In Flesh
for cello & electronics
Composed for Hamish Jamieson
First performance: 30 Nov 2021
Performed at the ANAM Set Festival by
Hamish Jamieson (cello)
This ANAM Set commission was generously supported by the Restart Investment to Sustain and Expand (RISE) Fund – an Australian Government initiative
Program note:
In Flesh is a work about body, contact and tactility.
The composition and electronics take on a Frankenstein-esque approach composed entirely from samples of the cello; field recordings of Hamish, which are stripped down, taken apart and put back together. There is a gestural persistence and compulsiveness in the work, a desire for sound to envelop, enter, leak or seep through, to completely embody one's own skin.
About the composer:
Kitty Xiao is an Australian composer, electronic musician and pianist. Kitty’s works are fascinated by the physicality of sound, the movement of sound, and interaction with sound as a living object. Central to her aesthetic is a search for unity in contemporary culture, human psyche, art and machine. Her music moves between the world of concert music to performing as an electronic artist of experimental noise and dance music. Working closely with analog synthesis has greatly informed her attraction to the visceral qualities of sound, sensation and spontaneity in music. Both practices often explore high polarities and extremities, process and perception, vulnerability and imperfection. Her music is represented by the Australian Music Centre and she is the current recipient of the 2020 Belle S. Gitelman Award, 2019 Howard Hanson Large Ensemble Prize and is an Alfred Kitchin scholar. Kitty’s music has been performed in Australia, Europe, and North America. Upcoming/recent performances include: Sarasota Orchestra, Switch~ Ensemble, OSSIA New Music, line upon line percussion, Transient Canvas, Panoramic Voices, Orlando Contemporary Chamber Orchestra, SoCal Synth Society, Modular World, Odds and Ends, Melbourne Composer's League. Upcoming/recent composer residencies include: International Darmstadt School, SICPP at the New England Conservatory, line upon line percussion, Red Note New Music Festival, American Composer’s Orchestra Earshot, Yarn/Wire Institute. Kitty holds a Master of Music (Composition) from the Eastman School of Music, Master of Music (Performance) from Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, Master of Teaching and Bachelor of Music from the University of Melbourne.
More info: www.kittyxiaomusic.com
Photo by Alex Clemens