WATER PUSHES SAND Set for Arts Centre Melbourne

Composer Erik Griswold and the Australia Art Orchestra team up with all-star musicians and performers of Sichuan, China to create a colourful collage of winds, piano and percussion in Water Pushes Sand at Arts Centre Melbourne on 9 and 10 October.

Water Pushes Sand, produced by Insite Arts, is a major new musical work that sees virtuosic Chinese and Australian musicians reinvigorate the endangered music of China's Sichuan Province and in doing so, create an entirely new sound world.

The ten-piece big band fuses traditional Sichuan melodies and rhythms with modern jazz improvisation to create a wild intercultural celebration.

With dramaturgy and direction from Tamara Saulwick (Pin Drop, Endings, Chamber Made Opera), and video shot on location in Chengdu, Water Pushes Sand evokes the tea-houses, streets, and the rivers of Sichuan. On stage the musicians wear the brightly coloured traditional masks of Sichuan Opera as they explore the changing faces of Chinese and Australian culture.

The Australian Art Orchestra, led by artistic director Peter Knight, is renowned for creating work that merges musical styles and cultures in a thrilling way. Erik Griswold, Vanessa Tomlinson and members of the ensemble have been travelling to Sichuan for 15 years and their collaborations have produced three large scale shows - Chengdu Streetsongs, Sichuan Fantasy, and The Wide Alley - that have toured in China, Australia, Canada and New Zealand.

Eclectic composer-pianist Erik Griswold fuses experimental, jazz and world music traditions to create works of striking originality. Specialising in prepared piano, percussion and toy instruments, he has created a musical universe all his own that is "sincere" (neural.it), "playful" (igloo magazine), "colourful and refreshingly unpretentious" (Paris Transatlantic).

Since the late 1980s Griswold has composed new works for many adventurous performers in the U.S. and Australia, which have been performed in venues such as Carnegie Hall, Sydney Opera House, and Cafe Oto (London). A recipient of the prestigious Australia Council Fellowship in Music, his works can be heard on Mode Records, Room40, Move, Clocked Out, and Innova.

Since the late 1980s he has composed solo and chamber works for many adventurous performers in the U.S. and Australia, such as Margaret Leng Tan, Steven Schick, Either/Or Ensemble, Southern Cross Soloists, red fish blue fish, Speak Percussion, and many others. His music has been performed at numerous major festivals and venues throughout Australia, USA, Asia, and Europe.

"(A) mesmerizing performance. Tuned gongs and ethnic hand percussion blended with erhu, flutes, piano, brass and bass for a sound that was both reverential and forward thinking, true world music without the baggage of commercial labelling..." - John Kelman, All About Jazz, on The Wide Alley

Water Pushes Sand

7.30pm, 9 and 10 October
Fairfax Studio, Arts Centre Melbourne
Tickets from $36. Full price $45

Includes post-concert Q&A with members of the Australian Art Orchestra and the Sichuan Ensemble (with translator) and free workshops also available at MPavilion on Saturday 10 October.
Bookings: artscentremelbourne.com.au or 1300 182 183

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