New Music Studio

Songs for a New Millennium: Works by Contemporary Australian and American Composers

Australian composers Cameron Lam and Connor d’Netto, and Americans Missy Mazzoli and Nico Muhly represent a generation of exciting young artists whose innovative musical idioms continue the tradition of universal storytelling through song. The works selected for this concert depict individuals surrounded yet alone, self-reflective yet longing for relatedness. This theme of the solitary figure in a crowded world reflects 21st century trends: the shrinking family unit and the exploration of new forms of personal union. In The World Within Me is Too Small, Missy Mazzoli’s protagonist, based on Swiss explorer Isabelle Eberhardt (1877-1904), describes herself as “a lonely outsider among men”. The speakers in Mazzoli’s As Long as We Live and Self-portrait with Dishevelled Hair desperately seek connection with a beloved. In Nico Muhly’s So Many Things the singer describes an “observed potential lover, never approached and anxiously imagined”. Connor d’Netto’s rhythmically virtuosic Seven Percent Etudes are based upon equations by visionary mathematician and computer scientist Allan Turing, so tragically persecuted for being a gay man. The concert’s centrepiece, Fragments of Solitude by Cameron Lam, traces a pilgrim’s progress, paying tribute to a familiar art song trope: a lonesome journey undertaken in the quest for spiritual fulfilment.

ARTISTS

Linda Barcan, mezzo-soprano

Coady Green, piano

PROGRAM

Fragments of Solitude (2016) world premiere

Texts by Luis de Gongora (trans. Edith Grossman)

Music by Cameron Lam (b. 1989)

1. Dedication

2. Offering

3. Liquor

4. Rest

5. Fortune

6. Death

7. Rebel

8. Tranquil

9. Wandering

Performed by Linda Barcan (mezzo-soprano) and Coady Green (piano)

So Many Things (2013) Australian premiere

Texts by C.P. Cavafy (trans. Daniel Mendelsohn) and Joyce Carol Oates

Music by Nico Muhly (b. 1981)

Performed by Linda Barcan (mezzo-soprano) and Coady Green (piano)

Seven Percent Etudes (2023)

Music by Connor d'Netto (b. 1994)

1. Flowing (right hand only)

2. Pensive, uneasy (left hand only)

3. Gentle, flowing (both hands)

Performed by Coady Green (piano)

Missy Mazzoli : Selected Songs Australian premieres

Texts by Royce Vavrek, Missy Mazzoli and Walt Whitman

Music by Missy Mazzoli (b. 1980)

1. Self-portrait with dishevelled hair (2020) (Royce Vavrek)

2. As long as we live (2013) (Walt Whitman)

3. The world within me is too small from Songs from the Uproar: The Lives and Deaths of Isabelle Eberhardt (2012) (Royce Vavrek & Missy Mazzoli)

Performed by Linda Barcan (mezzo-soprano) and Coady Green (pianist)

RUNTIME

This concert is approx 70 minutes without an interval.

About the artists

Linda Barcan

Lyric mezzo-soprano Linda Barcan trained in languages at the University of Newcastle, and in spoken and singing voice performance and pedagogy at the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) and the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. Linda began her operatic career at the Opéra de Lyon and performed for many years with Opera Australia. She has appeared in art song recital Australia-wide and in France, Germany, and South-East Asia, including frequent concerts in French cultural and diplomatic circles. For nine years, Linda was Lecturer in Music (Voice) at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts in the Classical Voice, Music Theatre and Acting departments. She is currently Lecturer in Voice at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music, the University of Melbourne.

Coady Green

One of Australia’s leading concert pianists, Coady Green is acknowledged as a major talent on the international concert circuit. In 2005, Coady relocated to London after winning almost all the most prestigious awards that his native Australia had to offer. During his eleven years in London, he frequently performed at the major UK venues and held teaching positions at the University of London and at the Royal College of Music. He has performed in major concert venues in over 20 countries. He is a frequent guest lecturer at leading international tertiary institutions. He teaches and lectures at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music, the University of Melbourne. He is currently working on recording the complete solo and chamber music of Australian composer Linda Kouvaras, and the complete Etudes and Preludes of Anton Rubinstein, both for renowned UK label Toccata Classics.

Photo credit: Ian Schneider on Unsplash

ACCESSIBILITY

All venues at the Southbank campus are wheelchair accessible. To read more about access services available at our venues, please visit: https://finearts-music.unimelb.edu.au/access-our-events

IMPORTANT INFORMATION

Due to current University guidelines, there are a number of conditions currently in place for our in-person events.

• The University continues to strongly encourage individuals to remain up to date with their COVID-19 vaccinations, but no longer requires evidence of vaccination in order to access campus.
• You are welcome to wear a face mask anywhere on campus for personal and community safety.
• Please stay at home if you feel unwell or have been ordered to isolate.
  Walk-ups and latecomers will be admitted at the discretion of front of house staff.

To read more about the University's COVID-19 response, please visit: https://www.unimelb.edu.au/coronavirus.