22 March 2022

Turns and Phrases: an evening of piano music with Chris Abrahams, Zela Margossian, Millie Watson

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Millie Watson

Celebrate piano day with 3 legends. Photo: milliewatsonmusic.

Come celebrate Piano Day 2022 with an up close and personal performance by three unique Australian musical explorers pianist Chris Abrahams from underground overground cult experimentalist The Necks, Armenian musician and ARIA nominated Zela Margossian draws on her rich middle eastern culture and Canberra based Millie Watson whose explorations expose the vast sound palette of the piano.

Chris Abrahams
Chris Abrahams is best known as the pianist in the instrumental trio The Necks, a group that has firmly established itself both in Australia and internationally, and has collaborated with such artists as Brian Eno, Underworld, Swans, Springtime, Leo Abrahams, Evan Parker and Ilan Volkov.

Chris explores the relationship between the piano hammer and the piano string within the framework of electro acoustic music. It reflects an intent to approach the instrument on its own terms, an acknowledgement of the evolution of the technology that has delivered up what we know as the modern piano. His performances contain elements of both melodic and textural beauty juxtaposed with industrial-sounding patterning contained within a mesmeric and slowly evolving sound world.

Zela Margossian
Born in Beirut, of Armenian heritage, Zela Margossian is a Sydney-based pianist, composer and ARIA nominated musician who fuses the rhythms and harmonies of jazz and the discipline of classical with the beautiful melodies of Armenian and Middle Eastern folk music. In 2021, she was one of three speakers for the prestigious Peggy Glanville-Hicks Address.

Millie Watson
Millie Watson is a Canberran experimental musician with roots in classical piano. Her studies at the ANU began with traditional piano performance but she soon found her way down the overgrown path into soundscapes and extended technique, using preparation to explore the vast sound palette of the piano. Her focus is on the rich microcosms of timbre and weaving these into larger soundscapes through improvisation and deep listening.

The details

What: Turns and Phrases: an evening of piano music with Chris Abrahams, Zela Margossian, Millie Watson
When: Saturday 26 March 2022, 7 pm to 9:30 pm
Where: Ainslie Arts Centre, Ainslie Main Hall, 30 Elouera St, Braddon ACT 2612
Cost: $30 full, $20 concession. Tickets available at Ainslie + Gorman Arts Centres.

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