Scalp #003: Sing Warmly

Scalp returns to 21 Shepherd Street to present their 3rd program, “Scalp 003: Sing Warmly”, an evening of music that walks the line between performance and sound installation. Making the space an equally collaborative entity, each piece will investigate acoustically spatialised sound in distinctly individual ways.

Ensemble director Louis Wishart will premiere his new work “Approaching a Mother, May 13-19 and a Winter”, influenced by his transcription studies of various cicada and bird species while in residence at Bundanon, exploring sound as a compulsive, involuntary act, where the linearity of the piece is directed by the movement of the audience in the space.

Australian composer Charlotte Leamon will also premiere her new work “Intertidal Pools”, which depicts the ocean-scape of Gerringong rockpool through an immersive sonic landscape, with spatialised performers moving around the space as a living ocean, tracing the ebb and flow of currents.

Continuing Scalp’s tradition of programming world premieres alongside canonic works, this July will also celebrate the work of American avant-garde pioneers Pauline Oliveros and Alvin Lucier.

Lucier’s seminal work “I am sitting in a room” features a solo performer activating the resonant frequencies of the space with a simple, self-referential monologue.

Oliveros’ work “Four Meditations for Orchestra” takes the ensemble through four text-based scores, creating a highly unique guided improvisation that prioritises presence, resonance, and connectivity.

70 minutes of new music for spatialised winds and percussion

Programme

"I am sitting in a room" (1969), Alvin Lucier

"Four Meditations for Orchestra" (1996), Pauline Oliveros

"Approaching a Mother, May 13-19, and a Winter" (2026)*, Louis Wishart

"Intertidal Pools" (2026)*, Charlotte Leamon

*World Premiere

Ensemble: Louis Wishart - Trumpet/Melodica

Uma Volkmer - Trumpet

Gabriella Hill - Tenor Saxophone

Mina Johansson - Tenor Saxophone

Olivia Bryant - Trombone

Alex Grace - Trombone

Hayley Chan - Percussion

Charlotte Leamon - Percussion

Clancy Reynolds - Spoken word

(scalpensemble.com)