NEW ALBUM  | Hatch (2018)

Hatch, a collection of solo piano compositions and improvisations born out of Barry's PhD at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, is out now on Rattle Records, and available through Bandcamp opposite or rattlerecords.net.

Rattle Records and Steve Garden have been launching NZ music onto the map since 1991, and I'm over the moon to be joining the family - not to mention sharing some illustrious company alongside the likes of John Psathas, Michael Houston, Mike Nock, Jazzgroove Mothership Orchestra, Jonathan Crayford, Hayden Chisholm, Roger Manins, Mark Lockett, Reuben Bradley, and the list goes on!

 

NEW ALBUM  | Blueprints & Vignettes (2018)

Blueprints & Vignettes is out now on Earshift Music/MGM!

A product of Barry’s doctoral portfolio in composition at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, Blueprints & Vignettes emerged from an extended period of investigating melodic and harmonic systems borrowed from contemporary classical music and their synthesis with the jazz vernacular. The music dances between intricate compositions and free improvisation in an exploration of harmonic hues and the spontaneous re-imagination of pre-set structures. 

The album features a stellar ensemble of Sydney-based improvisers in Jeremy Rose (alto & bass clarinet), Max Alduca (bass) and Dave Goodman (drums).

Blueprints & Vignettes can be previewed using the player opposite, and purchased through Bandcamp.

 

Download a press kit here.

Orbiturtle is a not-for-profit arts organisation that aims to foster a growing global community of musicians and artists by offering a platform for the sharing of ideas and arts practices. Formed in partnership with Australian saxophonist Dave Jackson and Japanese drummer/tabla player Ko Omura in 2014, Orbiturtle seeks to curate new collaborations between artists from across the Asia-Pacific region and establish a medium for the intersection of eastern and western art and philosophy.

Orbiturtle Meets Michiyo Yagi (2018)

Orbiturtle's most recent collaboration features koto virtuoso and experimental improviser Michiyo Yagi and emerging bassist/cellist Takashi Sugawa, and took place over three days in residence at the Joganji Buddhist temple in Osaka, in January 2017.

The products of the collaboration, an album of free collective improvisations, is set for release in the first half of 2018. The music itself is an uncannily vivid reflection of both the personalities of the performers and the chilly snow scattered setting of the temple; sections of fragile minimalism evoke the monochrome landscape of the Japanese countryside in winter, while loud and chaotic periods pay homage to the disturbing deities and kabuki-style masks of Japanese surrealism and theatre.

This project was generously funded by a Australian Council for the Arts Development Grant.

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Hatch (2018)

Hatch is a collection of 19 solo piano works that explores the broad yet fluid spectrum between composed and improvised, and which formed the basis of my PhD portfolio. The music reflects influences from the diverse milieu of piano music that I’ve played over the years, and in which I’ve found inspiration as a composer and improviser; echoes of Bach, Debussy, Bartok, Hindemith, Stravinsky, Schoenberg and Elliot Carter can be heard alongside freely improvised extrapolations of the notated scores.

I'm happy to announce the launch of Hatch through the New Zealand-based contemporary music label Rattle Records.