Stories that Must be Heard: Truth in the Cage and Limbo review | Melbourne Recital Centre

Presented by Nightingale Performing Arts Australia, Stories That Must Be Heard brings refugee stories to the forefront and gives a voice to those that are too often ignored. The musical double bill of works composed by Chloé Charody shifted seamlessly between emotional intensity and breathtaking physicality, producing performances that are compelling and sobering.

Truth in the Cage is a movingly intimate song cycle tracing Mohammad Ali Maleki’s seven years in detention on Manus Island. Charody uses his poems to create music that is raw, unflinching, and resilient. Through themes of loss, identity, and optimism, the songs provide a searing insight into life under confinement, conveying the anguish and the enduring human spirit of someone who survived years of unjust incarceration.

The Horse review

Every now and again, there is a production that pushes the boundaries of what can be done. Dylan Sheridan’s The Horse is one of these shows, in that it uses a variety of tools to create an immersive musical space travel experience for its audience. As director, composer and performer (electronics), Sheridan vividly creates an intergalactic world with a saxophone, violin, cello, electronics and automated instruments.

The Horse takes its title from the Horsehead Nebula, a cloud of gas and dust in outer space, 1,500 light years from Earth. So named due to the shape of its swirling gases, it is visible in the night sky as a dark silhouette against other luminous matter, though above the Horsehead is a bright pink gas which contrasts with the dark gas found below.

For his composition inspired by this phemonemon, Sheridan translates actual interstellar data into the music of The Horse. For the most part this metamorphosis of information into art creates interesting results, but at times – perhaps deliberately – it feels like not much is happening to keep us engaged musically.

Lost In The Looping Glass review | Melbourne Fringe Festival | Scratch Warehouse

I've often said if I had the time to learn any musical instrument I would choose the violin. There is something incredibly calming and meditative about hearing an accomplished musician play such an instrument. Upon learning there was a performance by violinist and sound artist Helen Bower as part of the 2015 Melbourne Fringe Festival, I made sure I would not be missing.

Bower's Lost In The Looping Glass is a 50-minute violin concert played alongside a loop pedal. She records fragments or sequences on her violin from compositions by local and international composers live, and has them playing on loop where they gradually layer on top of one another to create their own music.

Lost In The Looping Glass by Helen Bower - Melbourne Fringe Festival preview

The great thing about Melbourne Fringe is the sheer range of shows on display and one that promises a unique experience is Lost In The Looping Glass. Created by violinist and sound artist Helen Bower in collaboration with composer Charles MacInnes, this is a unique musical show not to be missed. An exciting sequel to Bower’s 2014 fringe show Through the Looping Glass, this new work delves deeper into the fascinating new music that can be created with just one violin, a loop station and some well-placed sonic effects. 

"Looping is taking a fragment of music (a melody or a chord sequence of a rhythm for example) and making it go round and round - a bit like having a song on repeat, once it gets to the end it starts again at the beginning," Bower explains. "Live electronic looping is when you record those fragments live and then loop them and layer them on top of one another to create a piece of music.  It's a really fascinating way to create rich and interesting textures with just a single instrument."