Yap’s interstellar Black Cockatoos

Katie Yap | Multitudes: Black Cockatoos

November 3, 2023, Tempo Rubato

The opening concert in Katie Yap’s Multitudes is a tour-de-force through history. Joined by Donald Nicolson, the program spans the entire breadth of western music with a viola and a gamut of keyboards. The program is ambitious and showcases the outstanding skill and musicality of Yap and Nicolson, both as individuals but also as a cohesive and communicative musical duo.

Yap introduced the program as being inspired by the meeting points and tensions of old and new, and this was reflected clearly by opening with a suite of historical female composers, with arrangements of works by Hildegard von Bingen, Strozzi, and Caccini, with the von Bingen notably accompanied by a chorus of synths gaining depths not possible or even imagined in her time. (Of course, if anyone in the Middle Ages was imagining a pad of echoing synth fragments during religious texts… it was without a doubt Hildegard von Bingen!)

The highlights of this program were without a doubt the new music premiered, and Stained Glass Sky by Kevin March was the perfect vehicle to take us out of the past and into the present. Canny timbral writing weaving subtle vocal lines into the viola texture was reminiscent of Nicolson’s synths, and took the audience to another realm entirely. The driving first movement had determined minimalist focus, supported by almost neo-romantic interjections in the piano. This all-encompassing soundscape took the audience on an interstellar journey, and ended with an ethereal, glassy, and fragile ending of cautious hope.

The second half of the program brought solid and emotive performances of Britten’s Lachrymae continuing the theme of combining the old and the new, but the true connection shown in the Britten and following Ravel is the musical connection and companionship between Yap and Nicolson. Sensitive and attentive playing, they clearly shared a musical vision and imagery. 

While this capacity audience was a fan of viola in all its forms, it’s safe to say that the audience was first and foremost a fan of Katie Yap. This program came to life the more Yap was free to express her own innate musical identity. The heart of the program was the namesake Black Cockatoos. A wild co-composed journey that took the eponymous birds from the trees and creeks to the far reaches of space. Nicolson and Yap’s Black Cockatoos achieved something truly exceptional as it seamlessly transitioned from baroque improvisation to 80s synth pop and back again, with joyous flybys of experimental sound, head banging metal, and a baroque viola put through a wall of effects pedals. Ending with the iconic screeching call of the black cockatoo, I was instantly in a tent on a hot summer’s morning, marvelling at the sheer power of their call.

Multitudes ended with a folk song by Teri Young, and every program in the residency will have a new arrangement of this work. After being witness to this first iteration of the series, I feel I experienced one fragment of the multitudes of Katie Yap’s musical landscape, and I encourage all open eared listeners to make their way to Tempo Rubato each Friday of November to discover more music, more stories, and more iconic Australian birds.

Guest reviewer: Miranda Hill

Miranda Hill is a double bassist, G-Violonist, creative producer, and educator specialising in producing concert platform and community music events and performing early and contemporary music. Passionate about bringing experimental music to new audiences, she can be found performing everywhere from concert halls, to sticky carpet pubs, and maybe your own living room.

Photo credit: Albert Comper