Topology (musical ensemble)

Topology is an indie classical quintet from Australia, formed in 1997. A leading Australian new music ensemble, they perform throughout Australia and abroad and have to date released 12 albums, including one with rock/electronica band Full Fathom Five and one with contemporary ensemble Loops. They were formerly the resident ensemble at the University of Western Sydney. The group works with composers including Tim Brady in Canada, Andrew Poppy, Michael Nyman, and Jeremy Peyton Jones in the UK, and Terry Riley, Steve Reich, Philip Glass, Carl Stone, and Paul Dresher in the US, as well as many Australian composers.

TOPOLOGY, from left: Christa Powell, Robert Davidson, John Babbage, Bernard Hoey, Therese Milanovic

In 2009, Topology won the Outstanding Contribution by an Organisation award at the Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) Classical Music Awards for their work on the 2008 Brisbane Powerhouse Series.[1]

TOPOLOGY, from left: Kylie Davidson, Bernard Hoey, Robert Davidson, Christa Powell, John Babbage

Members

Bernard studied viola at the Queensland Conservatorium (B.Mus 1987) and at Michigan State University (Master of Music 1993) with John Graham and Robert Dan. He studied in summer schools with Kim Kashkashian (Aldeborough), the Alban Berg Quartet and the Kronos Quartet. While in the US, he played with the Arlington Quartet, touring the US and UK. He was a violist in the Queensland Philharmonic Orchestra from 1994-2000, and is now Associate Principal Violist of the Queensland Orchestra, playing solo parts in works such as the sixth Brandenburg Concerto. He has directed several concerts for the Queensland Philharmonic’s Off the Factory Floor chamber series.

Christa Powell (violin) & Bernard Hoey (viola)

Christa is a busy freelance musician. When she’s not playing with Topology, she plays a wide range of chamber music, her long-held passion (she won the 4MBS Chamber Music Prize for three years running—1989–91). She also plays orchestral music with the Queensland Orchestra, and gigs with bands and teaches contemporary violin techniques at the Queensland University of Technology. Christa studied at the Queensland Conservatorium with Carmel Kaine, obtaining her Master of Music in 1996, and in London with Emanuel Hurwitz of the Melos Ensemble. In London, she played with the Olyver Gypsy ensemble.

John Babbage (saxophone) of TOPOLOGY

John studied saxophone at the Queensland Conservatorium of Music graduating with a Diploma in Jazz in 1987. He has worked extensively around Australia with various groups including the Queensland Orchestra, Tony Hobbs Big Band Theory, the Nasty Saxophone Quartet with Dale Barlow, and Big City (with whom he released an album of his own music). He has been a member of Topology since 1996 and during this time has toured to the USA, Canada and Indonesia, working with many composers including Terry Riley, Michael Nyman, Tim Brady and Jeremy Peyton-Jones.

(B.Mus., QLD Conservatorium, A. MUS. A.) is an experienced recording artist, accompanist, teacher, chamber ensemble performer and soloist, and has received acclaim internationally and locally as a pianist. Her time with William Corbett Jones in San Francisco has been a major influence on her understanding of piano performance style and ensemble work. Weirder gigs include performing as bait-gig backing artist for Savage Garden, and with Vulcana Women’s circus, cabaret with Kransky sister Annie Lee, and hard-core minimalist 60′s music/performance art.

Aerial of Kylie Davidson, Bernard Hoey & Christa Powell of TOPOLOGY

Therese is in demand as both performer and teacher. Previous performance highlights include ABC broadcasts, Musica Viva Country Wide and In Schools touring, with Collusion. Recently, she has enjoyed performing with Topology, including collaborations with the Brodsky String Quartet, Grant Collins, Brisbane Festival, and Salihara Arts Festival in Indonesia. Other performance projects, through Ikon Music, feature quirky music-making with soprano Emma Baker-Spink and other kindred spirits. In 2009, Therese completed her training with the Golandsky Institute in New York to become the first certified Taubman Instructor in Australia. She teaches at Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University, Young Conservatorium and privately.

Robert Davidson (double bass) of TOPOLOGY

Robert is currently a lecturer in Composition at the University of Queensland. Davidson studied composition with Terry Riley in California and New York, and completed a PhD in composition at the University of Queensland. He previously studied South Indian vocal music in Kerala, India. He was a bassist in the Australian Opera, Sydney Symphony, and Queensland Symphony orchestras before working as a freelance computer programmer. Davidson formed Topology with its four other principals in 1996. His compositions are regularly performed, recorded and broadcast around the world. All of Australia’s professional orchestras and many leading soloists and ensembles have commissioned and performed his works.

Recordings

Image Album
* Topology (1999)

Topology’s first CD features originals (composed by Robert Davidson and Tom Adeney).

 * Perpetual Motion Machine (2003)

Topology’s second album features Australian music juxtaposed with leading works by British and American composers.

 * Future Tense (2004) (with Full Fathom Five)

Topology’s cinematically dramatic instrumental/electronic collaboration with Full Fathom Five which was also used as the soundtrack for French film, ‘The Burial’.

 * Airwaves (2006) (with Loops)

This project is a mammoth look back over 100 years of radio broadcasts, taking some of our favourite key moments and making music from the speech’s inherent melody. The voices of Clinton, George H. Bush, Einstein, Freud, Martin Luther King, Hitler, Churchill, Gandhi, FDR, Chamberlain, Princess Elizabeth, Menzies, Whitlam, Earhardt, Malcolm X, Edward VIII and many, many others are transformed into song. Click the download button for a full transcript of the album.

 * Scat (2007) ([Music by Tim Brady])

A collection of music by Canadian electric guitarist/composer Tim Brady

* Big Decisions (2009)

Big Decisions features Rob Davidson’s speech-melody piece using the spoken voices of Gough Whitlam, Sir John Kerr, Malcolm Fraser and other players in Australia’s biggest political event – the 1975 Dismissal of the government. The CD also features some of Topology’s most requested music, including John Babbage’s “Chop Chop”, Paul Stanhope’s driving “Throbology” (also known as “Throb”) and Bernard Hoey’s “I Am Petrified”.

* Healthy (2010) (with Loops)

The debut collaborative album with Brisbane-based jazz trio Misinterprotato.

* Difference Engine (2011)

Topology’s saxophonist John Babbage may just be related to the inventor of the computer, Charles Babbage. Called “Difference Engines”, Charles Babbage’s mechanical computers were never actually completed in his lifetime, possibly in part due to his “special” personality. It wasn’t till his 1820s designs were made into working devices in 1989 by the London Science Museum that his work was entirely vindicated.

Using notes and rhythms in place of gears and wheels, for the title track, John Babbage has made music from the idea of these mechanical computers. As bassist Robert Davidson explains, it’s “music inspired by and mimicking mechanical computers but finding flaws and humanity in the process”.

* Ten Hands (2013)

Topology's 10th album, commences with one piano played by all five members simultaneously. This is a single, continuous one-hour piece comprising strings, piano, saxophone and electronics. The performance of 10 Hands includes a theatrical presentation with collaboration of performance artist and director, Annie Lee of The Kransky Sisters. Inspiration for the piece has come from Pat Metheny’s “The Way Up”, developed in improvisation sessions which were recorded, then forensically examined to prepare the ultimate recording and performances.[2]

Awards and nominations

APRA Awards

References

  1. 1 2 "Winners - Classical Music Awards". Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA). Retrieved 28 April 2010.
  2. ↑ 'Topology' Band website- 10 Hands Tour
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