TWO ALVA NOTO AND RYUICHI SAKAMOTO FRI 19 OCTOBER Arts Centre Melbourne, Hamer Hall PRESENTED 1 hr 30 mins, no interval WITH ALVA NOTO aka Carsten Nicolai Electronics RYUICHI SAKAMOTO Piano & electronics

TWO Invited to perform there for the opening of an Bobby Barry looks at how Ryuichi exhibition by Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama, by Sakamoto and Alva Noto came to the House’s Curator and Collections Manager become regular collaborators and Irene Shum, Sakamoto was determined how their working relationship has to “use the house itself as a musical developed. instrument.” To that effect, they attached contact microphones to the glass walls of the “All great architecture,” Philip Johnson once building, dragging rubber headed mallets wrote, “is the design of space that contains, across their surface to produce sounds that cuddles, exalts or stimulates the persons in for Shum evoked “contemplation and longing”. that space.” Much the same could be said of These were then augmented by the pair with the sonic structures built live by Alva Noto keyboards, mixers, crotales, and singing bowls (aka Carsten Nicolai) and Ryuichi Sakamoto. in a 45 minute-long improvisation full Theirs is a music that does not merely inhabit of mystery and strange atmospheres. the space of its performance but transforms it—transforming in turn the way it feels Of the occasion, Shum recalls, “A sudden to inhabit that space for the people in it, rain storm forced the evening’s guests alternately cuddling them, exalting them, into The Glass House at the start. During stimulating them. the performance, the storm cleared into a dramatic red and pink sunset and concluded It was at Philip Johnson’s iconic Glass House in nightfall.” The record of that magical in New Canaan, Connecticut, that Sakamoto evening, the result of only one short day of and Nicolai performed together in 2016. Built rehearsal but the culmination of a working in 1949 and used as a home by the architect relationship between the two musicians until their death in 2005, the International Style stretching back almost two decades, would residence was a pioneering example of the become the pair’s 2018 album, Glass, and will use of industrial materials like steel and glass likewise form the basis for their improvised in a domestic setting, its clear sides making the performance this evening. surrounding environment into what Johnson referred to as “very expensive wallpaper”—a At the time of their first meeting, Ryuichi bucolic, yet highly manicured landscape Sakamoto was already a star. As a member modelled on Poussin’s The Funeral of Phocion. of Yellow Magic Orchestra (with Haruomi Hosono and Yukihiro Takahashi), Sakamoto Vrioon would prove to be just the beginning of revolutionised electronic music, synthesising a long working relationship between the two the electropop of Kraftwerk with Italo disco, artists that would produce a brace of further arcade game sounds, and exotica. As a solo albums. Talking to The Vinyl Factory’s Amar artist—1980’s path-breaking Riot in Lagos in Ediriwira shortly after the release of that film, particular—Sakamoto practically conjured Sakamoto said that before Iñárritu brought new genres out of thin air. As a film composer, them back together, the duo had thought Sakamoto won a BAFTA for Merry Christmas their collaboration finished, “exhausted”. But Mr Lawrence in 1983 and an Oscar for The Last the process of working on The Revenant’s Emperor in 1987. But Sakamoto, as Nicolai soundtrack made them both realise they had would tell The Quietus’ Dale Berning in a 2011 more to say together. “I think we complement interview, had always been “naturally a very each other the way a painter will use many curious person, always looking for new things”. materials in a painting for different textures Thirteen years Sakamoto’s junior, Nicolai and expressions that can’t be realized by was on tour in Japan for the first time in 1999. only one,” Sakamoto explained. “Disparate Under the alias Alva Noto released a trio of elements create something unique, more than brilliant albums and several more singles and the sum of the parts.” With Glass, perhaps EPs, characterised by a minimal, hard edge, their most subtle and expressive work to date, as cool and crystalline in their way as Philip Sakamoto and Nicolai prove there remains a Johnson’s buildings. Attending Nicolai’s concert great deal of life in their working relationship. in Tokyo, Sakamoto immediately recognised Like the Glass House itself, their music has an extraordinary talent. “I immediately thought become a kind of soft machine capable of ‘Something really great could come from reflecting and transforming its environment. collaborating with this guy’,” Sakamoto told Inhabit it, and feel exalted (or cuddled). Berning. A year later, the Japanese magazine —BOBBY BARRY Code Unfinished commissioned Nicolai to remix music by Sakamoto and, impressed by Bobby Barry is a freelance writer based in London. the results, Sakamoto soon started sending Nicolai more and more material to work on, ultimately resulting in their 2002 CD, Vrioon. BIOGRAPHIES ALVA NOTO AKA CARSTEN NICOLAI RYUICHI SAKAMOTO

Carsten Nicolai is a German artist and musician Though born in Tokyo, Ryuichi Sakamoto has based in Berlin. Born 1965 Nicolai is part of been a true citizen of the world, writing music an artist generation who work intensively inspired by the traditions of Okinawa, Indonesia in the transitional area between music, art and Brazil and has collaborated with David and science. With a strong adherence to Bowie, David Sylvian, dramatist Robert Wilson, reductionism Nicolai’s sound experiments into author William S Burroughs, the Three Tenors’ the field of electronic music creating code of Jose Carreras and His Holiness The Dalai Lama, signs, acoustics and visual symbols. among many others. Sakamoto has written Diverse musical projects include remarkable music for the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona collaborations with Ryuichi Sakamoto, Ryoji and for the 400th anniversary of the city of Ikeda (cyclo), Blixa Bargeld and Mika Vainio. Mannheim, Germany. Nicolai scored the music for Alejandro González As a composer, performer, producer, and Iñárritu’s The Revenant. The score was nominated environmentalist, few artists have as diverse for a Golden Globe, BAFTA, Grammy and Critics a resume as that of Sakamoto including Choice Award. pioneering electronic music as a member Nicolai seeks to overcome the separation of of Yellow Magic Orchestra, classical the sensory perceptions of humans by making pieces, minimal/ambient music, many art scientific phenomenons like sound and light collaborations and over 30 film scores. frequencies perceivable for both eyes and ears. Recent works include a collaborative score with Alva Noto for Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Academy Award-winning film The Revenant and the release of Sakamoto’s 14th solo album, async. ASIATOPA MELBOURNE INTERNATIONAL ARTS FESTIVAL

Through AsiaTOPA, Arts Centre Melbourne Melbourne International Arts Festival is one of offers an annual program of Asian focused Australia’s leading international arts festivals and performances, artistic exchanges and new work has an outstanding reputation for commissioning initiatives. Every three years, in partnership with and presenting unique international and a consortium of Melbourne’s key producers Australian dance, theatre, music, visual arts, and presenters, Arts Centre Melbourne leads free and outdoor events each October. AsiaTOPA: Asia-Pacific Triennial of Performing At the heart of Melbourne’s culture of creativity, Arts, a summer long festival celebrating the we curate unique experiences that bring people contemporary Asian imagination across the together and break new ground in culture and city’s stages. AsiaTOPA projects are frequently the arts. commissioned works characterised by international collaborations: collaborations ARTISTIC DIRECTOR EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR between artists, between producers and Jonathan Holloway Kath M Mainland CBE between presenters. 03—21 OCTOBER 2018 asiatopa.com.au festival.melbourne #melbfest

WITH SUPPORT FROM PRINCIPAL PUBLIC PARTNER | Sebastian Mayer | Sebastian

Melbourne International Arts Festival and Arts Centre Melbourne acknowledges S the Traditional Custodians of the lands on which we live, learn and work. We pay PHOTO our respects to the Kulin Elders and all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples.