Dr Grace Chan - Ann Arbor Carillon audioworks

“Inventing Future Sounds for Ceremonies: Reimagining Ceremonial Music for the Organ & Carillon” Grace Chan and Nicholas Vines Monday, October 2, 2023 3:50 pm Britton Recital Hall Many keystones of the Western classical canon were commissioned for significant royal or aristocratic events such as births, deaths, marriages and coronations. This ceremonial music has historically diffused from “top down”, influencing ceremonial music for sacred and secular events such as graduations and civic celebrations in wider society. For the upcoming British Royal Coronation on the 6th May 2023: “a new commission for solo organ embracing musical themes from countries across the Commonwealth”. We would like to explore how organ and carillon works are commissioned and composed for ceremonies in contemporary Australian society especially in a time when the idea of “Commonwealth” is evolving. This will involve reimagining and inverting the commissioning and creative process to explore how music for these ceremonial instruments can be inclusive, diverse and reflect the community in which the music is performed. The proposed work would be for carillon and offer an alternative to the coronation commission’s approach. Rather than ‘Commonwealth musical themes’ - which evoke old notions of nationhood and colonialism, as well as bring up issues of appropriation – the basis of the composition would be original melodies reflecting the multifaceted nature of individuals in a culturally diverse and egalitarian society such as Australia.