Video Extract-Electric Lenin (2006)
This hour-long Chamber Opera to a libretto by Janis Balodis was premiered in November 2007, starring Jason Barry-Smith (Baritone) and Gaye MacFarlane (Mezzo Soprano). It is scored for full orchestra but in this production electronic instruments were substituted except for live Violin (Shenton Gregory), Guitar (Gerard Mapstone), Flute (Karen Lonsdale) and Trumpet (Clint Allen). This production features visual design (video projections) by Craig Walsh, design by Kathryn Sprout and lighting by David Murray. The director was Patrick Nolan, with Production by NORPA. (see Review section).
In this scene Samuel (Electric Lenin) relives his wife’s death after a long illness, her apparition comforts him but reality returns. (Photo: Janis and Barry on the set)
Video (with score)- Diasporas (2016) for orchestra
In almost every city may be found the striking results of people shifting and spreading across the globe.
Diasporas are a fascinating phenomenon, teeming with millions of individual stories: of separation, departure and loss; of travel, struggle, risk and rejection; of reconnection, safety and new beginnings. This work is an imagined musical journey through some of these experiences, a personal reflection on the process, the emotions, and the dynamics of diasporas.
Whether undertaken through aspiration or coercion, in hope or disappointment, diasporas are rich with possibility. And for this composer they contain the elements, the structure and the emotional trajectory of the piece. The overall atmosphere of this 15-minute work for orchestra is one that expresses the hopes and feelings of the people on the move who continue to reshape our world.
Musically, the work concerns itself with the repetition, or segmenting, of a long, harmonised “theme”, heard close to the beginning, rising and falling in steps of semi-tone and tone, expanding via larger intervals towards the end of its statement.
YouTube
SNOWFLAKE (1973) for keyboards UE 29082
Performed by it’s dedicatee Roger Wardward
SILHOUETTES (2011) Flute and Guitar CoEdition
Performed by Ken Murray (guitar) and Laila Engle (flute)
Silhouette (2011) is based on an earlier withdrawn work for harp (2004) and written for Ken Murray and Laila Engle who gave the first performance at 45 downstairs, Melbourne, 13th December 2012. This performance was recorded at 3MBS in Melbourne.
STREAMS (1988) for flute, harp & viola UE 29350
Performed by Petrachor Trio Rowan Hamwood (flute)
Alexina Hawkins (viola) Jessica Fotinos (harp)
ANZAC(2014) for Nine Soloist and Orchestra
© Barry Conyngham 2023