‘Forage’ is a site-specific performance of music and sounds for Montse Gallego‘s ‘The Floating Forest’ exhibition at Hundred Years Gallery. Join us at the gallery on Friday 27th September for sonic interpretations of artwork, improvisations and works for winds.
Curated by Phoebe Bognár
Pieces by Kaija Saariaho, Evan Ziporyn, Karlin G Love, Elizabeth Shearon, Phoebe Bognár and Emily Shapiro.
|| Emily Shapiro || [ bass clarinet ]
Emily Shapiro is a bass clarinet and clarinet player dedicated to exploring and creating new music. Originally from Canada, Emily pursued her studies across the country, at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver Academy of Music, Concordia University and the Domaine Forget academy. She has had many incredible teachers, most notably Lori Freedman in Montreal. Emily has a special love for the sound and scope of bass instruments and constantly pushes the limits of what she can do on bass clarinet.
Alongside performing contemporary music on bass clarinet, Emily is involved in many other musical endeavours. Composing and improvising are central to her career, and she has been an active performer of Balinese gamelan for 10 years and has also explored jazz, klezmer, rock and electroacoustics. She is always seeking out new artistic experiences to enrich and motivate her work.
She is a proud member of Duo Arasari, the London Improviser’s Orchestra, the Corner Quartet and Lila Cita and has performed all over London, including iklectik, Café Oto, Hundred Years Gallery, LSO St Luke’s, the Vaults festival, the Barbican and many more. She founded and manages the Mellifera arts platform, a monthly interdisciplinary arts performance event.
Outside of music, Emily loves gardening, running, drinking whisky and making friends with animals.
|| Jess Hort || [ clarinet ]
Jess grew up in Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia and began playing the clarinet at the age of twelve. After graduating from from The Illawarra Grammar School in 2012, Jess relocated to Melbourne to undertake a Bachelor of Music at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music, where she studied the clarinet with musician, composer and educator Paul Dean.
In 2015, Jess attended the Australian International Symphony Orchestra Institute in Hobart, Tasmania, and soon after moved to Brisbane to complete her postgraduate studies at the Queensland Conservatorium, Griffith University. In 2016 she founded the extremely successful orchestral training program ‘Symphony In A Day’ and coordinated 12 projects over the next 2.5 years. She also embarked on international tours with the Australian International Opera Company, and as principal clarinettist with the Queensland Youth Orchestra.
Jess has performed as a soloist with the Brisbane Concert Orchestra and the Indooroopilly Chamber Orchestra, and has had engagements with the Queensland Pops Orchestra, Queensland Chamber Orchestra, Victorian Opera and Queensland Symphony Orchestra. Jess moved to London in July of last year and has since performed with the Orion Orchestra at the Music Festival of Aberystwyth in Wales, toured to China with Australian International Productions, and recently completed an Assistant Coordinator role with Into Opera, helping launch the inaugural Into Opera Festival in Norwich.
|| Phoebe Bognár || [ flutes ]
Phoebe Bognár is an Australian-born flutist, composer and improviser. Her approach to music is sewn with vibrancy and diversity, and explores a diverse range of genres, repertoire and styles.
Phoebe is equally at home in both notated and improvised music, and enjoys exploring the unique interaction between the flute and human voice. She has been a featured artist in concerts, festivals and exhibitions notably the Bang on a Can Summer Festival (MASS MoCA, United States). Musiikin Aika Time of Music Festival (Viitasaari, Finland), Nief-Norf Summer Music Festival (Knoxville, Tennessee), the Tyalgum Music Festival (New South Wales, Australia), New Sounds Brisbane, Unbound Flute Festival and Mirroring Minjerribah (Queensland, Australia).
She has performed and worked alongside several established artists including Ken Thomson, Gregg August, Brad Lubman, Michael Gordon, Steve Beresfod, Anne LeBaron, Simone de Haan, Erkki Veltheim and Tim Munro and ensembles including as The London Improvisers Orchestra, Ecosono, Clocked Out Duo and Cadenza Chamber Players. She has been part of several chamber ensembles including Electrickery and the Strážná Věž Trio which received an honourable mention in the 2017 4MBS Chamber Prize.
As a composer, Phoebe experiments with traditional notation, graphic scores, site-specific composition and installations. Her works have been played by various artists in events and venues including the Queensland Conservatorium New Music Ensemble, Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University, Nief-Norf Summer Festival ‘Norf-Space’ (Knoxville, Tennessee), and in the Mirroring Minjerribah exhibition (Brisbane, Australia). She holds a passion for expanding musical horizons through performing new works and collaborating with composers from diverse backgrounds. She has performed several world-premiers to date, including works by Elizabeth Shearon, Darian Donovan Thomas, Sophia Jani, Soo Yeon Lyuh, Matīss Čudars, Gerard Brophy, Catherine Likhuta, Julian Day and Jasmin Leung.
