The Audio Foundation is pleased to announce an epic concert of solo pianists featuring stellar performers from Paris, Sydney, Denmark, Auckland and Dunedin. Joanna! Joanna! presents twelve extraordinary pianists who have unique and vastly differing approaches to the 88 keyed pedestrian crossing.

 

The avant-garde prepared piano of Hermione Johnson, stream of consciousness baroque improvisations of Nick Knox (Dunedin), pop infused song styling’s of Jenny Lange and Zoe Dadson (Paris) the eclectic explorations of Jonathan Crayford and Peter Dasent (Sydney), modern jazz compositions of Sylvain Brousse (Paris) and Connor McAneny, the classical repertoire of Pascal Harris and freewheeling improvisations by Stefan Neville, Phil Dadson and Jahne Kohlewaller (Denmark), all come together in what promises to be an incredible experience for audiences and musicians alike.

 

Featured Pianists:
4.00pm – Hermione Johnson
4.40pm – Stefan Neville (PUMICE)
5.20pm – Conor McAnemy
6.00pm – Pascal Harris
6.40pm – Phil Dadson
7.20pm – Peter Dasent (Sydney)
8.10pm – Zoe Dadson
9.00pm – Nick Knox (Dunedin)
9.50pm – Jonathan Crayford
10.40pm – Jenny & Jade (Jenny Lange and Jade Farley)
11.20pm – Sylvain Brousse (France)
12.00am – Jahne Kohlewaller (Denmark)

 

Artist Bios:

Hermione Johnson is a pianist and composer from Auckland New Zealand. Her work centres largely on extended and prepared piano techniques, concentrating on the timbral qualities of the instrument and drawing out as many sounds from it as possible.

“Most of my artistic output is at the piano. I focus largely on finger-work at the keyboard, concentrating on the timbrel qualities of prepared piano and drawing out different voices with contrasting patterns or phrases in the different registers of the instrument. I prepare the piano using a variety of materials (screws in the upper register, wall tack, chopsticks, etc.) and I think of the result as a collection of voices or instruments  – like having an ensemble at my fingertips.”

“My goal is to create a sound world that transports the listener and provides a unique and new experience. I want to create something that doesn’t sound like a piano, that doesn’t sound like anything else.”

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Stefan Neville wants to play some of his piano songs and organ songs (but on piano) for this event. They will be garnished with endless cassette, intercom amplification & strap on microphone. Stefan has been making music for 28 years under the Pumice name & there are records to prove it.

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Conor McAnemy is a jazz pianist based in Auckland who has performed in an array of ensembles including jazz trio, the Liam Neeson Tribute Quartet, the Auckland Philharmonic Orchestra, Auckland Jazz Orchestra and more.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Pascal Harris was born in 1982, in Dunedin, New Zealand into an artistic family. He started playing the piano at the age of eleven. and soon became immersed in music on acquaintance with the works by Bach, Mozart and other great composers. From 2001 to 2005 he studied classics and piano at the University of Otago. During his studies he won several significant New Zealand music prizes including the Simon Gibson Memorial Prize, for outstanding Honours students. After graduating with a First Class Honours degree in Piano Performance under Terence Denis, he continued his studies with Gordon Fergus-Thompson at the Royal College of Music, London. Fascinated by Japanese culture, he then moved to Tokyo where he lived as a pianist since 2007. During his time in Tokyo he received kind advice from pianists such as Vladimir Ashkenazy and Jörg Demus. In 2013 he returned to New Zealand and is now based in Auckland.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Phil Dadson is a sound and intermedia artist with an interdisciplinary practice including solo performances and exhibitions, building experimental instruments and sonic objects, video/sound installation; music composition, graphic scores and improvisations on invented instruments. He is the founder of the sound-performance group, From Scratch (1974 – 2002), known widely for its rhythmic and distinctive performances on original instruments.

Born in Napier, New Zealand 1946, he later studied at Elam School of Fine Arts, and played piano in University Jazz Workshop. Before completing the course he travelled to London and from 1968 – 1969 was a member of the foundation group for a scratch orchestra, London, with Cornelius Cardew, Michael Parsons and others.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Peter Dasent grew up in Wellington, where he learned classical piano from age 8, discovered The Beatles at age 10 when they toured New Zealand in 1964, and at the same time was enchanted by his Dad’s collection of jazz 78s, which included Count Basie and Jimmy Yancey. These musical strands have influenced his entire musical career. In 1980 he was a founding member of the Crocodiles and has continued working with members of that band – Fane Flaws, Tony Backhouse and lyricist Arthur Baysting ever since. If you ever watched Radio With Pictures back in the late 80s/early 90s, you would have heard Peter’s title music –

In 2013 Peter recorded his album of original solo piano music “Songs For Solo Piano” at the legendary Abbey Road studio in London. Peter will be performing music from “Songs For Solo Piano”, as well as new pieces and improvisations.

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Zoe Dadson is a New Zealand musician living, teaching and performing in Paris. Originally from the North Shore Auckland, Zoe gained her first performing experience with the Northcote College Combo and Jazz Band. She also played bass in various rock and alternative groups.

Zoe then went on to Paris to study jazz piano at the Bill Evans Piano Academy with Philippe le Baraillec where she also developed her love for singing and exploring different musical styles. She was selected for the semi finals singing competition in Montreux Jazz Festival in 2008 and recently completed jazz piano studies with Emil Spanyi at the Paris Conservatoire.

During her time in Paris, Zoe has collaborated with many musicians on various projects. In particular “Dry Fly and the Plankton” with Philippe le Baraillec, ‘XL Group’ with guitarist Xavier Llamas, Blues pianist Julien Brunetaud, and most recently her own personal project with Sylvain Brousse “Open Top” which was recorded in January 2017, and will be released this year.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Nick Knox is a composer, pianist, and singer based in Dunedin. Nick’s sound is at once gruff, delicate, and soulful, laced with baroque sensibilities. Complex polyphonies, Arabic scales, improvised keys and a dark multi flecked voice. Nick’s ethos of music-making is one of soul-work: he enters into trancelike spaces, creating fully felt and emotionally charged musical explorations.

Music commentator Bill Morris writes this of Nicks work:
“Nick’s music is thrilling, strange and utterly unique. Imagine Rammstein’s  tour bus, with a troupe of Tibetan throat singers on board, crashing into the middle of a Bach recital and you can begin to imagine the sound.”

In 2014, Nick was the subject of a BBC funded documentary “The Characteristics of C-Minor” which screened in 20 International Film Festivals.

For this event Nick will be showcasing his improvisational keyboard skills on a Grand Piano.

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Acclaimed as a highly original compositional talent, pianist Jonathan Crayford has been responsible for many film soundtracks, albums, and bands. As a sideman he has worked with Kurt Rosenwinkel, David Binney, David Murray, Groove Collective, Amp Fiddler, Questlove, Mambo Macoco, Bruno Lawrence and many others.

“He’s an artist embedded so deeply within his music that his persona reflects in those terms. It’s as if he were the embodiment of sonic shapes and forms.” – John Fenton, jazzlocal32.com

“This is the kind of piano I totally relate to: exploratory, thoughtful, soulful, focused. Those qualities are all sort of contradictory, or at least contrasting, which is why this kind of work is meaningful: because it is multi-dimensional.” – Thomas Conrad, critic for Jazz Times

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Jenny & Jade are the musical duo of Jenny Lange and Jade Farley. Jenny’s background has been mostly in singing folk and country music with bands in NZ and overseas. Also a songwriter, she predominantly composes on piano. Jade is a guitarist and violinist. She has performed for the Gladeyes and Glamours.

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Sylvain Brousse was born in 1982. He studied jazz piano for three years at the Bill Evans Piano Academy under Bernard Maury, Cédric Granelle and Phillippe Lebaraillec and also obtained a Bachelor’s Degree in Musicology. Sylvain still studies with Phillippe Lebaraillec. He obtained a DEM in jazz from the Cachan National School of Music (ENM) in 2007. As a composer and arranger, Sylvain also performs with his quintet VOICE OF DEEP PULSE.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Hailing from Denmark, Jahne Kohlewaller is an experimental free improvising pianist. He performed many times in New Zealand in the early 2000’s and has been hailed as both one of the most inventive and creative pianists ever to have been born, and the biggest arsehole of the music world.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Saturday 11 November @ Audio Foundation, doors open 4.00pm
Event tickets are available via www.UnderTheRadar.co.nz