Australian Music Centre | Breaking sound barriers

Event Details

Head to the MCA after hours for an intimate cultural experience. The setting is acclaimed British artist Cornelia Parker’s War Room (2015), an enveloping crimson tent of negatives from Remembrance Day poppies. Ode is a piano recital in the tradition of the 19th-century salon, events known for extraordinary performances in stunning settings.

This is the latest instalment in Bernadette Harvey’s Sonata Project. It will be an evocative performance reflecting on the apocalyptic nature of war. Harvey has chosen works that echo the 1940s – an eclectic mix of modern jazz and nostalgia with ever-present dark undertones. 

A new sonata by Sydney composer Peggy Polias is the centrepiece in a program of poetry and music that responds to the horrors and losses of war. 

Repertoire

Ruth Schonthal – Nachklӓnge (Reverberations) for prepared piano
Peggy Polias – Ode – Piano Sonata (World Premiere)
Messiaen – “Louange à l’Éternité de Jésus”
Prokofiev – Sonata 8
Donald Hollier – Recessional in honour of a Fallen Soldier (World Premiere)

Supported by the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Sonata Project, and the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.

Featured non-Australian music: Ruth Schonthal, Messiaen, Prokofiev

Further information for this event is available online at the event's website

Featured Australian Works

Featured artists

• Performer Bernadette Harvey