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Matthew Hindson's Collaboration with William Barton, Kalkadungu, In US Premiere

Jul. 08, 2010

Australian composer Matthew Hindson sees the US premiere of his work for orchestra and didgeridoo, Kalkadungu, written in conjunction with didgeridoo virtuoso William Barton, on August 5 and 6 at the Colorado Music Festival in Boulder, under the baton of Michael Christie. The multi-talented Barton himself will perform didgeridoo, electric guitar and sing in this performance.

Kalkadungu, a piece that results from the collaboration between a composer of European descent and an Australian native, tells the story of less cooperative times, an 1884 battle that pitted European guns against Australian spears and boomerangs – with predictably devastating consequences. Hindson and Barton, in contrast, have a mutual respect and view the collaboration as an important way to promote harmony in Australia’s complex racial and cultural counterpoint. For Barton, especially, entering into the concert hall was an attempt to gain greater recognition for his people:

It was an active, conscious thought to pursue the classical world. I know that the majority of the audiences in the concert hall have never had the opportunity to meet an Aboriginal person before, let alone see them on stage with a full orchestra.

The collaboration isn’t just good in ideological terms – the music of Kalkadungu received rave reviews and standing ovations at its 2008 Sydney Opera House premiere. Graeme Skinner of the Sydney Morning Herald praised Hindson’s ability to write evocative music, calling the opening of the movement Warrior Spirit I “perhaps the most compelling few minutes of indigenous-inspired fast music to come from any white Australian,” whereas The Australian’sMurray Black raved that Barton “is a phenomenal didgeridoo virtuoso, eliciting extraordinary colours and sounds.”

Kalkadungu will be performed as part of the Colorado Music Festival’s two-day finale on both the 5th and the 6th of August in Chautauqua Auditorium.

For more, please visit the Colorado Music Festival at www.coloradomusicfest.org.

Additional information on Matthew Hindson can be found at www.fabermusic.com.

Kalkadungu (2007)
for voice, electric guitar, didgeridoo (1 player), and orchestra
pic.1.2(2.ca).2(I.Eb, 2.bcl).bcl.1.cbsn–4.2.3.1–timp–perc–str–CD playback
20'

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