Australian Art Orchestra
Meeting Points featuring Hyelim Kim (taegum – Korean flute), Simon Barker (drums), and Peter Knight (trumpet/electronics)
Straight from JazzFest Berlin, the Australian Art Orchestra brings an intimate experience of its Meeting Points Series to The Vortex.
Renowned for breathing new life into the taegum (Korean flute), Hyelim Kim will perform both traditional Korean compositions as well as her own contemporary works joined by renowned Australian jazz drummer Simon Barker, and Australian Art Orchestra (AAO) Artistic Director Peter Knight on trumpet and electronics.
Meeting Points explores the fusion of traditional Korean sounds, percussive rhythms, electro-acoustic textures and experimental jazz nuances in this special one-off performance.
The Australian Art Orchestra’s work constantly seeks to stretch genres and break down the barriers separating disciplines, forms and cultures. It explores the interstices between the avant-garde and the traditional, between art and popular music, between electronic and acoustic approaches, and creates music that traverse the continuum between improvised and notated forms.
A review from our recent Melbourne concert:
“The concert began with a solo performance by Korean musician Hyelim Kim, a proponent of the taegŭm, a large bamboo flute. Her delicate sound danced and fluttered in mesmerising fashion, making the most of the instrument’s broad palette, which ranges from gentle birdsong to harsh buzzing in the upper register…
it was a high-wire act, demanding that the musicians open themselves to new rhythmic possibilities, giving generously of their own traditions, and selflessly incorporating others. The resulting music – which overlaid contemporary dissonance onto age-old song – reflected a singular intensity born out of musical friendship and respect.” 4.5 Stars Australian Book Review
Australian Art Orchestra
The Australian Art Orchestra imagines new musical forms to reflect the energy and diversity of contemporary Australia. Now in its 25th year and led by prolific composer, trumpeter, sound artist, Peter Knight, the ensemble features some of Australia’s most celebrated improvising musicians and collaborates with other musicians and artists from around the world, including recently Bae Il Dong (Korea), Nicole Lizée (Canada), Keiichiro Shibuya (Japan) and Alvin Lucier (USA). The ensemble tours regularly both locally and internationally, most recently to London Jazz Festival and Jazztopad (Poland) 2018, and has won numerous awards for its diverse range of collaborations. www.aao.com.au
Peter Knight trumpet/electronics
Peter Knight is a Melbourne based trumpeter/composer/sound artist and Artistic Director of AAO, who has gained wide acclaim for his distinctive approach, which integrates jazz, experimental, and world music traditions. Peter’s work as both performer and composer is regularly featured in a range of ensemble settings, he also composes for theatre, creates sound installations.
Perpetually curious, Peter’s practice defies categorisation; indeed he works in the spaces between categories, between genres, and between cultures: “Hard to categorise… hauntingly memorable” The Wire (UK). “Falling into an utterly genre-less wormhole” Cyclic Defrost. “Honest, inventive and original” Hour Magazine Montreal. “A serious work of stringent originality” BBC Jazz on 3. “If trumpet is an element then Knight is an alchemist” New York City Jazz Record.
Hyelim Kim taegŭm (Korean bamboo flute)
Hyelim Kim is a highly acclaimed artist, both in Korea and abroad. After receiving several prestigious awards as a young artist in Korea, she decided to expand her creative passion to a worldwide audience, and set off for the United Kingdom where she now lives and works. Kim obtained her PhD in ethnomusicology from the University of London, where her dissertation was on the performance-as-research of Korean music. Since then, Kim has collaborated with leading musicians all over the world, recently performing on BBC Radio 3 with Nils Frahm and Ghostpoet as part of Late Junction Sessions. She has also graced the stage at the London Jazz Festival and Omi World Music Concert (New York) using her instrument to promote exchange with a wide-variety of musical cultures.
Simon Barker – drums
Simon Barker (PhD Jazz Performance) is a lecturer in Jazz Studies at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. In addition to his numerous solo performances and recordings, Simon co-leads several internationally recognized collaborative ensembles including Trace Sphere, Chiri, Showa 44, and Band of Five Names. Simon also performs with many of Australia’s most established ensembles including the Australian Art Orchestra, Matt McMahon trio, the Phil Slater Quartet, and several groups led by Scott Tinkler. In 2015, Simon published “Korea and the Western Drumset” (Ashgate, London).