| Thomas Meadowcroft |  |
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'dreamy post-rock' - The New York Times 'reaching an inexpressible purity' - Le Monde 'motorised nostalgia' - The Scotsman 'never-ending, sugar-sweet' - Neue Zürcher Zeitung 'between academic schmaltz and avantgarde-pop' - Zitty Magazine, Berlin Thomas Meadowcroft is a composer, arranger and musician. His work has been presented at various international festivals and concert series including: Acara Festival Salihara (Jakarta, Indonesia), BBC Tectonics (Glasgow, Scotland), 'Berlin in Lights' (Carnegie Hall, NYC), Festival Présences (Radio France, Paris), Fremantle Arts Centre (Perth, Australia), Hawler International Theater Festival (Erbil, Iraq), Lucerne Festival, 'Monday Evening Concerts' (Los Angeles, USA), Rainy Days (Luxembourg), and Ultima Festival (Oslo, Norway). As performer, Thomas Meadowcroft has performed at various international festivals and venues including Holland Festival, Issue Project Room (Brooklyn, USA) and Maerzmusik (Berlin, Germany). His early compositions for European new music ensembles exhibit 'Art brut' tendencies such as monotonous harmony, found-objects, feedback and square wave organs. Aspects of regional Australian culture, questions of ecology, and the untenability and redundancy of arts practice have also featured in more recent work. His music and/or arrangements have been released on Skirl, Mikroton, Telos and Universal labels. He lives in Berlin. | _____________________________________________________________ | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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ORCHESTRAL:
The News in Music (Tabloid Lament) first performance: South West German Radio Symphony Orchestra (cond. Ilan Volkov), Donaueschinger Musiktage GERMANY 27' (2017) WATCH LISTEN READ
Hard-hitting. Award-winning. Uncompromising. | Dependable. Factual. Reliable. Authoritative. Comprehensive. Instructive. Credible. Responsible. Sensible. |
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'...cheap entertainment music. And then when | somebody comes like a village idiot, whose The News in Music is a US-American modelled news music strung together in a Hollywood-like manner, then it hails in a concert of 'boos'. Of course, not unjustifiably: where is the reflection, refraction, the antithesis?' - Badische Zeitung 'His collage of film music soundtracks and news jingles is really super dull.' - Bavarian Radio Classic 'If (the composer) had sold each individual scrap to television companies, he would be a millionaire.' - Musiktexte 'A strange brew, that hardly gives satirical sharpness to worldly turmoil, so that the ending itself only looks just as bad as a contrast.' - Neue Musik Zeitung 'A scrawled, film music lament about the phenomenon of fake news... more critical radio play than composition.' - Neue Zürcher Zeitung 'The piece still fits into the the trend of new accessibility.' - Osnabrücker Zeitung 'So predictable the critique, so questionable the place... Would it not have been better to make a radio piece out of the subject? After five minutes everybody gets it. What comes in the next fifteen minutes is diffident annoyance.' - Schweizer Musikzeitung 'It's a scandal that not more people were outraged.' - Stuttgarter Zeitung _____________________________________________________________ |
CHAMBER MUSIC: | Discount Minimal for multiple percussionists, Eklekto Percussion Collective, Theatre du Galpon, Geneva SWITZERLAND 1h 20' with: Alexandre Babel (musical and artistic direction), Florian Bach (light installation), Anne Briset, Nicolas Curti, Maximilien Dazas, Louis Delignon, Dorian Fretto, Lucas Genas, Jeanne Larrouturrou and Pascal Viglino (percussion), Thomas Meadowcroft (revox, synth, electronics) (2017) READ |
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ORCHESTRAL: | Peacemaker Tattoo first performance: Philharmonic Orchestra, Cottbus State Theatre(cond.Evan Christ), Cottbus State Theatre, GERMANY revised version: BBC SO (cond. Brett Dean), BBC Maida Vale Studios, London UK 6' (2016) | _____________________________________________________________ | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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RADIOPHONIC: Moving Homes with: Anthony Burr (bass clarinet), Anthea Caddy (voice, violoncello on 'cyclones'), Zoé Cartier (violoncello), Robin Hayward (tuba on 'cyclones'), Hilary Jeffery (trombone), Thomas Meadowcroft (voice, e-piano, organ,ukulele, electronics), Boris Meinhold (guitar, lap steel guitar,mandolin), Rico Repotente (extra guitar on 'Country 'n Gamelan'), Michael Rotschopf (voice) realisation: Thomas Meadowcroft sound engineer: Andreas Stoffels producer: Marcus Gammel text assemblage: Thomas Meadowcroft (with citations from Emmanuel Kant, Alain Badiou, Simon DeDeo, Sĝren Kierkegaard, Paul Virilio, Simone Weil and the testimonies of cyclone survivors from Far North Queensland) commissioned by Deutschlandradio Kultur and ABC Creative Audio Unit 43' (2016) LISTEN (EN version) LISTEN (DE version) READ 1. INTRO: COUNTRY 'N GAMELAN (selamat jalan) 2. TROPICAL CYCLONE NAMES (the best of, vol.1) 3. CYCLONE RACE CALL 4. EMPTY (SHOPPING) CENTRE 5. THE SO LONG SURF CLUB 6. OBJECT FEAR 7. IMMANUEL KANT WAS A REAL KANT 8. EMPTY (DISCURSIVE) CENTRE 9. TROPICAL CYCLONE NAMES (the best of, vol.2) 10. OUTRO: COUNTRY 'N GAMELAN (selamat tinggal) |
Severe tropical cyclones may lead to the break- | down of civil order, from which, as a pretext to returning to this order, the state can cut basic services, so, ah, grabbed the kids, but left the dogs, hey. Great break. Amped with the gnarly conditions hey. Most peeps would cum clucked. Not us (Kant). Just luvin' it hey. Wanted to fang it out back but the foamies were messy as. Swallowed the chowder 'n got fully raked but didn't give a rats. No goat boaters or bennies so stoked to the max. The faces were crankin' 'n the barrels were totes wick hey. They close out for reals if ya not careful. Sick as if ya eat it. Still I'd get rail banged any day of the week for corduroy like that but. It'll be just snappers in a cuppla days. Neck some beers 'n toke some billies this arvo. Slay it again tomorra. Too good. You know. It was just like. Someone had run through the house. And ripped the roof off. We're all diving underneath the table. Hiding underneath the mattresses. In the middle of the night. 'Take the neighbors roof off and you see swine.' And. If you look down the back. Another 500 meters. All the way down the back there. It's just people's furniture. And the fella across the road. All his furniture. All his fridges and freezers. They're in our backyard. Devvo-ed. And ah yeah. That was it darlin'. That's not the right music for tropical cyclones but. Just sayin'. What you need is the emptiness of the object. As expressed, in sound. As for the thing in and of itself. Well. That's just terrifying. | _____________________________________________________________ | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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CHAMBER MUSIC: Medieval Rococo alto flute, clarinet, harpsichord (doubling organ), percussion and electronics first performance: Ensemble Offspring, Marrickville Bowls Club & Utzon Room Sydney Opera House, Sydney AUSTRALIA12' (2016) BUY I. II. III. IV.
CHAMBER MUSIC: | Medieval Baroque for multiple percussionists, instruments and electronics first performance: Alexandre Babel, Guy-Loup Boisneau, Thierry Debons, Nicolas Didier, KNM Berlin, 'Festival Batteries IV', Geneva SWITZERLAND 25' (2013) |
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RADIOPHONIC: Song Buslines with: Anthony Burr (pedal steel guitar), Boram Lie (violoncello),Thomas Meadowcroft (voice, e-piano, organ, electronics), Pat O'Shea (guest voice on 'Radio'), Rico Repotente (guitar), Mari Sawada (violin), Daniella Strasvogel (viola), Biliana Voutschkova (violin) realisation: Thomas Meadowcroft sound engineer: Thomas Monnnerjahn producer: Marcus Gammel text: Thomas Meadowcroft (with references to Psychological Aspects of Geographical Moves: Homesickness and Acculturation Stress, ed. Miranda van Tilburg and Ad Vingerhoets, Amsterdam Academic Archive) 49' (2013) LISTEN 1. RADIO (TBA-ISA) 2. INTERSTATE (TBA-SYD) 3. LONG HAUL (BNE-CNS) 4. OVERNIGHT (TNC-ISA-TSV) 5. YARN 6. MEALBREAK 7. COASTAL RUN (BYR-BNE) 8. SEE YOUS LATER |
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It's restaurant-style food at pub prices. You will | really be absolutely amazed at the price and the value of the meals there... ...the thing is, all night, on the piss, having durries. In fact, it all evens up. She'd have to. You look good. Oh shit that was so bad because I just kept going, had to be real lovey-dovey: "oh, darling, I love you"... ...kids are rarely scared of large spaces but they are often homesick. Homesickness is often seen as childish but is sanctioned among the kiddies. Understanding how kids cope with homesickness could be helpful to us all. The kids know you can't think two things at once. | _____________________________________________________________ | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| CHAMBER MUSIC: Accommodation for String Quartets for string quartet, portable organ, glockenspiel, cash register, pot plant, toy birds, plastic bags, ouija board, monopoly board, tissue boxes, female voices, loudspeakers and playback first performance: Quartett PLUS 1, Familie Blohmer, Hildesheim GERMANY 45' (2014) |
Concepts of the present, move among us, | be guided by the board. We summon the spirit of consumer capitalism: consumer capitalism, are you there? | _____________________________________________________________ |
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| CHAMBER MUSIC: Cradles percussion duo, with live or pre-recorded Wurlitzer e-piano first performance: Speak Percussion, Maerzmusik Festival, Berlin GERMANY 8' (2013) WATCH (Speak Percussion) WATCH (Jessica Tsang and Rob Cosgrove) |
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| CHAMBER MUSIC: The Great Knot percussion trio first performance: Speak Percussion, Iwaki Auditorium, Melbourne AUSTRALIA 18'(2011) WATCH | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| CHAMBER MUSIC: Walkman Antiquarian percussion duo, piano and sampler first performance: Yarn/Wire, Issue Project Room, Brooklyn USA 15' (2013) WATCH |
'Australian by birth, Thomas Meadowcroft has been | based for the last twenty years in Berlin. It is the resulting distance of the country of his birth - and simultaneously its immediate electronic presence, by way of cellphone and talkback radio - that informs several of his most recent projects. Among these are creative mockumentaries commissioned by radio authorities in Germany (Song Buslines, 2013, evoking bus journeys along the Australian east coast) and Australia (Moving Homes, 2016, imagining a catastrophic cyclone hitting the same region), as well as pieces for concert performance. Common features, that speak of distance and presence, include pre- existing sources (found musical objects) as well as electronically treated sound alongside live. "Stated briefly," he has said, "Walkman Antiquarian juxtaposes two technologies, the grand piano and the 24-key plastic sampler. The samples were taken from cassette tape recordings of my father's record collection which were sent through a series of gating devices and tape machines in the studio, prior to performance. The samples are then distributed to five speakers spread across the ensemble, informing individual players when and what to play live." The means are even more disparate than this brief note can convey. While the piano is hooked on loops that might suggest a lounge pianist in the small hours, the percussionists have recourse to a range of instruments, both regular (snare drum, bass drum, suspended cymbal, glockenspiel, etc.) and irregular (for example, a small Indian bell and a tree branch). One of the percussionists has access to a turntable rotating at 33 r.p.m., which provides not only a visual reminder of the LP sources but also a rhythmic one, when objects on the turntable are struck or handled. As for the sound on those LPs, this comes through in distorted snatches, which - besides being used to cue the musicians - may activate the instruments on which speakers are placed (piano, bass drum) or, in the case of a speaker with its covering removed, stimulate movement and sound from wooden beads poured on to it. Memory is coming to us from several angles and at different removes, in a form that proceeds with the necessity of a ritual.' - Paul Griffiths _____________________________________________________________ | CHAMBER MUSIC: | Pretty Lightweight for flute, viola, violoncello and canned laughter first performance: Klangforum Wien, 'European Month of Music', Basel SWITZERLAND 7' (2001) _____________________________________________________________ | CHAMBER MUSIC: | Ground Manual chamber ensemble, harmonium, feedback and bench grinder first performance: ensemble recherche, Witten Music Days, GERMANY 11' (2001) _____________________________________________________________ | CHAMBER MUSIC: | Home Organs percussion sextet first performance: Les Percussions de Strasbourg, 'Voix Nouvelles' FRANCE 15' (2000) WATCH _____________________________________________________________ | INSTRUMENTAL SOLO: | Plain Moving Landfill percussion solo first performance: Christian Dierstein, 'Forum Neue Musik Luzern', SWITZERLAND 14' (2003) WATCH (Christopher Clarino) WATCH (Roberto Maqueda) WATCH (Ryan Packard) WATCH (Dave Shively) |
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INSTALLATION: | Opera Abstract a musical action for one performer first performance: Thomas Meadowcroft, 'Münchener Biennale', Muffathalle Munich GERMANY 3 Minute Loop (2012) |
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INSTALLATION: | Monaro Eden four-channel sound installation with six foot pedals (installed dimensions variable) first install: 'Contemporary Australia: Optimism' 2008/9, Gallery of Modern Art, GOMA Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane AUSTRALIA (2008) |
 CHAMBER MUSIC: | Monaro Study two clarinets, Holden automobile recordings and sinetones first performance: Richard Haynes and Carl Rosman, Iwaki Auditorium, Melbourne AUSTRALIA) 15' (2008) BUY _____________________________________________________________ |
VIDEO: | Ezra Jack Plot concert music for chamber ensemble and video stills from The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats first performance: KNM Berlin 'Metropolis', Konzerthaus, Berlin GERMANY, 'Berlin In Lights' Carnegie Hall, NYC USA) 11'(2007) (Artwork fromThe Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats, copyright 1963, appears with the kind permission of the Ezra Jack Keats Foundation.) WATCH |
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VIDEO: |
Weather Forecasting Opera short film with live musical accompaniment in collaboration with Peter Sabat first performance: Bavarian State Opera, Munich GERMANY 17' (2001/12) |
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FILM: | Birth of an Object incidental music for short film by Romeo Grünfelder (FELDERFILM GbR) |
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ORCHESTRAL ARRANGEMENTS: | Von einem der auszog, weil er sich die Miete nicht mehr leisten konnte (Opera by Dirk von Lowtzow and René Pollesch) with: Franz Beil, Lilith Stangenberg, Martin Wuttke, Martin Gerke, Filmorchester Babelsberg, Oliver Pohl (conductor), Rundfunk-Kinderchor Berlin am Georg-Friedrich-Haendel-Gymnasium Text and direction: René Pollesch Song texts and composition: Dirk von Lowtzow Arrangements and orchestration: Thomas Meadowcroft Stage: Bert Neumann Costume: Nina Mechow Light: Lothar Baumgarte Sound: Christopher von Nathusius, William Minke Soufflage: Tina Pfurr Dramaturgy: Anna Heesen Volksbühne, Berlin GERMANY (2015) |
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STRING QUARTET ARRANGEMENTS: | Tocotronic / 'Schall und Wahn' Tocotronic, Vertigo Records: (2010 & 2015) |
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CHORAL: | Eremozoic Age Lovers narrator, organ, electronics and choir, with texts by Edward O Wilson, and the sweet nothings of anonymous lovers first performance: Thomas Meadowcroft, SWR Vokalensemble Stuttgart (cond. Grete Pedersen), Theaterhaus, Stuttgart GERMANY 18' (2014) In the midst of one of the great extinction | spasms in history..."and I love you to death." _____________________________________________________________ | |
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photos courtesy of: |
2018