Flora Wong | Musician/band
Flora Wong
Reviews
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25.01.2022 I had so much fun on the weekend joining Jaguar Jonze and her band on SBS Eurovision - Australia Decides! That wall drop will never get old... Their upcoming shows are already sold out so make sure you swing them a follow if you want to catch them live! Huge congrats to Montaigne - I can't wait for you to slay in Rotterdam! : Jess Gleeson
25.01.2022 : Natasha Harth
24.01.2022 A huge thank-you to Dan Curro, Michael L. King and Kathryn Allen - we've reached our fundraising target! I'm so grateful to everyone who has supported the project, and super excited that we can start making music. It's going to be the best birthday ever! To celebrate, here's a little snippet of a performance of Ravel's Sonata for Violin and Cello that Dan Curro and I gave as part of my Masters recital at the UQ School of Music in 2012. There are still three days left on the A...CF campaign - while $2000 was the minimum amount of funding we needed to make this Geburtstag happen, any additional funds raised will be split evenly between the composers in recognition of the significance of their contribution to the project and to Australian music. You can still be a part of the wonderful community of people behind the project - visit bit.ly/Geburtstag2019 and donate by this Sunday! See more
22.01.2022 I've had such an incredible weekend in New York! Some highlights: Seeing Pauline Kim Harris play two fantastic sets of new music at The Stone Getting a burger and shake at Shake Shack Exploring the collections at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum... Meeting some of my fellow Bang on a Can Fellows over ramen Wandering through Central Park and catching up with an old school friend Time to squeeze in a little more practice - can't wait to head upstate to North Adams, MA tomorrow for the festival!
22.01.2022 Preparing David Lang's 'prayers for night and sleep" for the Bang on a Can Summer Music Festival at MASS MoCA! I can't wait to begin three weeks of all things new music next week!
21.01.2022 : Connor D'Netto
21.01.2022 CONCERT ANNOUNCEMENT: I'm super excited to be sharing the four new works commissioned through the Geburtstag project with you all on Sunday 27 October at Dots+Loops Presents: Flora Wong and Kieran Welch, alongside my dear friend and constant collaborator Kieran Welch, who'll be launching his solo EP "A Missing Moon". Hope to see you there! Tickets: trybooking.com/BFMEG
20.01.2022 Next Friday night: improv duo set with Luke Cuerel at Kin-Makers 3: subject object!
19.01.2022 If you missed my improvised solo set at Oscillo Scape last year, I've just uploaded the recording to SoundCloud! Huge thanks to Lindsay and the Oscillo Scape family for having me, and to Kit Mason for the live visuals!
19.01.2022 I'm super excited to be taking part in the Australian Art Orchestra's Mentorship Program - I'll be exploring extended violin techniques with a focus on movement as well as sound with composer and guzheng player Mindy Meng Wang! I've been working remotely with composer Kezia Yap on a new work for prepared violin for her project SHARING SPACES, and I can't wait to see what new perspectives these mentorship sessions will bring!
19.01.2022 It's so wonderful to be sharing live music music again - thanks for having us, Bleach Festival!
18.01.2022 Wakey wakey, Reinhardt! No time for sleep-ins - we've got exciting new music to make! A huge thank-you to all of the wonderful people who have supported the Australian Cultural Fund campaign for Geburtstag - it's been an incredible reminder of lucky we all are to be a part of such supportive music and arts communities! Stay tuned for updates as we begin to collaborate with the composers on the ideas that they've been cooking up!
18.01.2022 Well this is something you don't see every day... four custom rosin blends from Leatherwood Bespoke Rosin, one for each of the four pieces commissioned as part of the Geburtstag project! I started using Leatherwood Rosin in February after testing out a few of Andrew's blends, and have really been loving the feel and the sound of the custom blend we settled on. When I told him about this project, he suggested something I'd never even considered - making a specific rosin recipe... for each piece, tailored to the tonal colours and effects needed. As Andrew is a fantastic violinist himself, I sent him the scores so that he could get a feel for the sound world of each composer and create a suitable blend. Each one is a slightly different blend of his "Supple" and "Crisp" recipes, encased in a different Australian timber and wrapped in sustainably sourced deer leather. I can't wait to put them through their paces at the show on Sunday! Grab your tickets for Dots+Loops Presents: Flora Wong and Kieran Welch at trybooking.com/BFMEG!
17.01.2022 In case you missed it: I made my SBS Australia debut last weekend with Jaguar Jonze for Eurovision - Australia Decides 2020! It was a real joy to be a part of the band and the show - props to the SBS Australia and Blink TV co teams for making this massive production run like a dream! You can watch the live performance below - Deena DISLOCATED HER SHOULDER in the first verse but managed to pop it back in without missing a beat and still gave an absolute killer performance!
14.01.2022 A huge thank-you to Brianna Ansaldo of Bamby Media for her donation - less than $350 to go to reach our target and start making music! I'm delighted that composer, musician, sound artist and writer MJ O'Neill has come on board for Geburtstag. I’ve known MJ for over five years and, in that time, I’ve been consistently impressed by her ever-evolving and eclectic creative voice ranging from 20-minute drone pieces and mini-rave freakouts to a cappella hip hop and swirling techno pieces. For Geburtstag, she’ll be writing a work for violin, tape and voice. Given her track record, I have no idea exactly what it’s going to look or sound like but I’m incredibly excited to begin piecing it together. Visit bit.ly/Geburtstag2019 to help us make it happen!
11.01.2022 It's taken me a little while, but the first instalment of my blog is now up on my website! It kicks off a five-part series "Flora Bangs On A Can" about my trip to the US earlier this year to take part in the 2019 Bang on a Can Summer Music Festival. This entry (the "prelude") covers some of my preparations in the lead-up to the festival, and the few days I had to explore New York before heading upstate. Highlights included gallery-hopping, bodega sandwiches and Pauline Kim Harris's fantastic residency at The Stone! I'm going to be deep in prep mode for Dots+Loops Presents: Flora Wong and Kieran Welch over the next couple of weeks, but stay tuned for the next instalment about week one of the festival soon after!
08.01.2022 I'm incredibly grateful to be keeping busy with my Musica Viva Australia family during this time, but I can't help feeling a little bit sad about the hibernation of the wonderful projects with Nonsemble, Tango Enigmático and Vulcana Circus that we had planned for the past few weeks. Hopefully we'll be able to share them with you once we can gather safely again! In the meantime, here's my last performance before we went into social isolation - a live improvised set for viola and alto saxophone with Luke Cuerel, beautifully recorded by Tangible Media at Kin-Makers 3: subject object on Friday 21 February.
08.01.2022 Striding into 2020. : Connor D'Netto
07.01.2022 One year ago today, I premiered four new works for violin that I commissioned Connor D'Netto, Kezia Yap, MJ O'Neill and Chris Perren to write as part of my Geburtstag project to celebrate my Helge Grawert violin's tenth birthday. I couldn't believe how many people chipped in to support the project, and the music that the composers wrote for me was beyond amazing. I'd been making plans to record and release those works this year, but 2020 had other plans. I promise that when a...ll the jigsaw puzzles fall into place, I'll have some incredible sounds to share with you all! : Deb Merton
04.01.2022 "It’s always kinda strange writing for solo violin. It’s the instrument I used to play (...) I guess it’s because I know it. I’d worked out what I like about it, over the many pieces I’ve written with violin in them, I know the way my violin writing sounds, works, my tendencies, my bag of tricks. When writing a solo violin piece, they’re all exposed, a beautiful opportunity to refine my tendencies and ticks, or a beautiful challenge to push myself out of the box I build. I’m ...not sure which of those this piece is." - Connor D'Netto I've been wanting to commission Connor to write a solo violin work for me ever since I played his second String Quartet in 2015 - his string writing is at once familiar yet challenging, exploring the extremes of the instrument's technique to achieve a textural quality and intensity that is riveting. His beautifully typeset scores are also a joy to interpret! Just two sleeps until I get to share all four of the Geburtstag commissions with you all at Dots+Loops Presents: Flora Wong and Kieran Welch - tickets at trybooking.com/BFMEG
03.01.2022 This photo of my violin Reinhardt was taken at Helge Grawert's workshop on July 16th, 2009 - the day I brought him home! He's probably due for a check-up back at the workshop soon, as we've been firing on all cylinders this year with the Bang on a Can Summer Music Festival, Nonsemble performances at GOMA and Extended Play, Helge Quartet performances at Dots+Loops... but before I book him in for some R&R, we have Geburtstag to share with you all next weekend! It's been wonderf...ul seeing the pieces by Connor, MJ, Chris and Kezia take shape over the last few months - I'll be sharing a little bit about each commission over the next few days! Just 10 days to go until Dots+Loops Presents: Flora Wong and Kieran Welch - if you haven't got your ticket yet, grab one at trybooking.com/BFMEG. $15 gets you entry, while $30 gets you entry PLUS a 10" pizza fresh from the oven (limited availability)!
03.01.2022 A little gear flatlay for last night's set with Voltfruit for Oscillo Scape Livestream No.1! : Spur Violins semi-acoustic : Leatherwood Bespoke Rosin custom blend : MacBook Air + Ableton Live : Focusrite Scarlett 2i4... : Keith McMillen Instruments SoftStep2 : Audio-Technica Australia ATH-M50x : CRUMPLER Resident Accessories Pouch : Yeahyeahchloe See more
02.01.2022 This Friday morning, I'll be getting up bright and early to speak on the theme of "Transit" for CreativeMornings/Brisbane. I'll share some thoughts on my journey and creative practice as a musician, educator and curator, and what it means as a creative to inhabit or evoke a state of transition. My earliest memory of being in transit is from when I was three years old, on the plane flight from Hong Kong to Brisbane with my parents, about to make our home as migrants in so-call...ed Australia. What's yours? Register for the Zoom link: https://creativemornings.com/talks/transit-with-flora-wong : Connor D'Netto
01.01.2022 "In composing Heroes, there were a couple of preoccupations I wanted to explore. Firstly, I wanted to offer some small tribute to the people of Brisbane who have shown such a commitment to saving our planet. Secondly, I wanted to provide a broader sense of historical context to the current protests. Finally, I wanted to capture an emotional tenor that was more complex than simply just hope, fear, anxiety or anger." - MJ O'Neill Working on MJ O'Neill's "Heroes (Movements I & I...I)" has been a challenging but immensely rewarding process. It'll be my first time performing a work with live looping and thanks to some great friends and mentors, I've learnt so much in a short space of time about using Ableton and my new KMI SoftStep 2 MIDI controller! Come along this Sunday to Dots+Loops Presents: Flora Wong and Kieran Welch to see me premiere this fantastic piece along with the three other works commissioned through my Geburtstag project, and to celebrate the launch of Kieran Welch's EP "A Missing Moon"! Tickets: $15 at trybooking.com/BFMEG (or $30 if you want a pizza as well!)
01.01.2022 "The entrancing power of a simple steady pulse is to me one of music’s great mysteries. While the metronome is considered by most a tool rather than an instrument, in sonifying the otherwise silently abstract bars and beats, it cannot help but become a player in the music." - Chris Perren Chris Perren's "Escapement" playfully explores the interaction between violin and metronome, embracing the metronome’s inevitable presence in the ecology of musical practice by elevating its... position from tool to instrument. I'm delighted to be joined by Jodie Rottle to perform it on Sunday - Jodie’s work as a composer and improviser explores the sounds of everyday objects alongside traditional instruments, and I don't think I could have found a more perfect duo partner for this piece! This performance is supported by Simply for Strings, who donated the beautiful Wittner metronome that Jodie is playing. Join us at Dots+Loops Presents: Flora Wong and Kieran Welch from 5pm this Sunday at Bib'n'Brace Collective to hear it along with a plethora of incredible new music that Kieran Welch and I have been preparing. Tickets $15 at trybooking.com/BFMEG
01.01.2022 Dots+Loops Nonstop is this Saturday and I'm playing in two very special sets! Figbird (Hannah Reardon-Smith, Loni Fitzpatrick and I) is giving the premiere of Brenda Gifford's new work "Baliya", alongside reinterpretations of music by Thom Yorke, Björk and David Hirschfelder/Katie Noonan - find out more in the lovely CutCommon piece below! We're also stoked to have Ken Thomson out for the festival, and he's joining Cara Tran, Benjamin Shannon and I for Kate Moore (composer)'s... "Fatal Strangers" - which I'm thrilled to be revisiting on my Spur semi-acoustic! Tickets are $25/$35 if you book ahead online at trybooking.com/BGEYA or $30/$40 on the door - hope to see you there!
