Contemporary piano trio Solstice has gained a reputation for its explorative approach to curation, inhabiting a musical niche that is fresh, accessible and always exciting.  Drawn together in 2015 by a mutual desire to break the piano trio out of its classical music tradition, the ensemble has spent the last seven years uncovering and commissioning new works undefined by genre, championing in particular the music of Australian and women composers.

Melody At My Will features works for violin, cello and piano, which sit at the boundaries of contemporary classical, jazz and electronic music, and place a microscope over the fleeting and seemingly insignificant moments in a human life, giving them a melody and a spotlight.

The program opens with an excerpt from Morton Feldman’s rarely performed Rothko Chapel, written as a tribute to his friend the American painter, the year after Rothko took his own life. It continues to Stuart Greenbaum’s sublime and other-worldly 800 Million Heartbeats, a metaphor for a life, measured in heartbeats, and the journeys that fill its course. Robert McIntyre’s piano trio, See Through Me is an exploration in relationships, conflict and healing, and Andrea Keller’s Golden Strawberries revisits her memory of meeting her Czech grandmother for the first time. Also featuring Johannes Luebbers’ study in ‘opposites’ Chalk & Cheese, Missy Mazzoli’s epic A Thousand Tongues for voice, cello and electronics, and music of John Adams and David Lang, this program reflects the multi-faceted and complex condition of being human.

PROGRAM

Morton Feldman – Rothko Chapel 5 (arr. for piano trio)
Stuart Greenbaum – 800 Million Heartbeats
Andrea Keller – Golden Strawberries

Missy Mazzoli – A Thousand Tongues for cello, voice and electronics
Robert McIntyre – See through me (2021) for piano trio 
Andrea Keller – Flicker
John Adams -China Gates (piano solo)
Johannes Luebbers – Chalk & Cheese
David Lang – wed