Student Composer in Residence 2020 - Noemi Liba Friedman

Noemi Liba Friedman created a new musical work, Threshold, for her 2020 Residency, associated with the exhibition Multivocal. Noemi is a multi-genre musician and composer, trained in Jazz Vocal Performance and Classical Music Composition and having studied Mediterranean scales and performance with Yair Dalal (Iraqi-Israeli violinist and Oud player) in his studio in Yafo-Yafa and at the Rimon School of Music in Tel Aviv. Noemi is interested in creating highly textured, exploratory works that often speak to current and unfolding events that she sees as marking our times as extraordinary.  Threshold was composed specifically for the quarter-tone Federation Handbells , along with percussion and voice.   “Threshold integrates Arabic and Mediterranean quarter-tone scales within a new music work, depicting the heart wrenching journey of Middle Eastern asylum seekers who arrive here in Australia from the sorrow of war, much as my parents did 70 years ago”, Noemi explains. “Authenticity and inclusivity are important to me, so, given the subject matter of this work, alongside five professional musicians, some of whom themselves have migrated from these regions, I have engaged percussionists and musicians from community groups, such as the Building Bridges project which sees Jewish, Christian and Muslim youth working together toward greater understandings.”  

The work was performed in surround sound, at the Old Quad, where the Multivocal exhibition was displayed.  Vocal improvisors/ performers included internationally acclaimed Gelareh Pour and Sarvenaz Monfaredi, percussion Soloists included Kaylie Melville (Speak Percussion, Rubiks) and Percussion Maestro Peter Neville (Elision). The work was performed by the Melbourne Conservatorium Percussion Ensemble and community bells chorus under the baton of MCM head and Melbourne Symphony Orchestra Percussionist Brent Miller.