Description
Music Magick and the Muse
Saturday 16 February 2019
9:00 am – 5:00 pm AEDT
Larry Sitsky Recital Room
School of Music
Australian National University
William Herbert Place, Canberra ACT 2601, Australia
Welcome to the first of an exciting series of events where Magick and Music collide.
A central feature of these conferences will be the various compositions of Professor Larry Sitsky, one of Australia’s most respected living composers especially those of his dealing with esotericism. The first of these will be on 16 February 2019 at the Australian National University School of Music for 2019.
We have fortunate to feature two premiere musicians in pianist, Edward Neeman, and violinist, Tor Fromyhr – who will play Leila Waddell’s composition, Tone Testament.
This event will appeal to music lovers, musicologists, theosophists and occultists alike.
Dr Fiona Fraser
School of History Australian National University
Esotericism in music and the Australian Theosophical music scene in the 1920s
Dr Fraser will talk esoteric elements in the work of such composers as Scriabin and Phyllis Campbell and music in Australia in the 1920s and 30s.
Edward Neeman Piano
The Golden Dawn: seven pieces for solo piano / music by Larry Sitsky.
Inspired by meeting noted performer and teacher, Eleonora Sivan, and some of her former students at a music teachers’ conference, composer Larry Sitsky wrote this seven-movement suite, each of which would be performed by one of Sivan’s former students. The piece was first performed in November 2010.
For Sitsky, music is fundamental to life itself and is inextricably linked with mysticism. He named the suite after an early 20th century magical society in England, the Golden Dawn. The society used an esoteric language, Enochian, from which the names of the various movements were taken. The work is powerfully expressive, a consummation of elemental life forces. The style of performance is generally fantastic and improvisatory.
Australian-American pianist Edward Neeman has performed across five continents. Critics have lauded him as a “true artist” with “an excellent technique” who “isn’t afraid to put a distinctive stamp on whatever he touches, without resorting to mannerism.”
Dr. Neeman has appeared as a soloist with the Prague Philharmonic, Sydney Symphony, Melbourne Symphony, Kentucky Symphony, Symphony of Northwest Arkansas, and the American West Symphony with conductors including Andrey Boreyko, Alan Buribayev, Chen Lin, Ruben Gimeno, Enrique Perez Mesa, Nicholas Milton, Pascual Osa, and Vladimir Verbitsky.
Dr. Neeman’s debut album, Rachmaninoff & Sitsky, was released to wide acclaim in March 2016. The album includes a premiere recording of the Piano Sonata No. 1 by Larry Sitsky, written especially for Neeman.
Dr. Neeman regularly gives masterclasses around the world.
