Music, She Wrote
Mother memory
March 20-22
Tempo Rubato
Program & tickets
Concert 1: Mother Lines
Wed 20 march
Moirai Ensemble
Women are the origin of song. A mother’s communication with her baby is musical, it is our instinct, it is in our DNA. Our song is soothing and healing, a voice before language, an intimate lullaby. We hold these songs in us, the vibrations of our ancestral mothers echoing through generations since the beginning of humankind. They are documented in our systems, not in our textbooks. We are the archive, the melodies our inheritance.Moirai presents a journey back through the mother lines, starting in the present day exploring cultural perceptions of the self and the daughter. From here, we step deeper back through time, traversing folk music from the British Isles and ancient Western art forms, from the 17th through to the 9th century, until we arrive at the powerful simplicity of the lullaby.Program includes works by Leilehua Lanzilotti, Alice Chance, Mary Dering, Vittoria Alleotti, Madalena Casulana, Beatriz de Dia, Kassia, and traditional women’s songs.
Concert 2: The Wave in the mind
Thu 21 march
Mindy Meng Wang, Helen Svoboda & Katie Yap
Her work
is with letters,
with secret letters.
Letters that were not written
for generations.
She must write them
over, and over, and over.
(Ursula Le Guin, The Writer On, And At, Her Work)
The Wave In the Mind brings three of Melbourne’s most exciting musicians together in an evening of improvisation and musical storytelling. Helen Svoboda (jazz/contemporary double bass & voice), Mindy Meng Wang (traditional Chinese/contemporary guzheng) and Katie Yap (baroque/contemporary viola & voice) are each known for their genre-bending practice and their compelling performances. Improvisation is often defined as live creation, but it leans on memory, shaped and woven in the moment. Through solo, duo, and trio works and improvisations, Helen, Mindy, and Katie bring their diverse musical and cultural backgrounds together to remember something beautiful, astounding, and new.
Concert 3: The Phoenix and the QUeen
Fri 22 march
Latitude 37
Baroque music mavens Latitude 37 delve into memories of music from the past by a doomed queen, a brilliant nun and a child prodigy who blossomed as a gifted composer. Complemented by new music created through a 17th-century filter by Brooke Green, The Phoenix and the Queen shares music by Ann Boleyn, Isabella Leonarda and Elisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre with the dulcet and delicate sounds of the baroque violin, viola da gamba and harpsichord.
About
Music, She wrote
Presented by 3MBS and led by Artistic Director Katie Yap, Music, She Wrote is a festival celebrating women in music. Since its inception in 2021, we have proudly presented the finest local chamber musicians in diverse programs of classical, jazz, and folk music by female composers. It is our mission to tell women's stories in our own voices, and to show that inclusion never has to mean settling for second best.In 2024 Music, She Wrote contemplates memory. The Ancient Greek goddess Mnemosyne was the mother of all the muses and was worshipped not only in her role as mother but in her own right–in oral traditions, without memory, there is nothing. Even now that written literature is the norm, memory is still crucial to knowing who we are, both individually and as a society. Memory gives us the power to see the past and consciously make change. This is what we aspire to do with Music, She Wrote.While women may not be a minority in terms of numbers in our society, our music is seriously under-represented, especially in Western classical and jazz concerts. Music, She Wrote will continue to champion the stories we tell and the music we make, until a festival celebrating women in music seems as ridiculous as one celebrating men - until it is only a distant memory.
3MBS
3MBS Melbourne 103.5FM is an inclusive and innovative community broadcaster that strives for the highest quality in programming and presenting of classical music, and in supporting and promoting local artists and performances. The station delivers a diverse range of classical, jazz and genre-related programs to over 170,000 weekly listeners, 24 hours a day on three bands:103.5FM, 3MBS Digital and online.3MBS is a not-for-profit community broadcaster that does not receive operational government funding. Revenue is generated primarily through private giving, Trusts and Foundations, sponsorship, subscriptions, and live performances. The team consists of a small number of paid staff and approximately 200 dedicated volunteers who work to ensure the station’s operations for the benefit of the community.
Katie Yap
Born in Brisbane, and based in Melbourne for over 10 years, Katie is known for her deeply personal performances as a modern and baroque violist; and a flair for thoughtful, narrative-driven, engaging programs as a curator. She believes deeply that the classical canon deserves to expand to include music of the highest quality by people who don't quite fit the standard mould. Music, She Wrote celebrates the female and gender diverse composers and performers whose music is no less deserving of an audience than Bach and Beethoven.Katie is the 2022 Freedman Fellow, a 2023 Musica Viva Australia Futuremaker, and a 2024 ANAM Emerging Performer Fellow. She is curator, co-composer and performer in her recent project multitudes, exploring collaborative composition, improvisation, and the bird poems of Judith Wright. She is also Co-Artistic Director of baroque/folk/contemporary group Wattleseed Ensemble.Her great love is chamber music, and she is a founding member of prog-baroque quartet Croissants & Whiskey and Gryphon Baryton Trio; the newest member of Van Diemen's Fiddles, and she plays regularly with other chamber ensembles around the country. Amongst other large ensembles, she plays with Van Diemen's Band, the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Australian Chamber Orchestra, Australian World Orchestra, and Melbourne Chamber Orchestra.
Contact
Phone: (03) 9416 1035