Media & Resources Peace and Compassion - a Concert for Tibet
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P eace and Compassion - a Concert for Tibet in support of His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
After a successful first concert in 2008, Freedom 4 Tibet is proud to inform you that the second concert will also coincide with His Holiness the Dalai Lama's next Australian visit in December 2009. Please keep checking this website for further information as it becomes available. Click to read more about last years concert.
P eace and Compassion - a Concert for Tibet in support of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, during his visit to Sydney on Sunday 15th June 2008 at 7pm, City Recital Hall, Angel Place.
A fusion of world, pop, and classical/contemporary music combined with colour and images in an extraordinary two hour synaesthetic experience. The audience will be taken on an uninterrupted spiritual journey, through the medium of music, that has been based on the Chenrezig Buddha of Compassion Initiation that His Holiness the Dalai Lama will be giving at The Dome, Olympic Park on the morning of 15th June 2008.
Please join us for this never to be repeated event, as it will be a unique and memorable experience for those lucky enough to be there on the night.
PerformersPerformers
Music by Steve Kilbey, Katie Noonan, Timothy Constable, Leonard Cohen, Philip Glass, Elena Kats-Chernin and Ross Edwards.
Concert DescriptionConcert Description
Peace and Compassion - A Concert for Tibet
T his concert program is a musical depiction of Avalokiteshvara, the ultimate Buddhist embodiment of compassion. The Dalai Lama represents this form in the world, which is also referred to as Chenrezig, Quan Yin or Kannon.
The original Sanskrit term refers to the perceiver of sound, specifically the cries of all the sentient beings who need his help. One prominent Buddhist story tells of Avalokiteshvara vowing never to rest until he had freed all sentient beings from suffering. After having realised the enormity of his task, however his head split into eleven pieces which allowed him to hear the cries of all those who were suffering, and likewise his two arms split into a thousand arms, with which he could aid the suffering multitudes. The thousand armed form of Avalokiteshvara bears some archetypal relationship to the traditional Christian form of angels with wings, as its thousand hands extend like a sun-like halo of feathers around its heart. In Aboriginal dot painting, the highest compliment one can pay is that the image "shimmers" - which is what this does. It has transfixed me ever since I first saw it, and I have spent the last four years collecting and studying the form, trying to understand how I could recreate it. The Concert for Tibet is an attempt to recreate this beloved Bodhisattva in sound, by bringing together as many differing forms of music making into one concert. As well, the audience will be seeing projected mandalas drawn from every culture, which slowly morph as they progress through the colour spectrum. These images include thangkas, domes of cathedrals, synagogues and civic buildings; images from nature such as flowers, stars and microbes; and scientific images such as maps, diagrams and cymatic patterns (sound waves). The colour spectrum also provides the structure to the concert, starting with the red of earth, where William Barton's didjeridu joins with the drums of TaikOz. Orange is heralded by the sounding of the gongs by Synergy Percussion before they join with TaikOz in Michael Askill's No Rest From The Dance. Yellow sees Jimmy Little joined by Steve Kilbey and Elena Kats-Chernin on piano recreating Under The Milky Way, before Katie Noonan joins in with strings and Alexandre Oguey on oboe to perform two of her own songs about love. Timothy Constable takes us into the beginning of the heart with Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah, followed by Elena Kats-Chernin's own Green Silence. Tenzin Choegyal and the MLC Chamber Choir then chant the Heart Sutra taking us deep into blue, before they sing Ross Edwards Dawn Mantras, which was composed for the beginning of the new Millennium. Purple sees Philip Glass's classic work Company in a new arrangement for strings, percussion and didjeridu before Timothy Constable, Synergy, TaikOz and Katherine Philp, cello, recreate the famous Mahamritjunjaya Mantra. Finally we end with white as Ross Edwards' Tyalgum Mantras is played by all the musicians involved, who will spread through the hall like Avalokiteshvara's hands as they surround the audience with sound. The 90 minute concert will be performed as a single breath or sigh without applause or break. It is intended as a musical offering to bring peace and love into the world, specifically and tangibly through the subsequent actions of the 1000 listeners who experience the event. Christopher Latham, Artistic Director
BiographiesBiographies Michael Askill, percussionist, is one of Australia's leading percussionists and composers. Long time principal percussionist with the Melbourne and Sydney Symphony Orchestras, he is currently Artistic Director of Synergy Percussion. He has composed three ballets for the Sydney Dance Company as well as music for the Opening Ceremony of the 2000 Sydney Olympics and National Museum of Australia. William Barton, didjeridu, is one of Australia's leading didjeridu players and composers. He has pioneered the didjeridu as a solo instrument with classical orchestras and works internationally as a virtuoso soloist. He has also worked intimately with Peter Sculthorpe on a large number of Peter's works, including 2 notable CDs for ABC Classics. Timothy Constable, percussionist, composer and vocalist as well as Assistant Artistic Director of Synergy Percussion, is one of Australia's broadest musicians performing in genres ranging from jungle, electronica, world music and pop through to classical and new music. Christopher Latham, artistic director and violinist, toured the world with the Australian Chamber Orchestra for 7 years. He then ran the Australian publishing arm of the classical publisher Boosey and Hawkes before becoming a festival director. He programmed the Adelaide Festival 2002 Chamber Music series, was the Australian Artistic Director for the Australian Festival of Chamber Music in Townsville in 2005 and 2006, and directed the Four Winds festivals in 2006 and 2008. He will direct the Canberra International Music Festival from 2009 as well as overseeing the Gallipoli Symphony, a ten year multi-national commissioning project that will premiere at the Centenary of Gallipoli in 2015. Riley Lee, shakuhachi and TaikOz 'His musical work is breathtakingly meditative, soothing, and spiritual. His near-flawless approach has made a complex range of ethnic fusion absolutely stunning'. One of Four Winds' treasured performers for many years, Riley Lee is a Grand Master of the Japanese shakuhachi, a bamboo flute producing a hauntingly soulful sound which has been closely associated with the practice of Zen meditation since the 15th century. His musical work is breathtakingly meditative, soothing, and spiritual. He performs as a soloist, with Taikoz and with whatever ensembles he finds himself in. Alexandre Oguey, oboe, is Principal cor anglais in the Sydney Symphony, a member of the Sydney Wind Quintet and teaches oboe and cor anglais at the Sydney Conservatorium. Synergy Percussion, is led by Michael Askill Artistic Director, Timothy Constable Assistant Artistic Director and Bree van Reyk. Synergy is Australia's premier percussion ensemble and is dedicated to the performance of contemporary Australian music. 'Its musicians and singers demonstrate mind-blowing virtuosity.' TaikOz, Ian Cleworth Artistic Director, Graham Hilgendorf, Kerryn Joyce, Tom Hampton and featuring Riley Lee. Characterised as 'waves of rhythmic invention, born of gymnastic grace and primal ecstatic energy', TaikOz was formed in 1997 by taiko player and percussionist Ian Cleworth and shakuhachi Grand Master Riley Lee. The group has established itself as one of Australia's most energetic and exciting drumming groups. Combining the power of the traditional Japanese taiko with the ethereal tones of the bamboo shakuhachi, TaikOz explores a synthesis of East and West, old and new.
AnnouncementsAnnouncements
6th August 2008 2nd June 2008 It is with great sadness that we inform you that Nawang Khechog has suffered from a heart attack and was in the ICU for a few days, and has cancelled all of his commitments including the Peace and Compassion concert . We wish him all the best and hope that he has a speedy recovery.
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