‘Australian Gold and Opal all in one’

That’s how composer Euan Moseley described pianist-composer-teacher,  Wendy Hiscocks at her intense three-day composer-in-residency at this year’s Chetham’s School of Music Summer Course.  

Here is Polly Moran’s review of all the activities…

Murray McLachlan’s fascination with contemporary music never ceases. Once again he has pushed beyond familiar boundaries with his recent recording of the complete piano sonatas by West Australian composer Geoffrey Allen, and his recent invitation to Australian composer Wendy Hiscocks to be this year’s composer-in-residence.

Wendy’s residency began with performances of her own piano music on 27 June. She was joined by the exceptionally talented Chetham’s piano tutor Lauryna Sableviciute (pictured above) to perform her duets Explorer goes East recently published by Revolution Arts:

Piano solos Piper at the Gates of Dawn, Rainforest Toccata, and Fire Haze at Gerringong (Wirripang) fleshed out the programme, interspersed by a screening of her own edited video of Songline for cello and piano. Atmospheric, and making full use of contrasting textures to the maximum, her evocative music commands a backdrop of silence, where every note speaks, and the colours are jewel-like.

A live performance of her piano score for the 1903 silent film Alice in Wonderland commissioned by the British Film Institute Archive concluded this varied and colourful introduction to her world of composition.

McLachlan then took 45 piano students beyond the Manchester school walls to perform to the public at Forsyth’s piano showroom…

Two days of hard work with the composer yielded student interpretations of not only her piano solo music, but her piano duets, a genre she loves well, and they even formed a choir conducted by Claire Campbell Smith for her Four Portuguese Songs – folk songs for unison choir with a challenging piano duet accompaniment that lifted the simple melodies to new heights. You had to admire the fearlessness and energy with which the younger pianists, some aged only eight years, tackled the virtuosic writing. 

Two teams of duettists performing on two grand pianos side by side performed eight short duets from Explorer, the first book in an ongoing series – also published by Revolution Arts.

Older students performed the more demanding piano solos including a beautiful interpretation of Lanterns on Lake Illawarra featuring a persistent rumba rhythm unifying a watery scene reflecting hundreds of gas lanterns under a full moon. Tarantella received a brilliant performance depicting the wild dance of the solar wind through the stars. All in all, both events proved enjoyable and stimulating for all the pianists who took part.