Bardin Niskala Duo - Brisbane: Spring of 1987 by Melissa Dunphy

Bardin Niskala Duo performing Brisbane: Spring of 1987. A commissioned piece composed by Melissa Dunphy, in the Atherton Performing Arts Studio.

MUSICIANS:
An-Lin Bardin: Cello
Naomi Niskala: Piano

The Bardin-Niskala Duo (cello and piano) uses contemporary music to explore identity, fight racism, promote cultural awareness, and celebrate humanity during this time of division and racial violence. They commission ALAANA (African, Latinx, Asian, Arab, and Native American) composers to write pieces incorporating the folksongs and children's songs of the composer’s particular cultures, addressing themes of identity, belonging, and community. The Duo is a non-profit organization.
For more information, please visit www.bardin-niskala-duo.com/

About the commissioned piece: Melissa writes "Brisbane: Spring of 1987 is a response to Samuel Barber's art song Knoxville: Summer of 1915, which sets a prose poem by James Agee. The text is a snapshot recollection of a summer evening in Agee's hometown when he was six years old; the following year Agee's father died in a car accident, which led to chaos in his family. I grew up in Brisbane, Australia, and in late spring of 1987, when I was seven years old, my mother had her first major episode of bipolar disorder, which led to a lot of chaos in my family. Interjecting themselves in the piece are Cantonese nursery rhyme melodies which my mother would play for me on cassette tapes. My mother was a refugee from the Chinese Cultural Revolution, and her traumatic experiences probably contributed to her mental illness. The nursery rhymes at first seem very innocent and light, but they quickly overlap and become manic. So, there's always a mixture of light and dark going on in this piece."

Other commissioned composers: www.bardin-niskala-duo.com/composers


Bardin-Niskala HPR Interview with composer Michael Thomas-Foumai:
www.hawaiipublicradio.org/classical-music-conversa…

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