Mungangga Garlagula
Presented as part of Magic Realism at CIMF
8pm, 1-2 May
Presented by Tura, Canberra International Music Festival and The Street Theatre
Magic Realism Program
Part One
O Spectabiles Viri (15 Minutes)
Hildegard von Bingen arr. Erkki Veltheim
O Spectabiles Viri (O men of sight—what a sight!) is a significant work composed by one of the most prominent women in medieval church history and the first identifiable composers in western music, Hildegard von Bingen. It combines soaring melodies with rich harmonies and showcases her ability to convey profound emotional depth through music. In this performance we depart from the original male choir version to hear a contemporary and magical reinterpretation of the work by soprano Jane Sheldon arranged by Mungangga Garlagula co- creator Erkki Veltheim.
Interval
Part Two
Mungangga Garlagula (70 Minutes)
Co-Created and Performed by Mark Atkins and Erkki Veltheim
Mungangga Garlagula is a collaboration in music, sound and story by legendary Indigenous performer Mark Atkins and renownedAustralian/Finnish composer and performer Erkki Veltheim.
Audiences are invited to join Mark by the "campfire", and to travel with him as he takes us across the border between day and night, dream and reality, the reverberating past and the emerging future.
Together with a company of exceptional Australian musicians who have created a shifting bed of sound for the work, Mark and Erkki lead us into a nocturnal world of memories, echoes, spirits and dreams. Mungangga Garlagula is an evening of rich storytelling and didjeridu that restores the experience of listening with the whole body.
|
Thu, 1 May, 2025 8:00pm |
Mungangga Garlagula $70 General Admission, $65 Concession, $35 35 & Under, $18 18 & Under, $65 CIMF Members |
Canberra The Street Theatre |
Get Tickets |
|
Fri, 2 May, 2025 8:00pm |
Mungangga Garlagula $70 General Admission, $65 Concession, $35 35 & Under, $18 18 & Under, $65 CIMF Members |
Canberra The Street Theatre |
Get Tickets |
Mungangga Garlagula | Co Created and Performed by Mark Atkins and Erkki Veltheim
Mark Atkins | Co-creator and Director
Acknowledged as one of Australia’s finest didjeridu players, Mark Atkins is also recognised internationally for his collaborative projects with some of the world’s leading composers and musicians. A descendant of Western Australia’s Yamitji people, as well as of Irish/Australian heritage, Mark is known not only for his masterly playing, but also as a storyteller, composer, percussionist, visual artist and instrument maker. Mark has performed alongside and composed with artists such as Led Zeppelin, Jimmy Page and Robert Plant, Sinead O’Connor, Philip Glass, Donald Lunney, Ornette Coleman, Peter Sculthorpe, the Blind Boys of Alabama, Gondwana, Jenny Morris, John Williamson, James Morrison, and the Australian Chamber Orchestra (ACO). He is a founding member of Black Arm Band.
Erkki Veltheim | Co-creator
Erkki Veltheim is an Australian/Finnish composer and performer. His practice spans noise, audiovisual installation, improvisation, notated music, electroacoustic composition, pop arrangements and cross-disciplinary performance. Erkki has been commissioned by the Adelaide Festival, Vivid Festival, Australian Art Orchestra, Sydney Symphony Orchestra and Musica nova Helsink and composed the orchestral works for celebrated Australian indigenous musician Gurrumul's posthumous album Djarimirri.
O Spectabiles Viri by Hildegrard von Bingen
Arranged by Erkki Veltheim and Performed by Jane Sheldon
Jane Sheldon | Soprano
Jane Sheldon is an Australian-American vocal performer. Her latest album is I am a tree, I am a mouth (“conceptually brilliant… a vocal and compositional triumph, beautifully realised with splendid restraint” - Limelight Magazine). The release was listed in the New Yorker’s Notable Recordings of 2022. Her next album, Flowermuscle, is due out early 2025 on Badabing Records.
Praised by the New York Times for singing “sublimely”, the Sydney Morning Herald for “a brilliant tour de force”, and The Australian for “mesmerising emotional truth”, Jane has established an international reputation for highly specialized contemporary opera and art music for voice. She is an Artistic Associate at Sydney Chamber Opera.
Jane’s compositional work includes electronic music, chamber music, opera installations, works for dance companies, and large-scale sound installations for museums. Described as “riveting” (New York Times) and “gripping” (Financial Times), Jane’s compositions focus on the experience of altered or transformative states of being.
Creative Team
Mark Atkins
Co-creator and Director
Erkki Veltheim
Co-creator
Ruth Little
Dramaturge
Niklas Pajanti
Lighting Design
Emily Barrie
Design
Tos Mahoney
Executive Producer
Soundbed Performers (Recorded)
Genevieve Lacey
Recorders
Vanessa Tomlinson
Percussion
Stephen Magnusson
Guitar
Anthony Pateras
Piano and analogue synthesizers
Scott Tinkler
Trumpet
Erkki Veltheim
Violin
Tour Production
Mark Haslam
Production Manager
Guy Smith
Audio Engineer and Production Management
Tristen Parr
Technical Producer
Magic Realism is supported by the Australian Government through Music Australia and Creative Australia, its principal arts investment and advisory body.
This concert is generously supported by Andrew Blanckensee.
Mungangga Garlagula images by Kristian Gehradte. Image of Jane Sheldon by Shaya Bendix Lyon.
Tura acknowledges Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Australians and Traditional Custodians of the lands where we live, learn and create. We pay our respects to Elders past and present. With solidarity and friendship we say thank you.
