Voice

Mirror Traps
(2023)

soprano, bass flute, oboe, bass clarinet, trombone, harpsichord, violin, viola, cello
15 minutes

Johanna Vargas (Colombie), soprano, artiste en résidence à Royaumont (2021-2024).
Ensemble Court-circuit (France): Jean Deroyer, direction; Anne Cartel, flûte; Hélène Devilleneuve, hautbois; Youjin Jung, clarinette; Alain Rigollet, trombone; Jean-Marie Cottet, piano / clavecin; Alexandra Greffin-Klein, violon; Laurent Camatte, alto; Frédéric Baldassare, violoncelle.
Hera Lindsay Bird, text.

I write and chew and crack my bones and think about hospitality
(2022)

soprano, bass flute, oboe, trombone, percussion, piano, viola, cello, double bass
11 minutes

Performed by Stroma, Wellington October 2022. Commissioned by Stroma with funding from Creative New Zealand.

I am fascinated by the role that the arts have in the preservation of history, and the exploration of futures. The arts are a training ground for new possibilities, and the ultimate reflection of both real and imagined histories. How we traverse notions of preservation and exploration across our artistic practices – whether that be creatively in the works we present, in the communities we foster, or in the governance, strategy, and financial models we find ourselves working within – shapes what our artistic futures sound like, look like, feel like, and ultimately, influences the sustainability of creativity.

As artists, we often use our art to critique the world around us. But the social and bureaucratic microcosm in which our art germinates and manifests itself is also deserving of cogent critique: it is deserving of reflection, of new offerings and insights, in order to best support all those creating and enjoying the art that is so fundamental – whether in the mainstream or on the fringe, or somewhere indescribable – to our understanding of what it means to be human.

This work has grown from my ruminations on life as an artist in an increasingly corporatised sector: where competition is valued over collaboration, and public art is treated as a product to be procured rather than a commitment to a creative, culturally significant community. Despite this, or perhaps more accurately, in reflection of what creativity means to me, this work also comes from a place of hope, of positivity, and of a love of the absurd, the cheeky, and the fun.

In composing this work, I routinely found myself coming back to the words of Te Whanganui-a-Tara based art historian, curator and gallery director, Christina Barton:

Let’s complement “innovation” – that buzzword of neo-liberal thinking – with concepts of “care”, “maintenance” and “repair”. We have a rich and constantly evolving culture; history is being made everyday. We need help to keep track, take stock, reflect, offer new insights, if the creative outputs of artists are to mean anything.

The edge of the sea
(2020)

soprano, violin, bassoon, bass clarinet, cello, piano
7 minutes

Performed and recorded at the Composers Association of New Zealand Nelson Composers Workshop 2020 by Barbara Paterson (sop), Mark Menzies (vln), Gabriel Baird (bsn), Leah Thomas (bcl), Charley Davenport (vc), Gabriela Glapska (pno).Recording and editing by Josh Braden.

Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring is recognized as one of the most influential books of the twentieth century and exposes the destruction of wildlife through the widespread use of pesticides. Although met with condemnation and attempts to ban the book by the media and chemical industry, her work succeeded in creating a new public awareness of the environment. Her earlier works The Sea Around Us, The Edge of the Sea, and Under the Sea Wind, also discuss ecology, conservation, and human impacts on the environment, with a focus on ocean life from the shores to the depths. Carson’s work, especially Silent Spring, is credited with helping to launch the environmental movement, with her combination of scientific understanding and poetic writing succeeding in reaching a broad audience.

Carson faced a myriad of dissenting rhetoric. Eco feminist scholars argue that much of this criticism was gendered in an attempt to paint her as hysterical, but also done because her arguments challenged the capitalist production of large argi-business corporations. Carson fought fiercely for political recognition of the impact of human use of chemicals on ecology. She was also a passionate advocate for conservation, environmental education, adventure and exploration.

This composition draws from text from a collection of Carson’s works. It explores simultaneous existence of beauty and wonder in the world, alongside the terrible, unpalatable fact that we – humans, who rely on, stand in awe in the beauty of, and claim to control and have responsibility over the world – are quickly and horrifically destroying our planet. This work does not aim to reflect Carson’s voice. Rather, I aim to highlight the beautiful, wonderful nature of our world, alongside the sugarcoated, terrible realities that capitalist thinking and action has on our planet – drawing from Carson’s text to do so. The confused, overwhelmed, bordering on hysterical climax of this piece is not a representation of Carson; it is a reflection of the flailing, maniacal, capitalist approach which values nature as a commodity to be used and abused by humans.

The title of this piece, the Edge of the Sea, of course alludes to one of Carson’s works. But I chose this title because of a future it represents. The edge of the sea of course, is strange and beautiful, as Carson wrote. But this idea of the edge of the sea also reflects our current precarious relationship with our environment: on the edge of an irreversible catastrophe, starting with our oceans, and severely impacting our entire planet.

‘A’ is for apple
(2019)

soprano, violin, cello, piano, percussion
5 minutes

Performed at the Composers Association of New Zealand Nelson Composers Workshop 2019 by Barbara Paterson (sop), Keir GoGwilt (vn), Jack Hobbs (vc), Gabriela Glapska (pno), Justin DeHart (perc), Alex Taylor (conductor). Recording thanks to Phil Brownlee.