MCL Annual General Meeting Sunday
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MCL Annual General Meeting Sunday, November 24th, 2019, Richmond Library Meeting Room 1. Greetings. 2019 – 22nd Year (MCL Annual General Meeting) 2. Apologies Present: Andrián Pertout (President), Johanna Selleck (Secretary), Antonio Tenace (Treasurer) In Attendance: Colin McKellar, Howard Dillon, Houston Dunleavy, Joel Crotty, Susan Frykberg Apologies: Eve Duncan (Vice-President), David Keeffe, Wendy Suiter, Julia Tahourdin 3. Adopting of the Minutes of the previous AGM. Moved by Colin McKellar; Seconded by Johanna Selleck; Carried. The minutes of the meeting of Sunday, December 16, 2018 were read and confirmed as a true and correct record of the matters raised. 4. MCL Chairperson’s Report, 2019 We have a lot to celebrate in 2019. And with the New Year almost around the corner, we can now collectively visualize 2020 as an even greater year. And although some of our goals, dreams and aspirations for a superb and glorious future have mellowed over the years, we as composers should rejoice our good fortune. We are extremely lucky to be artists, and should indeed consider ourselves relatively prosperous for having been given this opportunity to share our creativity with the world. The Cambridge Dictionary describes an ‘artist’ as “someone who creates things with great skill and imagination.” Now, with that benevolent characterization of you and I, what more could we ask for? We are truly blessed with a gift that will in the end deliver more riches than any of our amassed worldly possessions ever could. I would like to formally announce that the Melbourne Composers’ League, thanks to our greatest treasurer ever, Antonio Tenace, now has a central archive, which includes MCL concert audio and video recordings, as well as program notes now available to MCL members via the website portal. As Antonio explained to members in an October 2019 email: “All known media content has been collated from concerts spanning 22 years and uploaded to Google drive in order to showcase the MCL’s legacy and considerable contribution to contemporary art music composition in Australia.” This is truly a great achievement for the MCL and we should all be extremely grateful to Antonio Tenace for his generous allocation of time and energy to this invaluable project that will no doubt go a long way in not only preserving the legacy of the MCL, but also providing an important resource to members and future researchers of Australian music composition. To keep you up to date, it may be today stated that since its inception in 1997, the MCL has presented 619 works in concerts, comprising 526 compositions from Australia, 92 from the Asia-Pacific region, 18 from Europe, 4 from Latin America, and 3 from USA. Forty-four concerts have been presented which Melbourne Composers’ League, PO Box 2518, Fitzroy Business Centre, Victoria 3065, Australia Email: [email protected] Website: http://www.melbournecomposersleague.com juxtapose the music of Australia with that of another country, including music from Chile, China, Germany, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Israel, Italy Japan, Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Romania, Russia, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey and USA. The executive committee should be thanked for making all this happen. And happen may I add by the enthusiasm and commitment to Australian music of volunteers of a not-for profit organisation. At present the Melbourne Composers’ League has ninety-four members. MCL activities in 2019 began with the first installment of ‘Elbow Room’ on Sunday, 14th April, 2019 at Wesley Anne, Northcote, Melbourne. As stated previously, these extremely important concerts provide a more informal platform for members to participate in the presentation of their works via the submission of a simple expression of interest. The MCL web site describes the ‘Elbow Room’ events with the following words: “The concerts are not formally curated and are open to all styles of music, providing a valuable opportunity for composers to present their newest works, experiment and test out ideas or re-visit older works in a friendly and conducive atmosphere. The concerts are known for their broad and interesting array of new music by local composers, including acoustic and electronic works. For audiences, the diverse mix offers something for everyone to enjoy or be surprised and challenged by.” The Wesley Anne edition incorporated the music of composers Brendan Black, Gary Butler, Julian Cafarella, Howard Dillon, Nahed Elrayes, Susan Frykberg, Christina Green, Caerwen Martin, Paul Moulatlet, Allira Preuss, Emili Rackemann, and Natalya Vagner performed by Johanna Selleck and Allira Preuss (flute), Christina Green (voice and guitar), Houston Dunleavy (clarinet), Marianne Rothschild (violin), Peter Anderson (piano accordion), Rosa Scaffidi (piano), and Gary Butler (guitar). The second installment of ‘Elbow Room’ took place on Sunday, 23rd June, 2019 at St Stephen’s Anglican Church, Richmond, Melbourne, and was presented as the ‘Elbow Room Festival,’ which consisted of two concerts back to back. This year’s ‘Elbow Room Festival’ was dedicated to Melbourne composer Jacob Taurins, who sadly passed away in July, 2018 at the age of 50 after a long battle with Multiple Sclerosis. I, along with Johanna Selleck had a close connection with Jacob as composition supervisors during his Bachelor of Arts studies at the University of Melbourne. His Study for flute and piano presented at this year’s ‘Elbow Room Festival,’ one of the works that I personally overlooked. Honoring their Past President in a 2018 newsletter, the Rotary Club of North Essendon stated the following about his passing: “Jacob received university degrees in arts, business and music prior to his diagnosis (at the age of twenty) and was an accomplished musician, able to sing, play many instruments and wanted to be a music composer.” It was fitting to dedicate this event to such a great and inspirational human being. The first concert incorporated the music of composers Julian Cafarella, Christina Green, David Henderson, Livia Judge, Colin McKellar, Emili Rackemann, Jacqui Rutten, and Dindy Vaughan, while the second, Gary Butler, Simon Charles, John Arthur Grant, Alan Holley, William Kimber, Paul Moulatlet, Johanna Selleck, and Jacob Taurins. The performers included Danaë Killian, Christina Green, Emili Rackemann, William Kimber (piano), Peter Sheridan, Livia Judge, Johanna Selleck (flute), Jacqui Rutten (mezzo-soprano), and Gary Butler (electric guitar). The ‘curated’ MCL project in 2019 was entitled ‘The Birds will Sing them off: New music from Australia and the Philippines’ and featured the Sydney-based Sirius Ensemble (Lisa Breckenridge – flute, Ian Sykes – clarinet, and Clare Kahn – violoncello) in two separate concerts. The first concert took place at the Church of All Nations, Carlton on 9 November, 2019, and featured the music of Brendan Black, Eve Duncan, Houston Dunleavy, Joseph Giovinazzo, Alan Holley, Livia Judge, Maria Christine Muyco, and Margery Smith. The second ‘repeat’ concert took place at St Oswald’s Anglican Church, Glen Iris on 10 November, 2019. It was a great honor to have Filipino composer Maria Christine Muyco present at the Melbourne event. I was unfortunately missing in action during the event (attending the inaugural PUENTE Festival Interoceánico with the Orquesta Marga Melbourne Composers’ League, PO Box 2518, Fitzroy Business Centre, Victoria 3065, Australia Email: [email protected] Website: http://www.melbournecomposersleague.com Marga in Valparaíso, Chile), but managed to spend some time with Maria Christine Muyco on the day of her departure (going out one hour after my own arrival – but what the heck, life is for living). 2020 promises to be an exciting year with numerous concert events planned, including the two customary Elbow Room concerts at Wesley Anne (Northcote) and St Stephen’s Anglican Church (Richmond) in Melbourne, as well as a concert in March, 2020 featuring Australian music at the University of the Arts-Tiranë, Albania presented by the Albanian Composers Association, and a complete concert in late 2020 of Australian music hosted by the Asociación Madrileña de Compositores as part of COMA de Música Contemporánea de Madrid in Madrid, Spain. Not to mention two curated concerts that includes ‘Exploring the Boundaries’ in association with ABC Classic FM – a concert in response to the 250th anniversary of Cook’s sighting of Australia featuring Michael Kieran Harvey (piano), Peter Neville (percussion), Tristram Williams (trumpet) and Peter Sheridan (bass flutes) on September 26th, 2020 at ABC Southbank to a live audience and recorded for national broadcast and podcast. Andrián Pertout, 24 November, 2019 5. Treasurer’s Report. MCL Treasurer’s Report 24 November, 2019 1. FINANCIAL STATEMENT 2018 – 2019 Total Income for financial year = $3,898.75 Majority of Income: $2,310 from membership subscriptions $1,440 from the box office No income from grants Total Expenditure for financial year = $3,167.82 Majority of Expenses: $1,028 for room hire (concert venues) $679 for meals and entertainment (Japanese composers dinner 14 & 15 April 2018) $458 for postage and mailouts The rest of the sub-totals are normal concert and operating expenses Transfers between accounts are in parity and concern the bank balance in relation to income and expenditure, and also tax deductible donations Net Total for this period = $730.93 (Surplus) Melbourne Composers’ League, PO Box 2518, Fitzroy Business Centre, Victoria 3065, Australia Email: [email protected]