Christina Green, marimba/clarinet (keyboard/Logic program).  Native Language © Christina Green 2017.  Engineered by Brian Baker, The Bakery, Melbourne, 2018.

Native Language

Land, Sea, Sky was commissioned by the Penrith Symphony Orchestra, NSW, and written for them, as part of a student composition opportunity jointly offered with Western Sydney University. The work is titled for the three realms that permeate Celtic thought. In this world view, land is considered the middle realm (this world), sky is considered the upper realm (other world) and sea is considered the lower realm (under world). I wanted to create an integrated piece with sections that morphed smoothly into each other, moving through all the sections in the photo Pelican Point, with thoughts of these Celtic meanings and a focus on a joyful return to land, this world in which we spend so much of our lives and of which we are conscious. There is a sense of journey, of transformation, going through the realms and areas, and coming back to land bringing a greater breadth and depth of experience and vision. The device of morphing from section to section was also underpinned by visual inspiration from M. C. Escher’s woodcut Sky and Water I. Land, Sea, Sky © Christina Green 2017. This performance is by the Southern Cross Philharmonia Orchestra under the direction of conductor Dr Houston Dunleavy, May 2019, recorded by Steve Adam and mastered by Houston Dunleavy. Pelican Point image, part of the inspiration for Land, Sea, Sky © Christina Green 2017, taken in Hastings, Mornington Peninsula, VIC.

Land, Sea, Sky

Composer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist.

Christina Green has been active as a songwriter, composer and performer for over 25 years.  She completed a B. Mus. (Hons.) at the University of Melbourne (including musicology, piano, composition), an M. Mus. (composition) at the same university in 2009, and is a trained music therapist and teacher.  She is active in both the acoustic folk/songwriting and contemporary classical composition areas and is based in Melbourne, Australia.

Christina Green, composer

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