Australia Council Fellowship Application

2023

Support Material - Audio Examples

  1. Contain

  2. Outernational

  3. Lorenzaccio

1. C O N T A I N


Simon James Phillips uses music as a methodology to question the imposition of dominant systems (incl. social, political and economic structures) that dictate modes of being. His approach emphasizes the emancipatory potential of music as a medium for facilitating alternative strategies to organisation and expression. In response to the theme CONTAIN: Sensations of Getting Lost, Phillips uses collaborative composition to activate processes of communal agency and autonomy. Together with the musicians of both Ensemble Resonanz and the Hong Kong New Music Ensemble, he guided shared creative processes to develop five modules – non-notated musical and sound material with flexible but clear parameters - that can be played in various ways during performance. Each module is triggered in a manner that is unpredictable to the musicians, who must then play and adapt to fit within the environment around them. Choices such as dynamics, tempi, articulation, and timbre need to be communicated and executed in real time whilst being sensitive to other inputs occurring in the space - such as video projections, performances of other repertoire, playback of interviews, field recordings, and the recorded modules from the absent ensemble (in this case the Hong Kong New Music Ensemble).

2. O U T E R N A T I O N A L

Simon was invited by Dramaturg Eliza Erkelenz to create a collaborative composition for the Outnational project for the PODIUM Festival in Esslingen. For the work, Simon worked with four Persian musicians – Elshan Ghasimi (Tar and voice), Mona Matbau Riahi (clarinet and voice), Golnar Shahyar (voice) and Jawad Salkhordeh (Tonbak, Percussion and voice) with Simon playing diffusing sound recordings through a four channel system. The work is a rich collage of traditional Persian songs and instrumental improvisation, recited text, birdcalls and field recordings. Each musician was placed in a corner of an intimate performance space with the audience seated on stools between the musicians. 

3. LORENZACCIO

Director Nora Schlocker created a version of Alfred de Musset's LORENZACCIO for the Schauspielhaus Bochum. For this work Simon James Phillips worked with a quartet of early music singers, Die Kölner Vokalsolisten, teaching them to improvise in various styles.