In this week's Backstage Blog, we chat with Miranda Hill about creating and putting on their upcoming show, HOMOPHONIC!, opening at Theatre Works on February 7 as part of the 2025 Midsumma Festival.
Q. What should audiences expect when they come to see Homophonic!?
A. Outrageously good music, performed by outstanding and passionate musicians. Queer history told in song, love songs, an ode to compost for solo piano, music so new the digital ink is still damp and works from hundreds of years past. In general, a really good time!
Q. If Homophonic! had a Spotify Wrapped, what would be on it?
A. Queer Aural History Bangers. Historical Gays-Baroque flourish. Transformative Exploratory Acoustic High Camp.
Q. What are some musical pieces that audiences might recognise/look forward to?
A. Julius Eastman Joy Boy. Experience musical transcendence in this rarely heard work. A beautiful love song by Kevin March exploring the secular cathedral of the self; four world premieres by Australian LGBTIQ+ composers, Quinn Thompsons' beautiful new music using the metaphor of flight to tell the story of Mez, a community organiser in Cygnett, TAS, and a small smattering of the Baroque...
Q. What inspired you to create this work?
A. Homophonic! started in 2011, as a response to a very specific realisation that when playing Mahler's 10th symphony his tumultuous relationship with his unfaithful wife Alma was always mentioned as musically relevant, but Thaikovsky's 6th symphony, which is arguably more infused with longing and sexual turmoil never mentioned his gay lover, and the musicological connection between gay themes in the work and his subsequent suspicious death. As a young person who lived classical music, and was also in the process of coming out: these stories were hidden from me, and Homophonic! started as a way to redress that balance; both performing classical works from the past with a celebration of the composers entire selves, but also commissioning new works by LGBTQA+ composers to create a lineage between Tchaikovsky, Lully, Smyth, Copeland, Britten, Berstein, Cage, and todays composers who live in a totally different time, but speak the same musical language.
As queer people, our culture and history is rarely passed down around a multi-generational dinner table. Homophonic! is our effort to write our history down, to commission new voices and make work that represents the experience and soundworld of queer composers today, celebrated in a homo-normalist performance space. It's such a joy to be able to come to stage in a space where our queer identities are a given, which allows the space to delve deeper into queer theory and identity without being performative or shaping our experiences to fit the heter-mainstream understandings of LGBTIQA+ lives.
It's also more simply: amazing musicians playing amazing music and simply the best way to start the year. The best laughs and the best tears are always at Homophonic!
Q. What has been the most memorable moment throughout the creation / rehearsal process?
A. The RESPECT project is a series of new works for voices and strings inspired by conversations between queer composers and senior members of our LGBTIQ+ community. It's aural history, and celebrating the depth of living history we live alongside. A new work by Tasmanian composer Quinn Thompson inspired by the trailblazing life of Cygnet local and activist Mez is being premiered at TheatreWorks in Feburary. These works have brought us all so much joy and connection to our community. It's a true privilege to be able to be a part of telling these stories, and being part of the record keeping of our living history.
The most memorable moment of all of Homophonic!'s history is simply feeling the love in the room, from audience to performers, bringing this amazing music to life, writing our stories down and singing them out loud. Quite literally.
Don't miss out on this musical masterpiece! Get on down to Theatre Works next month to catch some beautiful tunes. Click the link below to get your tickets:
Comments