A groundbreaking new performance will change the way audiences experience orchestral music this August, with Orchestra Victoria and Newmarket Collective presenting Across Silence, Australia’s first orchestral work to combine Auslan poetry, live chamber music and vibro-tactile technology in one shared experience.
Presented at Blackwood Box, Meat Market on Saturday 8 August, Across Silence has been created for both d/Deaf and hearing audiences, bringing together Deaf artists Walter Kadiki and Marnie Kerridge with composer and pianist Andrea Keller, vocalist Gian Slater, conductor Nick Buc, and musicians from Orchestra Victoria and Newmarket Collective.
At the heart of the performance is innovative vibro-tactile haptic technology developed by Music: Not Impossible, allowing music to be experienced physically through vibrations. Kadiki and Kerridge will perform wearing haptic vests, body packs and wrist and ankle bands that translate live sounds into vibrations across 24 points of the body, creating a detailed physical interpretation of the orchestra in real time.
Audience members will also have the opportunity to experience the technology during the performance, offering a new way to connect with music beyond traditional listening.
The program features Little Fledgling #2, a newly commissioned composition by Kadiki and Keller that explores vibration as a central part of the creative process. Developed through collaboration between the artists, the work allows Kadiki to feel each note as it is played and respond through live improvisation with the piano.
Kerridge will also bring Auslan interpretation to poetry by W.B. Yeats, E.E. Cummings, Sara Teasdale and Walt Whitman, accompanied by newly orchestrated selections from Keller’s Still Night album.
Across Silence marks the first collaboration between Orchestra Victoria and Newmarket Collective, creating a powerful exploration of how orchestral music can be created, performed and experienced.
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ickets for Across Silence are on-sale now, and available here.
