Now in its 14th year, the WA Youth Jazz Orchestra’s Composer in Residence program has annually supported two emerging composers to develop new works for a large jazz ensemble, offering both generous commission fees and artistic mentorship.
Exciting new ensemble works by Brendan Keller-Tuberg and Reece Clark premiere 22 October at The Modern Masters, a night of both contemporary and commissioned jazz, performed by WAYJO’s seasoned Wednesday Night Orchestra along with special guest (WAAPA Associate Dean of Music and WAYJO alumni) Dr Jamie Oehlers.
“When I was 14, WAYJO was the organisation that really focussed my attention on music and inspired me to become a professional musician” says Jamie. “I have so many great memories of my time in WAYJO – from the weekly rehearsals with people who became my lifelong friends, to the yearly Leeuwin Estate concerts and the tour to Wangaratta Jazz Festival, which introduced me to the wider Australian jazz community. Having the opportunity to perform with the great young musicians in the band now, and hopefully help to inspire some to develop careers playing this music that we love, is the most enjoyable aspect of this collaboration, for sure!”
Brendan Keller-Tuberg is a 26-year-old award winning artist in the ACT, who spent 6-months on exchange at the Jacobs School of Music in Indiana, USA studying performance in jazz bass during 2017. “Audiences are going to hear… big band compositions which were written between May-August 2021” States Brendan. “This particular time in my life was a very climactic one – having rushed home to Canberra to wait out the pandemic in March 2020, these months were spent preparing to return to America to begin doctoral study at the Jacobs School of Music. The three pieces (written) are all contrasting in their tone and atmosphere, and are roughly inspired by different aspects of this impending move to America….”
“I feel so privileged and excited to have received the opportunity to compose for WAYJO – the opportunities to compose for such a large instrumentation and to have your works performed are extremely rare! As a high-level big band for young musicians in Australia, WAYJO is so important and brings so much to the Australian jazz landscape… Getting to write music without any creative limitation has been a true joy…. to also take bold creative risks where appropriate and applicable! And I’m so excited to hear the results.”
Reece Clark, a 24-year-old multi-instrumentalists and composer, is from WA and also WAYJO & WAAPA alumni. “This upcoming commission has been an interesting step in my development as a composer over the past few months. I had an overarching idea to create something influenced by the interaction between water and light which developed into the Storm Suite, a suite of pieces detailing three interactions with a gradually developed level of intensity….”
“It has been a thoroughly enriching process for me to cultivate each of these pieces both in isolation and within the context of the Storm Suite, with each showcasing a different style and form of writing through the framework of the big band.”
For more information about WAYJO’s annual composer in residence program and commissioning, please visit wayjo.com/composer-in-residence – or visit wayjo.com for more about the orchestra and ticketing links.
Jamie appears thanks to WAYJO’s 2021 Major Programs Partner, Minderoo Foundation.
WAYJO presents The Modern Masters
WNO with special guest Dr Jamie Oehlers
Fri 22 Oct, 7.30pm
Lyric’s Underground, Maylands | Tickets wayjo.com
