Multitudes #4 - Passenger Pigeons

multitudes is a four-concert series at Moonah Arts Centre, showcasing the outcomes of violist Katie Yap’s Freedman Fellowship project. 

It sees her collaborate with four of Australia’s most exciting musicians - not just in performance, but also in composition. Through the joyful process of improvisation and co-composition, she and her collaborators have created four new works, which will see their Lutruwita/Tasmania debuts in this concert series. 

Each based on one of Judith Wright’s exquisite bird poems, these works bring together myriad elements that make up an artist. Each work celebrates a juxtaposition - old/new; human/nature; Chinese/Australian; and folk/classical. This is a classical concert series like no other: come experience the intimacy, warmth, and vitality of these new works and collaborations.

Concert #4 - Passenger Pigeons

This concert sees Katie team up with powerhouse duo Bowerbird Collective, whose mission is to make art for nature and tell stories that strengthen emotional connections to the natural world. With a program juxtaposing city and country through works by Missy Mazzoli, Anne Cawrse, and traditional folk music; it culminates in a very special co-composed work by Bowerbird and Katie, called Lament for Passenger Pigeons, after Judith Wright’s poem of the same name. 

Lament for Passenger Pigeons tells the story of the passenger pigeon, a North American bird once so numerous that flocks would cover the sky like a winged eclipse, but quickly brought to extinction through over-hunting in the early 1900s. Using transcriptions of its unusual call by behavioural scientist Wallace Craig as thematic material, cinematic soundscapes, and the emotional journey of Judith Wright’s poem from anger and mourning to hope, it is a truly transporting experience.