Alice Giles' Antarctic Musical Journey

Alice in Antarctica Concert Footage

Llewellyn Hall, ANU School of Music
Sunday 26 June 2011

Alice in Antarctica featured images, sounds and stories from Alice Giles' journey to Antarctica in 2011, including a piece Alice created for a live concert at Mawson Station earlier this year as a tribute to her grandfather C.T. Madigan and his role in the Mawson expedition. Also featured were readings from Madigan’s diaries and music he referred to while in Antarctica; the Australian premiere of works for electro-acoustic harp by Australian composers Prof. Larry Sitsky, Jim Cotter, Martin Wesley-Smith and Joshua McHugh; and a new transcription by Nigel Westlake.

The concert included the opening of the Antarctica Conference: Music, Sounds & Cultural Connections, with speakers ANU Vice-Chancellor, Professor Ian Young; Tim Bowden; representative from the Australian Antarctic Division; and Head of the ANU School of Music, Professor Adrian Walter.

This video is recorded in 1080p High Definition and best viewed full-screen.

If the video is slow to load on your connection, switch to the Standard Definition version by clicking the 'HD' icon on the player.

About Alice in Antarctica

Background | Music | Australian Composers | Natural Soundscapes | Challenges

Sponsors | Support | ANU Staff | Links | Alice's Blog

Background

Commemorating the Centenary of the 1911-1914 Australasian Antarctic Expedition

Alice Giles, Harpist and Head of Harp Area at the ANU, received an Australian Antarctic Division Arts Fellowship to travel on the ‘Aurora’ to the Mawson Base in February and March 2011. Alice was accompanied on her journey by 2 harps, audio-visual recording equipment, and the music of past and present composers.

During her trip to the Mawson Base Alice performed and recorded music especially written for the journey, as well as music that was heard at the Antarctic 100 years ago. She also recorded the natural sounds of the Antarctic for composers and ANU students to use in compositional projects. Alice documented her journey, with regular updates, photos and Q&A on her blog site 'Alice in Antarctica'. School groups, interested musicians and commuity members can continue to interact with Alice on the blog about her travels.

Alice is the granddaughter of Dr Cecil T. Madigan, who was a member of the First Australasian Antarctic Expedition of 1911-1914. Alice will be the first Australian professional musician to perform in Antarctica, and her musical presentation at the Mawson Base will celebrate the Centenary of the First Australasian Antarctic Expedition.

During her visit Alice will tape footage of live performances on her electro-acoustic harp, documenting works relating to Antarctica by Australian composers, and works that relate to the music connected with her grandfather’s experience in Antarctica.

Recordings of Alice's musical journey were replayed, along with further creative musical and audio-visual additions at Livestreamed Concert 'Alice in Antarctica" to launch the “Antarctica - Music, Sound and Cultural Connections” Conference hosted by the ANU School of Music 27 – 29 June.

The Music

There are a number of composers working with Alice and new compositions planned to align with this journey and Mawson Base presentation.

A new work by Martin Wesley-Smith based on and including excerpts from the as-yet unpublished diaries of Dr Madigan, reflecting Alice’s relationship with her grandfather;
A work by ANU Head of Composition Jim Cotter;
A new work by ANU composition student Joshua McHugh titled Billions of Penguins;
A composition by Rupert Summerson reflecting his eight trips (including three winters) to the Antarctic to express what short-term creative visitors are unable to: a sense of the inherent music of the Antarctic continent as experienced by someone to whom it feels like home;
A composition by Larry Sitsky, focusing on an outdoor performance on a lever harp made by Tasmanina harpmaker Andrew Thom.
Alice has arranged “Beneath the Midnight Sun” by Nigel Westlake, a piece from the Imax film Antarctica which describes Scott’s fateful voyage to the Pole

Australian Composers

Natural Soundscapes

Writings about the Antarctic often refer to the silence and the wind. These elements, and the whole sonic environment of the Antarctic are unique to the continent, and the project will aim to communicate this natural soundscape to the imagination of a wider audience. Alice will be recording these sounds as they occur in the environment, as well as the ways in which these sonic spaces interact with her and her instrument. Images will be also be documented to accompany these sounds for future use by composers in their works.

Writings from Antarctica also highlight the importance of music to those living in such remote and extreme environments, and the project seeks to communicate this significance through musical exchanges and informal interviews Alice will conduct while on her journey.

The Challenges

The environment is one of the biggest challenges in any expedition to Antartica. For a musical journey such as this there are many unknowns to deal with:

How will the harps cope with the long sea voyage, and temperatures in Antartica?
How difficult will tuning be?
How will the audio-visual equipment (including electro-acoustic equipment for the large harp) withstand the travel and environment?
What will the acoustics of the performance spaces available be (including lighting for video)
Will the harps be able to go outdoors to interact with the environment?
How will Alice play with cold fingers (or gloves)!

Finding out these answers will be a large part of Alice’s personal adventure in this extreme environment.

Sponsors

Australian Government Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities, Australian Antarctic Division: http://www.antarctica.gov.au
ANU School of Music
Camac Harps: http://www.camac-harps.com/
Andrew Thom, Harpmaker: http://www.thomharps.com.au/
Harp Centre Australia: http://www.harpcentre.com.au/

Support

Thanks to Julia Butler for transcribing the CT Madigan diaries, which I have used as reference for musical items heard during 1911-1914.

ANU Project Staff

Professor Adrian Walter; Anne-Maree O’Brien; Josh Chaffey; Kirsty Guster; Julie Cassidy; Arnan Wiesel; Dinah Pollard.

Links

Alice's Blog [http://aliceinantarctica.wordpress.com]

ABC News article and video

Antartica: Music, Sound and Cultural Connections
(Creative Arts Conference ANU School of Music)

Australasian Expedition 1911-1914

More about Dr Cecil Thomas Madigan
(1889 - 1947)

A member of the First Australasian Antartic Expedition 1911-1914 and Alice's grandfather.