China / Australia
George Fairfax New Theatre Award
Premiere
Artists: Jim Atkins, Carolyn Connors, Madeleine Flynn, Guo Si-Cen, Felix Ching Ching Ho, Tim Humphrey, Kang Yan-Long, Bosco Shaw, Anna Tregloan, Wang Shuai, Wang Zheng-Ting, Zhu Hui-Qian.
A Chamber Made Opera work in partnership with Sichuan Conservatory of Music
Co-presented by Castlemaine State Festival and Melbourne Recital Centre for Asia TOPA
Between 8 and 9 is an immersive contemporary performance work that includes voices, electronics and instruments. A collaboration between Melbourne’s Chamber Made Opera and artists from Chengdu’s Sichuan Conservatory of Music, Between 8 and 9 offers a unique and distinctively cross-cultural experience.
Seated around eight tables, audience and performers navigate personal and shared terrains that spring from the minutiae of the intimate and social interactions of teahouse culture. The nuanced space that exists between the number 8 (symbolic of prosperity) and the number 9 (symbolic of spirituality) is explored by three vocalists and five instrumentalists. The performance endeavours to evoke 和 (hé) – a notion of harmony that, in a Chinese musical context, is concerned with how two or more seemingly contradictory entities can co-exist in a state of non-conflict.
“Beautifully judged site-specific work … mysteriously joyous, and profoundly beautiful”
Review of Dwelling Structure (created by Madeleine Flynn and Tim Humphrey for Chamber Made Opera) on Theatrenotes, 2011.“So authentic, so stylish and accomplished … an astonishing triumph”
Review of Wake in the Irish Independent, 2015.“An exceptional creative achievement by Chamber Made Opera”
Review of Another Other on ArtsHub, 2016
This project has been made possible with support from the Australian Government through the Australia Council for the Arts, its arts funding and advisory body, the Ministry for the Arts’ Catalyst—Australian Arts and Culture Fund, the Australia-China Council of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s Cultural Diplomacy Grants Program, and the Victorian Government through Creative Victoria.
Significant development support has been provided by Sichuan Conservatory of Music. Development support was also provided by Darebin Arts. Preliminary planning for this collaboration was enabled with support from the Playking Foundation.
Chamber Made Opera is supported by the Victorian Government through Creative Victoria and the City of Melbourne through the Arts and Culture Triennial Funding and Creative Spaces Programs. This project is supported by the Sidney Myer Fund and by Arts Centre Melbourne through Creative Victoria for Asia TOPA. Asia TOPA is a joint initiative of the Sidney Myer Fund and Arts Centre Melbourne and is supported by the Australian and Victorian Governments.
