Australian Music Centre | Breaking sound barriers

Work Overview

In 2017, a renaissance flute was recovered from a shipwreck in the Markermeer near Warder, North Holland. Made materially fragile by the passage of time, the instrument was nevertheless preserved intact in its watery solitude for five hundred years. Archaeologists and historians can only speculate on the flute's origin, directed by material clues, including a small roll of Germanic text found curled inside the instrument. Replicas have since been made of the flute, reviving a sound lost to the ocean for centuries.

The instrument's journey unfolds in Tactus, a new audio-visual work by Kate Milligan (composition/sound design), Jonty Coy (historical musicology/performance), and Olivia Davies (video design). In a meeting of experimental music-making and historically informed performance, this intimate work explores the materiality of cultural heritage as it is transformed by time and water. Field recordings from the Markermeer mingle with chant, sunken voices imploring "Ave, maris stella" (Hail, star of the sea).

Work Details

Year: , this version: 2024

Instrumentation: Renaissance flute, electronics, film.

Duration: 24 min.

Difficulty: Advanced — This work was written specifically for the Warder Flute, a replica of the above-mentioned shipwrecked artefact. There are only a handful of replica instruments in existence.

Commission note: Commissioned by APRA AMCOS Art Music Fund.. Research and development were made possible by the Australian Government through Creative Australia, its principal arts investment and advisory body.

First performance: 19 Apr 24. Hackett Hall, in a concert presented by Tura and the Western Australian Museum Boola Bardip