- the Zephyr Quartet

2008 update

Posted: 9/05/2008

Things are heating up in 2008 (is it really May already?). In March we popped over to Melbourne to record a spot for ABC TV's Sunday Arts program which aired a couple of weeks ago. The works, Belinda's "Lost Ideas" and Hilary's "Sibuk", can be found on our new CD, "Esque" (in stores in Adelaide now, interstate buyers please email zephyr@zephyrquartet.com). In April we held the first concert in our 2008 series at the Art Gallery Auditorium. It was a great night, culminating in the creation of some fabulous works by our guest visual artists Luku Tembath, Jo Kerlogue and Thom Buchanan. Many thanks to these three, and to everyone who came along.

We've got a few performances coming up in the next couple of months (check our performances page for more information) including a free lunch hour concert at Flinders University, a COMA Hipnote Sessions gig at the Wheatsheaf Hotel, and our next series concert, an exciting collaboration with the wonderful Leigh Warren and Dancers, in the Space Theatre at the Festival Centre in late June and early July. We are also delighted to be working again with the fabulous Katie Noonan and her show in the Adelaide Cabaret Festival. (details here)

Hope to see you at one (or two!) of these events, or, if you're a New South Wales primary school student, in a couple of weeks when we're doing some touring over your way!

Zephyr launches new album "Esque"!

Posted: 30/11/07

Zephyr is thrilled to announce the imminent release of our second CD, titled "Esque". This new album of works by our two "composers-in- residence", Belinda and Hilary, is an exciting, world-music flavoured adventure which we have thoroughly enjoyed making. Come along to one of our two launches (details in Performances section) to grab a copy, or check stores after the 9th. For more details on how to purchase the album, check this website soon.

Katie Noonan	Posted: 07/10/07
We are thrilled to be doing a gig with Katie Noonan, an amazing singer whom we all admire greatly, who is supporting Josh Groban at the Entertainment Centre on Friday the 12th of October.

Zephyr on ABC Classic FM	Posted: 07/10/07
Earlier this year we recorded a selection of works for ABC which will be hitting the airwaves over the coming months. At this stage you can hear us at the following times: 04 Nov 07 ~9am Belinda Gehlert, Esque 11 Nov 07 ~9am Hilary Kleinig, Sibuk Anne Cawrse, Imperfect Fourth

CD in the pipeline!	Posted: 07/10/07
As well as being very busy touring interstate for Musica Viva's Country Wide and Schools programs this year we have also been recording a new album of original Zephyr music which we are releasing in early December this year – we will keep you posted about our CD launch dates.

Congratulations Wirra Wirra!	Posted: 07/10/07
Zephyr would like to congratulate our wine sponsors Wirra Wirra for their recent win in the International Wine Challenge, London, for Red Winemaker of the Year, 2007. Enjoy some fine Wirra Wirra wine as part of your ticket price to our next concert, Resonance, October 26. (see Performances section for more information)

Ruby Awards "Innovation" winner

Posted: 17/09/07

Emily, Anna and Hilary with Premier Mike Rann
at the Ruby Awards

Zephyr Quartet is delighted and excited to report that last week we attended the Ruby Awards and, to our surprise, won the category in which we were nominated, "Innovation", for our Electro-Acoustic Project of September last year. We are very proud to have received this prestigious award, which was in recognition of the success of the Project, particularly in the area of bringing string quartet music to "unusual", non concert-hall venues. This is an idea that we are especially interested in and strive to achieve so to be recognized in this way is very pleasing to us!

Zephyr launches 2007 Concert Series

Posted: 14/03/07

In 2007 Zephyr is proud to present Perspectives, a series of three thought- provoking concerts exploring the connection between place and music and asking the question "What music springs from a local culture in a 'global' world and what does it say?" From a focus on our own "backyard" to inspiration gathered from around the world, Perspectives celebrates our rich and varied cultural fabric, the importance of art in all societics and the sense of a common humanity arising from the shared language of music.

Our brochures, posters and flyers are appearing around the city now. If you would like to get hold of one, or are after any further information, please email us. Concert 1, Homegrown: The Music of Anne Carwse, will be presented on March 30, 6.30pm at The Ballroom, Carclew Youth Arts Centre. Tickets, including two or three concert subscription packages, are available from BASS. Hope to see you there!

Zephyr announces new wine sponsor!	Posted: 14/03/07
We are delighted to introduce our new partnership with Wirra Wirra wines, who are kindly offering our 2007 audience members a complimentary glass of their fine wine at each of our series performances. We are sure this will be a very successful, and enjoyable, partnership!

Praise for collaboration with electronic artist inch-time (aka Stefan Panczak)

Posted: 02/01/06

Zephyr add their beautiful string sounds to Kyoto (autumn leaves), written by Stefan Panczak and Hilary Kleinig which appears on Inch-time's debut release "Any colour you like" and also on "tea for two - a compilation of collaborations" released by Meupe (www.meupe.net)

This piece and record have recieved praise from critics around the world.....

(for further info and full reviews check out www.inchtime.com)

The Wire Magazine, Aug 2005
In Any Colour You Like, Adelaide's close knit but thriving electronic music scene has thrown up a luminous collection of music that deserves a wider hearing. This is the first album by Inch-time, aka Stefan Panczak, a doctor who divides his time between the A and E wards and his Logic set-up at home. Panczak is blessed with a marvellously unhurried sense of placement, and these pieces unfurl with an almost ceremonious poise. He clearly has a taste for oriental exotica - "Voyage to Brobdingnag" encompasses Japanese flutes and spare gamelan revolutions - but crucially, these plangent textures are central to the compositions, rather than being mere spray-on atmosphere. "Kyoto" proves the point, counterpointing trembling pizzicatos with a wistful circular arrangement for string quartet and calmly conjuring a richly melancholy atmosphere without the faintest hint of gimickry. The beautiful presentation - each CD contains a hand-numbered woodblock print by the artist Roy Anandprint by the artist Roy Ananda - only adds to the appeal.
- Chris Sharp

Birmingham Post Review
Inch-time is the nom de plume of Adelaide-based Stefan Panczak, whose baroque compositions boast field recordings and sampled instruments. Combining jazz, neo-classical and electronica, it recalls Tortoise at their slinkiest, and the echoey spaces between notes and beats point towards a fondness for dub that belies the calming soundscapes on his latest offering.

This wonderful set is comprised of guitar, melodica, accordion and saxophone, while the glorious Kyoto (autumn leaves) is adorned with strings courtesy of the Zephyr Quartet - the highlight of a consistently stunning record. The sumptuous music also comes complete with exquisite packaging and artwork too. Exhilarating stuff.
- Simon Harper

Losing Today (www.losingtoday.com)
........."Kyoto (autumn leaves)" is led from the front by a cortege of snoozing strings that playfully yawn and stretch, noire-ish in stature it pinpoints perfectly that whole gothique stylising as so much loved of the Montreal / Constellation set especially Sacstylising as so much loved of the Montreal / Constellation set especially Sackville and Set Fire to Flames........

Oscarts 2005

Posted: 02/01/06

Each year critics from the Adelaide Advertiser look at the arts world of South Australia and extract the greatest and the least of the state's cultural achievements.

Zephyr was thrilled to receive an honourable mention in the category of "Best Chamber Music" for their 2005 concert with pianist Larissa Schneider for Recitals Australia. (Not bad really when you consider that the winner was the Australian Chamber Orchestra!!)

WIRED: Electro/Acoustic Project

Posted: 14/12/05

Zephyr Quartet – WIRED: Electro/Acoustic Project

The Zephyr Quartet has received funding from the Australia Council’s New Work Board to commission new works from 7 artists working in different musical fields that explore combining pre-recorded manipulated sounds together with amplified string quartet in a live performance situation.

The compositions will be approx 5-10mis minutes long and will be a mixture of through-composed and improvised music. The composers are also encouraged to explore live manipulation of sound, surround sound and/or visual components if they choose.

The composers involved in the project are:
§ Michael Yuen (Adelaide)
§ Cameron Deyell (Sydney)
§ Brendan Woithe (Sydney)
Stefan Panczak (Adelaide/London)
§ Hilary Kleinig (Adelaide)
§ Zoe Barry (Adelaide)
§ Fiona Hill (Sydney)

BIOGRAPHIES

ZOË BARRY (Adelaide)
Zoë Barry is a cellist and composer, and occasionally an accordionist. She regularly performs with ensembles on cello and baroque cello including the Ruby Frost Quartet, Music of Transparent Means, the Adelaide Chamber Singers, Eve, Syntony, Adelaide Baroque and Variant. Zoë completed her B Mus at the University of Adelaide in 2003, majoring in ethnomusicology and studying cello with Janis Laurs. She has received further training around Australia, the UK, Ireland, Russia and Indonesia. Zoë has composed and performed for over thirty dance and theatre productions, for companies including State Theatre Company of South Australia (six productions), Vitalstatistix, Restless Dance Company, Kneehigh Puppeteers, and solo practitioners including Tuula Roppola, Jo Dudley, Ingrid Voorendt and Naida Chinner. She has written for films and documentaries (SBSTV), and her music and live performances are heard on Triple J and ABCFM. In 2002 she was awarded “Best Onstage Music Performance” by the Advertiser for Merchant of Venice and in 2003 was voted “Most Outstanding Instrumentalist” in the SAMI awards.

STEFAN PANCZAK – (Adelaide/London) www.inchtime.com www.sbs.com.au/myspace Stefan is an electronic sample-based musician/composer based in Adelaide who performs and records under the name Inch-time. He combines electronic and organic influences to explore the interconnections between the natural and man-made world. Collaboration is an integral part of his music and he regularly performs with fellow musicians and visual artists. Recent work includes: the release of Inch-time debut CD "any colour you like" which is currently receiving Triple J airplay; performances for Electrovision, (2004 Melbourne Fringe Festival); winner of ‘Best Song Award’ for the "Get off the Couch" CD for composition “as patient as a tree”; collaboration and live performance with the Zephyr Quartet for the “Kaleidoscope” project presented for Inspace at the Space Theatre, Adelaide Festival Centre; and composition and sound design for SBS MySpace Website.

FIONA HILL – (Sydney)) Fiona Hill has extensive experience as a composer and performer, working across many genres and idioms. She has written music as diverse as classical concert music, tangos, electroclips and electronic dance music for projects including film, dance, bands, theatre, live projections and improvisation. Fiona has studied music in Melbourne, Adelaide, Montreal and California, under composition teachers Graeme Koehne, Jean Lesage and Alaudin Mathieu. Recent projects include: original soundtrack for the SALA (South Australian Living Artists Week) moving image project ‘Waiting for Var’, composer in ‘The Firm’ concert series, composer/performer and arranger with tango band ‘Quartito Azul’, co- composer for AIT (Adelaide Institute of TAFE) graduation plays Romeo and Juliet and Macbeth and co-director/composer/improviser of contemporary music ensemble ‘MIRRA’.

BRENDAN WOITHE – (Sydney) Brendan is a composer & sound engineer who increasingly is working in new music and audio areas, attempting to bring new sounds and techniques to a wider audience. Since completing a master in sound at the Australian Film Television and Radio school, Brendan has worked as a composer, sound engineer and designer for varied projects including an ABC/Becker documentary, Unfit to Command (composition), Bent St Theatre’s Time Machine (composition and sound design), ABC’s AFI award winning comedy show Double the Fist (sound) and new Fox 8 drama Love My Way (sound). Brendan has recently won the 2004 International MPSE (Motion Picture Sound Editors) Golden Reel award for Best Sound for the short film Terratoma and has also won the Sydney Golden Eye and Kaleidoscope awards for best sound in short films. He is currently working on dermis, live sound sampling and manipulation of a saxophone quartet and live electronics.

CAMERON DEYELL – (Sydney) New Zealand guitarist and composer, Cameron Deyell, studied in Adelaide and at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) with jazz guitar legend Kenny Burrell. Since moving to Sydney in 1999 he has led and composed for several bands including New Music Congress, Missile and progressive hip-hop group Ends & Means. He also plays with Mike Nock’s “Big Small Band”, Freedivers and Bertie Blackman. Cameron composes for theatre and film. He has worked with Is Theatre Ltd, Hobart, and has composed soundtracks for films including two short films directed by Clara Chong: La Palabra (Best of the Rest, Tropfest 2003) and Shadow Dream (2004). . For the last five years, Cameron has been an integral committee member of the Jazzgroove Association, serving the past two years as co-Artistic Director. During his time in that position he has programmed new and underground jazz-based music for weekly events. In 2004 Cameron co-produced the Jazz:Now Festival at the Sydney Opera House Studio on behalf of Jazzgroove.

MICHAEL YUEN - (Adelaide) - www.yuen.va.com.au Michael is a composer working in the area of digital and installation art. He is also an active new media curator/director and sound engineer. Yuen has formal training as a composer at the Electronic Music Unit, Universtiy of Adelaide, under the guidance of Stephen Whittington. His work uses sounds in public spaces through the application of technology and interactive media. Through sonic means he alters environments both in public and private spaces. Yuen’s research into interactive art has led him to develop camera based gesture recognition systems. Specifically, he works with max/msp and related software. Not limiting himself to the sonic arts he continues to explore other contemporary techniques such as video projection.

HILARY KLEINIG – (Adelaide) Hilary plays cello, baroque cello and viola da gamba. In 1996 and 2001 she studied with Anna Shuttleworth at the Royal College of Music, London, and has also studied in Adelaide with Janis Laurs and Niall Brown. Hilary is passionate about presenting and promoting contemporary Australian music and in 2003 presented a cello and piano recital for the Barossa Music Festival featuring works by Adelaide composers. Hilary has worked in orchestras, chamber ensembles and as a solo artist with groups such as the Zephyr Quartet, Syntony, Adelaide Baroque, Adelaide Chamber Singers and Elder New Music Ensemble and has performed at many festivals with these groups. Hilary composes music for film, dance, theatre and ensembles and recent work has included compositions for THE FIRM’s concert series, for Kaleidoscope (Zephyr Quartet’s multi-arts, new media project), for Freshbred (SA’s youth dance ensemble) and for the Restless Dance Company.