Three Phrases
for solo violoncello
Composed for Jack Overall
Performed as part of ANAM 2024 Recitals
This ANAM Set commission was generously supported by the Australian Government through Creative Australia and the Anthony and Sharon Lee Foundation
Program note:
Like most of the time when I’m writing, the title came first, kinda…
The Australian National Academy of Music had paired me up with Jack Overall as part of their ANAM Set commissioning project. In our first chat, a video call squeezed into a slightly chaotic week in early December 2023, we chatted about the usual things that tend to come up when starting on a new piece for someone: what’s your favourite rep, both to play and to listen to, what kinds of non-classical music do you like, any fave pop artists, etc. I posed a question that seemed to make Jack think for a moment: what are you as a player trying to work on? Amongst his response, in my notes I wrote 'longer uninterrupted shapes'.
Back to the title. I’d had the phrase 'a long unwieldy phrase enclosed by parentheses' in the note on my phone where I jot down ideas for quite a while – anyone that knows me well, or has had the distinct displeasure of trying to edit my writing, knows I love a long sentence, a complex structure stringing clause into clause and attempting to encase whole tangent thoughts better suited to a footnote into a parenthesis. So this as a title for something is very me, and it felt like it resonated with those ideas of longer uninterrupted shapes Jack and I had discussed.
Elsewhere in my note I had the phrases 'weird conjugations' and 'punctuated by silence'. Jack and I had thought a suite exploring different facets of an idea over a few movements might be a nice structure, so together these became the starting ideas for Three Phrases: each movement taking some facet of grammar and syntax as a metaphor, a jumping off point, exploring or attempting to create long shapes across complex or unusual structures and without (or in spite of-) interruption.
About the composer:
Connor D'Netto (he/him) has been described as "the model contemporary Australian composer" by ABC Classic FM.
Balancing driving rhythm, heartfelt lyricism drawn from his background in classical voice, a lushly textural approach to orchestration, and the delicate incorporation of electronic music elements, Connor’s work is a constant attempt to bring together sprawling artistic interests, and in doing so, create connections across audiences and communities.
In 2022, Connor’s first opera “The Call”, commissioned by Opera Queensland with libretto by Kate Miller-Heidke, had its premiere season as part of Brisbane Festival. Limelight Magazine described Connor’s score as “captivating, intelligent, theatrical and emotional”. As a result of the opera’s success, The Call was a finalist for the 2023 Work Of The Year: Dramatic category at the APRA Art Music Awards, and Connor was awarded the 2022 Albert H Maggs Award.
In 2021 Connor was the recipient of the APRA AMCOS Professional Development Awards in the Classical/Experimental category. Early in the year, The Australian listed Connor as one of their “21 Hottest Creative Artists of 2021”. His music has been performed by the likes of the LA Philharmonic, commissioned across Australia and abroad, and earned him fellowships with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and New York collective Bang On A Can.
Connor is the Co-Director of Dots+Loops, Australia’s post-genre music and arts series, creating spaces to transcend the barriers that divide genres, artforms, and communities.
Connor graduated from a Master of Music as Tait Trust Scholar at the Royal College of Music in London, and has a Bachelor of Music with First-Class Honours from the University of Queensland, where he currently is an adjunct lecturer.
For more about Connor, visit his website: www.connordnetto.com