Water | Wai | Woda – Flutes & Electroacoustics @ WINTEC, Hamilton, New Zealand
Flutists Tessa Brinckman and Adrianna Lis perform music for multiple flutes and electronics on the theme of water as a cultural and elemental life force.
The concert opens with Disco Birds for two piccolos by Tuukka Jokilehto, a lively piece dancing in cross-rhythms and bird-like conversation. Manaia (I), by Ben Hoadley, was inspired by paintings of Auckland artist Natalie Couch, where manaia are supernatural guides, which in this piece have taken on the form of moths. Abby Pinkerton’s A long way from home for flute & electroacoustics was inspired by an Alison Hale painting, and the music uses Polish lullaby and folk dance to depict a Polish family leaving their homeland to settle in New Zealand. Five Seconds To Realize is a fusion of some of composer Randall Woolf’s favorite things in music: turntable-as-instrument, baroque counterpoint, hip hop beats and blues, and this flute duo version was created for Tessa Brinckman & Adrianna Lis. Hüzün Nar was inspired by Tessa Brinckman’s visit to modern and historic Istanbul, and is performed with live alto flute over a contemporary groove with electronic patches and manipulated flute recordings to give a sense of where Istanbul has been, and where it is going, alongside Tessa Brinckman’s short-short essay, Descent. Jeremy Mayall’s world premiere of his flute, piccolo, alto, bass flutes & mixed media piece, Water | Wai | Woda is a sonic exploration of the experience of being one with water – how vital it is to human existence.