‘A sensory pleasure. I lost all sense of time and place’ Audience member
‘…like sitting by a billabong at dusk’ Audience member
the space between us… is a multi-directional live music experience that is a sonic landscape painting connecting the listener more deeply to themselves and the to each other through contemplation of a shifting palette of colour, melody, textures and spaciousness. It contemplates the wide vistas of outback Queensland and its many moods from stormy skies to blooming flora and iridescent green peaking through red earth.
This work exists in several versions and is entering a process of reimagining with ensembles around the world in 2024/5.
Timeline:
2022: Brisbane Music Festival – 7-piece notated version for performance at St James Cathedral. View video highlights below.
2024: The Space Between Us with Souls Impact Percussion at MoPAC July (video highlights coming soon, photo gallery here
2025: The Space Between Us with Majella Clarke and Ina Ortzo at the Arvo Part Centre in Estona.
2025: The Space Between Us with Korvat Auki, Finland.
2025: The Space Between Us with Music School of Lisbon New Music Ensemble featuring solo percussionist Luis Bittencourt, Portugal.
2025: The Space Between Us at Akranes Lighthouse with Majella Clarke, Camilla Ceroni, Anna-Maria Tabaczynska, and Olof Sigridur Valsdottir in Akranes, Iceland.
2025: The Space Between Us for Orchestra premiered by Beecroft Orchestra, Sydney, Australia.
the space between us… was co-commissioned by Alex Raineri for Brisbane Music Festival, with generous support from the APRA AMCOS Art Music Fund (in partnership with the Australian Music Centre and SOUNZ), Arts Queensland, and the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body.
This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through Music Australia and Creative Australia, its principal arts investment and advisory body.
In July 2022, I drove 1000km west from my home just north of the easternmost edge of Australia to the tiny town of Quilpie in Channel Country.
I was struck by the space, the hugeness of the sky, the shimmering mirages on the horizon, and the dotting of trees and fence lines that danced in the distance, and vibrant greens against red earth.
This piece is inspired by my experience of that vast landscape and is composed for performance in a highly reverberant space, such as the 7-second reverb at its premiere at St John’s Cathedral in Brisbane as part of the Brisbane Music Festival.
The work is in 7 sections (some of which are like mini-pieces) that are programmatically titled.
1 Horizon stretches far and wide / Iridescent green dances across red earth
2 Blue-white mirage flickers and glistens like water
3. Moody sky, dark-purple swirls
4 Heavy clouds press the earth, Stormbirds cry
5 Gently blooming, a kaleidoscope of wildflowers turn to face the sun
6 Deep-blue sky pools (Reprise of 2)
7 Awaken dormant seeds and blanket me with colour (After the rains)
Several are inspired by the huge sky and glistening mirage on the horizon (1.1, 2, 6). They draw attention to the resonance of the building by using alternating notes and pauses. The notes activate the reverb, the pauses allow the listener to hear the reverb tail.
Other sections/pieces reference the changing mood of the sky as storm clouds gather (4 and 3). These are harmonically more dissonant, moody, and at times crackle with energy.
I was also inspired by the riotous colour of flora after rain, from the verdant, iridescent green of budding plants to the great swathes of wildflowers after the floods. The sections/pieces reference this (1.2, 5 and 7) The last is especially joyous, and at times, wild, with a racing tempo and several dramatic tempo changes that ramp up the energy in a quasi-finale.
The title refers to the physical space between the musicians, and the huge sense of space I felt whilst travelling in Channel Country as recalibrated my mind and body to a less human-centred landscape.
November, 2022
Corrina Bonshek
Listen here: https://soundcloud.com/bonmusic/the-space-between-us
Brisbane Music Festival Premiere:
Music Composition & Installation direction: Dr Corrina Bonshek
Performers: Alex Raineri – piano, Thea Rossen – percussion, Jeremy Stafford – guitar, Courtenay Cleary – violin, Miriam Niessl – violin, Daniel Shearer – cello, and Luke Carbon – clarinets
Produced by Brisbane Music Festival and Corrina Bonshek & Collaborators.
the space between us… was co-commissioned by Alex Raineri for Brisbane Music Festival, with generous support from the APRA AMCOS Art Music Fund (in partnership with the Australian Music Centre and SOUNZ), Arts Queensland, and the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body.
With thanks to James Enchalmeir (in-ears sound), DeepBlue (equipment), and Jai Farrell (sound and video recording).
