Program Notes - Kate Moore Composer

Sensitive Spot - solo piano and electro-acoustic tracks

'Sensitive Spot' is about tempo, in particular the slight variations and gradations of one person's personal perception of metric timing. Many takes of the same piece are recorded and overlaid, pinpointing a musical phenomena that would normally be associated with error - the inability of any human to have an exact sense of metronomic timing. In this case it is used to create something that aspires toward beauty resulting in an intricate tapestry of interwoven rhythmic patterns.

This piece was premiered as an instrumental piece by Modelo62 in March 2006 at a venue called TAG and as a piano piece performed by Saskia Lankhoorn in 'De Stad' in September 2007 at the Korzo Theater. It was premiered by David Friend in America in June 2008 and then performed by Stephen Gosling at MATA in 2009 and Zubin Kanga at ISCM World Music Days in Sydney 2010.

Uisce – variable number of voices

“Uisce”, meaning “water” in Irish, is an installation for voices, where the voices tumble over each other like water falling. The performers read the score in a unique way so that each performer forges an individual pathway through the piece like a current of water in a river. The score itself is a visual artwork, set out on five ceiling to floor panels representing a waterfall.

This piece, written at the Inishlacken artist in residence in Ireland curated by Rosie McGurran, was premiered by The Song Company in 2007 during the Modart07 composers meeting in Sydney directed by Roland Peelman.

Eclipsed Vision – neverending song for everyone

A constant stream of people follow the perimeter of the performance space humming notes that have been given to them as they enter the space. The harmony gradually changes as people exit and re-enter with new tones. The progression of people alludes to the trajectory of planets around the sun or cells of blood around the body. Each page of the score is set out on a sequence of individual cards kept in a box. Each card contains a specific musical tone. As each singer takes a card they sing this tone as they walk around the perimeter of the performance space.

This piece was written in 2006 at Bundanon artist in residence NSW Australia and was premiered in TAG in The Netherlands as a work in progress. It was premiered in America at MassMOCA in 2007 and performed by Focus Vocaal in 2010 in Groningen The Netherlands.

Klepsydra – ensemble and sound sculpture

This piece for instruments is inspired by the ancient Greek Tower of Winds. The design of the Tower of Winds could be considered to represent an exquisite horologium driven by the four Aristotelian elements, that of wind by the direction of the weather vane, fire by the position of the sun according to the sundials, water by the inner workings of the klepsydra and earth by the design of the building itself. The klepsydra is a water driven anaphoric clock measuring the hours according to the rising and setting of the stars and planets. The piece is a musical model of this, delving into the various qualities of time keeping, chronos, kairos, linear and cyclical, measured and felt.

Klepsydra was premiered by ASKO Ensemble in the Muziekgebouw aan ‘t IJ in 2009.

The Open Road – song cycle

The text for this song cycle iis by Walt Whitman, adapted from his epic poem Song of The Open Road. Encased in song, the words speak of travel both physically and metaphorically as endless journeys from birth to death provide the backdrop for the inner metamorphosis of the soul, encouraging the listener to put away anxiety and take to the open road as a symbol for life's journey, a process of discovering "divine things well envelop'd...more beautiful than words can tell".

The poems by Walt Whitman are related to other literary works of the Transcendentalist movement by poets including Emerson, Thoreau and Dickenson. Transcendentalism was a literary and philosophical movement developed in New England - America in the 19th century based on the idea that to understand the nature of reality, one must first examine and analyze the reasoning process that governs the nature of experience'.

The song cycle was premiered at the Korzo Theater in 2008 in The Netherlands as a music theatre production under the direction of Matthias Mooij.