HALCYON - Lily on a Black Wave, Sat 6th October

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HALCYON
Lily on a Black Wave

Modern composers interpret Shakespeare

“On the calm, black wave where the stars sleep
White Ophelia floats like a great lily,
Floats slowly, slowly, slumbering in her long winding veils...”

The character of Ophelia from Shakespeare’s ominous play Hamlet has floated her way into the modern world, inspiring creative artists as diverse as Rimbaud, T.S. Eliot, Berlioz, Nick Cave and The Grateful Dead. Award-winning ensemble Halcyon premieres a new work, Ophelie, by Melbourne composer Kevin March, and introduces the waterphone to Australian audiences, an instrument described by musician Tom Waits as ‘a cascading crystal waterfall of light amidst the songs of a whale’. With modern musical settings from Shakespeare’s plays and sonnets by Stravinsky, Saariaho and Adès, Halcyon delivers all the drama and passion inherent in the words of this famous bard, distilled into their musical essence.

Artists: Mark Shiell conductor Alison Morgan soprano Jenny Duck-Chong mezzo soprano Mark Donnelly baritone Steve Meyer flute Diana Springford clarinet Saul Lewis horn Sophie Cole violin Veronique Serret violin Nicole Forsyth viola Andrew Meisel double bass Owen Torr harp Sally Whitwell piano Claire Edwardes percussion

Date: 7.30pm Saturday 6 October 2007
Where: MUSIC WORKSHOP, Sydney Conservatorium of Music
Price: $30 Full / $20 Concession & Under 30
Bookings: (02) 8256 2222 or tickets available at the door