LHU

ROSS BOLLETER - CV

Ross Bolleter was born in 1946 in Perth. He studied composition and history and theory of music at the University of Western Australia, and performance and piano teaching at the Academy of Performing Arts. He is a composer/improviser whose work is regularly heard in the United States, Europe and Australia, especially on the ABC.

Primary areas of obsession:
- Improvising and composing pieces which have their home in a variety of natural environments
- Devising pieces for musicians to perform simultaneously in different parts of the world (Synchronicity Project)
- Working with children in improvisation workshops to foster and extend their creativity
- Devising and extending techniques on piano (both functional and ruined), accordion and organ
- Bringing the preceding elements together in a variety of forms of music theatre

"What grabs my imagination are conceptual pieces where ordinary life is intruding everywhere. Most of my impulse to work in traditional forms is absorbed in composing for film and video where the possibilities for humour and subversion lie so close to hand (and one can reach for a sardonic waltz, fugue or tango ... ). 1 continue to be strongly attached to working collaboratively with visual and conceptual artists, poets, philosophers and animals."

Recent Performances
JANUARY-MARCH 2000
Tango Concerts at Side On Cafe, Sydney and Kulcha, Perth featuring my own compositions
MARCH 1999
Concerts in Gallery Cafe, Sydney and Kulcha, PerthSEPTEMBER 1998
Tour of Hungary, Slovakia and Czech Republic. Concerts in Nova Zamky, Lengow and Plasy
MARCH 1998
Performance of my own composition Enigmata for Accordionist
Story Teller in the Adelaide Festival. Shared billing with Guy Klucevek (New York), Otto Lecher
(Vienna) and George Butrumlis (Melbourne)

Recent Recordings
APRIL 1999
The Night Moves on Little Feet - A CD with Rob Mulr
Accordion Lives : Eulogies and Wakes for old accordion players. Three works that feature original accordion music and stories by Ross Bolleter with sound work by Rob Muir
Tracks: The Night Moves on Little Feet
Fisarmonica
Enigmata
Launched at Kulcha, Fremantle, Western Australia and at Side On Cafe, Annandale, Sydney
FEBRUARY 1999
Crow Country - A CD
Tracks: Unfinished Business : Ruined Piano Solo
Under Rookwood. Double Bass Solo
That Time (Simulplay) - Double Bass and prepared Piano (with Ryszard Rata/czak)
Labyrinth Tango - Accordion Solo
Piano Dreaming - Ruined Piano Solo
Launched: Kulcha, Fremantle, Western Australia and the Gallery Cafe, Annandale, Sydney
To be released on Pogus Productions, New York, May 2000
Tracks 3 and 1 played on Lucky Oceans' 'The Planet' (Radio National) and Andrew Fords' 'The
Music Show' (ABC FM)
WINTER-SPRING 1998
Left Hand of the Universe - A CD with Michal Murin, Zdenek Plachy, Milan Adamciak, Dan Wiencek, Stephen Scott and Nathan Crotly
Tracks: Piano Archeologic
Widdershins
Synchronomania
Played October, November, January on ABC FM's 'New Music Australia'
Launched: March 2000 at Kulcha, Fremantle, Western Australia
This CD is a mix of the first of three simultaneous performances between musicians in Colorado, Slovakia and Western Australia (15th of September 1997 - a collaborative project entitled Left Hand of the Universe)
JANUARY 1994
CD: THE COUNTRY of HERE BELOW for Decaying Accordions and Ruined Pianos [TALL POPPIES
TP451
Tracks: The Complete History of a Minute
*The Nethermost Parts of the Dark
Labyrinth
Myo Sei / Dark Sky
Euridice in Hades
* also available on ABC FM's "The Listening Room' CID (the ALPHA album).
MARCH 1998
'Enigmata' - for Accord lonist-Storyteller
Composed for the Adelaide Festival and given its inaugural performance by myself on 1 March. Robyn Archer.. "One of the most exciting and moving events of the FestivaP (Adelaide Advertiser). Subsequent performances; Rozelle Writers' Centre, Sydney, Kulcha Multicultural Arts Centre of Western Australia.
SEPTEMBER 1997:
'Southpaw'
Piano pieces for one, two, three or four left hands together with left hand stories. Performed at a live concert in Studio 621, ABC Perth on 21 September, and subsequently went to air on ABC FM's New Music Australia in November 1997.

Audio Cassette
Temple of Joyous Bones (1985)
Solo improvisations on accordion, prepared piano and electric piano
Ruined Piano at Cue (1986)
Solo improvisations on a piano left open to the elements at Nallan sheep station
Jamals (1989)
Collaborative compositions with Rob Muir for piano, accordion, harmonium, voices and tape
J i nx (1990) with Ryszard Ratajczak (Synchronicity Project)
THE SYNCHRONICITY PROJECT (1989 - 1998)
A RADIOPHONIC PIECES (presented on the ABC's THE LISTENING ROOM)
September 1989 simulplay 1: Jim Denley in Linz, Austria on ORF, Ross Bolleter in Perth, Western
Australia on ABC
October 1989 THAT TIME (Simulplay 11) Ryszard Ratajczak, Sydney, ABC FM - Ross Bolleter, Perth, ABC FM
October 1991 POCKET SKY for six musicians in European and Australian Cities




	Ruined piano for Ross Bolleter
	Zruinovaný klavír Rossa Bolletera Austrálsky hudobný skladateľ a improvizátor Ross Bolleter presne pred 10 rokmi našiel v dome svojich priateľov zdemolované piano. Od myšlienky k realizáciám skladieb pre tento nástroj nebolo ďaleko. Nahrávalo sa rok, od júla 1987 do júna 1988, a ešte v tom roku vznikla demokazeta Bolleterových sólových improvizácií pod názvom Ruined Piano at Cue. Jeho záujem o tento koncept pokračuje a v roku 1993 nahráva štyri skladby pre Decay Accordion and Ruined Piano (poškodený akordeón a zniŹený klavír). Všetky skladby boli niekoľkokrát odvysielané v rádiu, skladba Dark Sky je na Bolleterovom CD - The Country of Here Below (Tall Popples, TP045), skoršia skladba “zruinovaného klavíra” sa realizovala aj na CD Austral Voices v New Albion Recordings, San Francisco. V roku 1991 realizuje pod vplyvom Rossa Bolletera Austrálčan Nathan Crotty projekt A little bit of piano from the Laundry a predkladá verejnosti demokazetu zvukového prieskumu možnosti zruinovaného klavíra. Spolupráca Rossa Bolletera so Stephenom Scottom a Danom Wiencekom ho viedla k realizácii Amzac Day Ruined Piano Event na Colorado College (25. 4. 1992). Hral na dvoch snehom zničených klavíroch na školskom dvore, zatiaľ čo 15.000 míľ na juhozápad o 3. hodine ráno západoaustrálskeho času Nathan Crotty zapálil svoje šaty na Hills Hoist, osvetľujúc svoju hru na “zruinovanom” Gulbransonovom pianíne. Bolletera inšpirovali dynamické a vynikajúce diela Stephena Scotta pre Bowed Piano a jeho Bowed Piano Ensemble, ako aj Piece for Ruined Organ Dana Wienceka a jeho Ruined Film (1995), ktorý vychádza z hudobného a vizuálneho materiálu z Amzac Day Performance (1992). Táto ich plodná spolupráca vyvrcholila do WARPS. Ross Bolleter tiež exaktne kategorizuje “zruinovaný klavír” pre WARPS Taxonomy of the Ruined Piano, kde píše: “O “zruinovanom klavíri” (skôr než zanedbanom - 'Neglected' alebo spustošenom - 'Devastated') hovoríme, keď bol vystavený všetkým vplyvom počasia s výsledkom, že zopár alebo žiadny z jeho tónov neznie ako tóny naladeného klavíra. Hoci má “zničený klavír” svoj rám a telo viac alebo menej neporušené (aj keď je ozvučnica - rezonančná doska veľmi popraskaná), dá sa na ňom hrať zvyčajným spôsobom. Naproti tomu na “spustošenom klavíri” (Devastated Piano) sa väčšinou hrá v skrčenej alebo ležiacej polohe.” WARPS vytvorila tiež kategorizáciu patologických odchyliek klavíra, kde rozlišuje klavíre na: Inactive (pasívne), Neglected (zanedbané), Abandoned (spustnuté), Weathered (zvetrané), Decaying (rozpadnuté), Ruined (zničené, zruinované), Devastated (spustošené), Dismembered (rozobrané), Decomposed (rozložené). V roku 1996 Bolleter iniciuje simultánny projekt The Left Hand of the Universe. Šesť koncertov na troch “zruinovaných klavíroch” sa v jednom čase odohrá na troch miestach. Simultánnych improvizácií sa zúčastní Stephen Scott na Colorado College (Colorado Springs, Rocky Mountains, USA), Ross Bolleter v Sydney a Michal Murin v slovenskom Šamoríne. Projekt bol realizovaný v čase od septembra 1997 do januára 1998. Koncept uvažuje s namixovaním koncertov na CD tak, ako by ich počulo “veľké ucho nad Zemou” - simultánne všetky tri súčasne - a so zostrihom videozáznamov do dokumentárneho filmu, ako by ho videlo “veľké oko nad Zemou”. V úvode projektu The Left Hand of the Universe Bolleter píše: “Zruinovaný klavír (Ruined Piano) je ľavou rukou hudobného vesmíru. Zruinovaný klavír sa rozpadáva, stáva sa troskou, keď na ňom hráte. Zakaždým, keď na ňom hráte, poznávate nástroj znovu. Núti vás improvizovať, lebo ladenie a mechanizmus pod vašimi prsta mimizne. Je tiež “ľavou rukou” v zmysle opustenosti, spustnutosti, zoslabnutia, úpadku, hlbokého smútku, rozpadu a pod. Keď na ňom hráte, vtiahne vás do sveta intuície, úzkostného zostupu do tmy.”
	Ross Bolleter - The Ruined Piano Forty years ago the Ruined Piano was the bar piano in the goldmining town of Big Bell. Big Bell with its art déco hotel is now deserted and demolished and the bar piano can be found at Nallan sheep station, 10 kilometers north of Cue (700 km north east of Perth). The previous owners of the sheep station had left the piano out of doors where for several years it was exposed to the extreme temperatures of a semi.desert climate and a flood. As a result of these circumstances it has returned to a state of nature whereby the notes that do not work are at least as interesting as those that do. It is a decaying box of unpredictable dongs, bonks, bongs, buzzes, donks, clicks and dedoomps with not a single note (perhaps excepting D) sounding like a conventional piano. I discovered the Ruined Piano in June 1987 when Glenys my wife suggested we have a family holiday with our children Amanda and Julian at Nallan Sheep Station. After we had been there day or so April Peterson, one of the present owners of Nallan Station, told us about a neglected piano in one of the sheds. I was not keen to look at it, this was meant to be a holiday and I had seen wrecked pianos before. This one was so totally done for however that I was totally, won over. I had been preparing a variety of pianos – both uprights and grands – during the preceding three years, but this one, without the festoon of guitar jacks, rubbers, coins and pegs that I normally use, was „prepared“ beyond any piano I had played or heard. Having brough a Marantz CD 330 and a pair of microphones to record an ambient tape of the crickets and a variety of sheep station sounds, I immediately hung the microphones over the rafters and made a recording of the Ruined Piano. With a variety of bugs crawling in concentric circles on the decaying front panel of the „piano“ as I played and with birds singing, roosters crowing, genetarors starting up, the owners complaining: in short, everyone and everything having its say, the recording turned out to be a lusty union of the environment and the piano. In: EVOS 6 – 1987-8, Promoting Contemporary Music in West Australia

	ROSS BOLLETER - CV Ross Bolleter was born in 1946 in Perth. He studied composition and history and theory of music at the University of Western Australia, and performance and piano teaching at the Academy of Performing Arts. He is a composer/improviser whose work is regularly heard in the United States, Europe and Australia, especially on the ABC. Primary areas of obsession: - Improvising and composing pieces which have their home in a variety of natural environments - Devising pieces for musicians to perform simultaneously in different parts of the world (Synchronicity Project) - Working with children in improvisation workshops to foster and extend their creativity - Devising and extending techniques on piano (both functional and ruined), accordion and organ - Bringing the preceding elements together in a variety of forms of music theatre "What grabs my imagination are conceptual pieces where ordinary life is intruding everywhere. Most of my impulse to work in traditional forms is absorbed in composing for film and video where the possibilities for humour and subversion lie so close to hand (and one can reach for a sardonic waltz, fugue or tango ... ). 1 continue to be strongly attached to working collaboratively with visual and conceptual artists, poets, philosophers and animals." Recent Performances JANUARY-MARCH 2000 Tango Concerts at Side On Cafe, Sydney and Kulcha, Perth featuring my own compositions MARCH 1999 Concerts in Gallery Cafe, Sydney and Kulcha, PerthSEPTEMBER 1998 Tour of Hungary, Slovakia and Czech Republic. Concerts in Nova Zamky, Lengow and Plasy MARCH 1998 Performance of my own composition Enigmata for Accordionist Story Teller in the Adelaide Festival. Shared billing with Guy Klucevek (New York), Otto Lecher (Vienna) and George Butrumlis (Melbourne) Recent Recordings APRIL 1999 The Night Moves on Little Feet - A CD with Rob Mulr Accordion Lives : Eulogies and Wakes for old accordion players. Three works that feature original accordion music and stories by Ross Bolleter with sound work by Rob Muir Tracks: The Night Moves on Little Feet Fisarmonica Enigmata Launched at Kulcha, Fremantle, Western Australia and at Side On Cafe, Annandale, Sydney FEBRUARY 1999 Crow Country - A CD Tracks: Unfinished Business : Ruined Piano Solo Under Rookwood. Double Bass Solo That Time (Simulplay) - Double Bass and prepared Piano (with Ryszard Rata/czak) Labyrinth Tango - Accordion Solo Piano Dreaming - Ruined Piano Solo Launched: Kulcha, Fremantle, Western Australia and the Gallery Cafe, Annandale, Sydney To be released on Pogus Productions, New York, May 2000 Tracks 3 and 1 played on Lucky Oceans' 'The Planet' (Radio National) and Andrew Fords' 'The Music Show' (ABC FM) WINTER-SPRING 1998 Left Hand of the Universe - A CD with Michal Murin, Zdenek Plachy, Milan Adamciak, Dan Wiencek, Stephen Scott and Nathan Crotly Tracks: Piano Archeologic Widdershins Synchronomania Played October, November, January on ABC FM's 'New Music Australia' Launched: March 2000 at Kulcha, Fremantle, Western Australia This CD is a mix of the first of three simultaneous performances between musicians in Colorado, Slovakia and Western Australia (15th of September 1997 - a collaborative project entitled Left Hand of the Universe) JANUARY 1994 CD: THE COUNTRY of HERE BELOW for Decaying Accordions and Ruined Pianos [TALL POPPIES TP451 Tracks: The Complete History of a Minute The Nethermost Parts of the Dark Labyrinth Myo Sei / Dark Sky Euridice in Hades also available on ABC FM's "The Listening Room' CID (the ALPHA album). MARCH 1998 'Enigmata' - for Accord lonist-Storyteller Composed for the Adelaide Festival and given its inaugural performance by myself on 1 March. Robyn Archer.. "One of the most exciting and moving events of the FestivaP (Adelaide Advertiser). Subsequent performances; Rozelle Writers' Centre, Sydney, Kulcha Multicultural Arts Centre of Western Australia. SEPTEMBER 1997: 'Southpaw' Piano pieces for one, two, three or four left hands together with left hand stories. Performed at a live concert in Studio 621, ABC Perth on 21 September, and subsequently went to air on ABC FM's New Music Australia in November 1997. Audio Cassette Temple of Joyous Bones (1985) Solo improvisations on accordion, prepared piano and electric piano Ruined Piano at Cue (1986) Solo improvisations on a piano left open to the elements at Nallan sheep station Jamals (1989) Collaborative compositions with Rob Muir for piano, accordion, harmonium, voices and tape J i nx (1990) with Ryszard Ratajczak (Synchronicity Project) THE SYNCHRONICITY PROJECT (1989 - 1998) A RADIOPHONIC PIECES (presented on the ABC's THE LISTENING ROOM) September 1989 simulplay 1: Jim Denley in Linz, Austria on ORF, Ross Bolleter in Perth, Western Australia on ABC October 1989 THAT TIME (Simulplay 11) Ryszard Ratajczak, Sydney, ABC FM - Ross Bolleter, Perth, ABC FM October 1991 POCKET SKY for six musicians in European and Australian Cities