BOLT ENSEMBLE

 "The Sunday evening performance at the North Melbourne Town Hall was presented in impressive 16 speaker surround sound, with the performers in the middle of the space and the audience divided into 2 blocks facing each other. James Hullick presented a composition for various instruments, vocalists and soundscape. The piece had a radiophonic feel, as acoustic instrumental explorations skittered around the room, accompanied by barely discernible voices, snippets of text floating to the surface above surging field recording atmospherics. This nicely crafted and spatialised piece took on an even more impressive dimension, when at the conclusion the stage curtain opened to reveal the musicians and actors who had in fact been performing live.”

ABOUT THE BOLT ENSEMBLE

The BOLT Ensemble is a music and sound art ensemble dedicated to presenting projects artistically directed by James Hullick. There is a focus on working with techniques and ideas that exist outside mainstream music practices and there is a focus on working combining traditional music instruments with technology. Projects take the form of concerts, radio broadcasts, multimedia events, music theatre, gallery based installations, recordings and recordings. While BOLT does tend to work towards creating innovative projects, the act of being innovative for innovation's sake is something the ensemble has worked hard to avoid. Rather, the BOLT Ensemble is dedicated to providing audiences with listening and sensory experiences that pose questions, rather than answers, about culture, communities and the quest for better living.

The BOLT Ensemble was formed in 2004, before JOLT Arts Inc. had been created. The ensemble has never had a fixed line-up, fluidly changing depending on the demands of any given project. The ensemble can be as small as two players or as large as twenty. BOLT's founding members were Imelda Baligod and Will Martina and they formed the core of the ensemble during its early development before both Imelda and Will moved overseas - Imelda to London and Will to New York. Since that time the regular members of the ensemble have been Martin Mackerras, Adam Simmons and Peter Neville. Biographies of the various artists currently working with BOLT are given at the bottom of this page. 

BOLT performing in NEBULON at Bennets Lane. photos by: Warren Fithie

PROJECTS

Listed below are projects undertaken by BOLT that currently remain in repertoire. Click on the links to read more about the events the projects have been involved in.

SHIMMERSONG (with the Footscray Community Arts Centre's AMPLIFIED ELEPHANTS)

for chamber orchestra, synthesizers and video (2007)

SK-EYE-LIKE MIND (in JOLT's INTERACTACON concert)

by Hullick for flute, clarinet, sax, viola, double bass, percussion and realtime score (2007)

SWALLOWING MACHINE (in JOLT's NEBULON concert)

by Hullick for flute, clarinet, sax, percussion and quadraphonic electronics (2007)

THE WHITENESS (LIQUID ARCHITECTURE 2005)

by Hullick for flute, clarinet, violin, cello, sax and realtime score (2005)

+ REDUCTION (KINGS ARI GALLERY)

by Hullick for pre-recorded violins and cellos and CD players (2004)

ONE CUTE MOTHER (CONICAL GALLERY)

by Hullick for violins (2004)

Upcoming 2009 projects for BOLT are:

THE NIS (with the AMPLIFIED ELEPHANTS)

a mutli-media/music theatre event for large chamber ensemble, sound artists, theatre performers, animations and 2D gaming sequences (2009)

GOTHIC SONICA 

a collection of compositions presented over 3 concerts developed by BOLT drawing on the chamber orchestra line-up (2009)

CONTACT

The BOLT ENSEMBLE are managed through JOLT Arts Inc. by:

JAMES HULLICK

ARTISTIC DIRECTOR

click this link to contact page

BOLT ENSEMBLE: BIOS

Martin has been trained as a cellist both locally and abroad, and performs in a wide variety of groups from experimental to pop, jazz, contemporary and classical. She has written music for film, art films Artesian and Reception and a feature Lost and Found (Apra Nominated). Martin has written string arrangements for bands like Dan Brodie, Kram, Millionaire Souls, Lou Bennett and the Sweet Cheeks, Naked Raven, 67Special, Creech and Germany's Colourblind. She has toured extensively through Europe, the Balkans, Australia, South Africa and America with the David Chesworth ensemble, Geminiani Orchestra, Naked Raven, Skin String Quartet and Aphids. Currently Martin runs the Silo String Quartet - a contemporary/jazz string quartet that does a lot of new works by established and emerging composers.

Martin has appeared with BOLT in JOLT's 2007 SHIMMERSONG project and will again be performing with the BOLT Ensemble for THE NIS in 2009.

www.caerwenmartin.com

Percussionist / Conductor Timothy Phillips holds degrees from the Canberra School of Music and the Sate University of Music in Karlsruhe, Germany studying with Daryl Pratt and Professor Isao Nakamura respectively. As a performer Timothy appears with Orchestras, chamber ensembles and in solo shows and he has also created original music for DVA (mixed ability) Theatre, Ignition (NMIT) Theatre and Westside Circus. As a conductor Timothy is the founder of the Arcko Symphonic Project, which launched in 2008, he has also conducted premieres for Kate Neal, Dianne Peters and Daniel Salecich and has appeared at MIAF and on recordings for Move records.

Phillips appeared with BOLT in JOLT's 2007 NEBULON concert and will again be performing with the BOLT Ensemble for THE NIS in 2009.

Mary Doumany is a virtuoso harpist in her own right, Mary also composes and sings her own material. Her voice has an intimacy and fluidity that seem effortless and there is a unique freedom to her interpretations.

She is one of a new breed of Australian cross genre artists, who incorporate influences from many styles and traditions to create their music. This is very much in evidence on her new album of original solo harp works, entitled ‘Elemental’. Julie Raines, harpist with the MSO describes it as ‘unusually beautiful, superbly written, displaying Mary Doumany’s mastery of interesting special effects and her true insight and understanding of the harp’s character.’

Passionate about exploring and demonstrating the versatility of the harp, Mary says that improvisation is an essential element of her compositions. ‘I love the excitement of improvisation, especially when playing solo. It gives you the freedom to respond to the moment and the audience you’re with’.

THE NIS is Doumany's first appearance with the BOLT ensemble.

www.marydoumany.com

Adam plays saxophones, clarinets and flutes in all styles of music, with a focus on original jazz and improvised music. Based in Melbourne, Australia, Adam has been released on numerous CD's, tours regularly to Europe, USA, Australia and the Pacific. At any time Adam is always working with between 5-10 groups as a regular member.

Simmons appeared with BOLT in JOLT's 2007 NEBULON and INTERACTACON concerts and will again be performing with the BOLT Ensemble for THE NIS in 2009.

www.adamsimmons.com

Andrea Keeble is a Melbourne violinist specialising in contemporary music.

Recent tours include Silo String Quartet at Carnegie Hall, New York, USA 2008, The David Chesworth Ensemble performing at the “Arenes de Montmartre” in Paris, “The Big Chill Festival”, Ledbury U.K. 2007 and in Brisbane 2008 “Restrung” Festival with the Brodsky String Quartet, and Aphids production of David Young’s “Skin Quartet” performing at Sydney Opera House, Portland (USA) TBA Festival, Brussels and Johannesburg 2005. Recording artists and performers include Renee Geyer, Mick Harvey, David Bridie and The John Butler Trio. Recent National tours include My Friend the Chocolate Cake 2005 and The Black Arm Band “murundak”2008.

Andrea is a member of the quintet Cosmo Cosmolino which was nominated for an ARIA Award in 2005 and her collaborative recording project Stroll received critical acclaim for its debut CD “Carnival of Lost Souls” and was a finalist in the “International Songwriting Competition” in Nashville, USA 2005.

Andrea is a Music Faculty staff member at Monash University, a string lecturer at the University of Melbourne and an AMEB examiner. THE NIS is Andrea's first project with the BOLT ENSEMBLE

Martin Mackerras is a composer and clarinettist living in Melbourne. He studied at the Queensland Conservatorium of Music and finished his degree at the Victorian College of the Arts. He was the recipient of a Fulbright Scholarship and QE2 Scholarship to study with the legendary clarinettists Charles Neidich and Ayako Oshima Neidich at the Manhattan School of Music in New York where he lived for nearly two years.

He currently teaches clarinet at Monash University where he has held improvisation and composition seminars and workshops for young musicians, he also teaches at various secondary colleges. He plays clarinet with many Melbourne bands and ensembles in varying styles and has composed music for various ensembles, theatre and film.

In 2005 Martin released his first CD titled AS ALL THE HEAVENS WERE A BELL.

Mackerras plays clarinet in the BOLT ENSEMBLE and has performed in the JOLT shows NEBULON and INTERACTACON. In 2009 Mackerras will perform with BOLT in THE NIS.

www.martinmackerras.com

Flautist Belinda Woods is emersed in the Melbourne Improvised music scene. Performing regularly with ensembles such as Bohjass, Meter Maid and the Sunwrae Ensemble. Belinda explores the use of texture and contour within her playing to paint scenes of rich complexity, focusing on the acoustic nature of her instrument.

Currently a Masters of Music student at the VCA, Belinda extends her abilities towards the composed music of the 20^th and 21^st centuries, the structure and innovation of which she draws into her own improvising and composition.

Artistic director of the ” Make It Up Club” Improvised music series from 1993 – 2007 Belinda has played a major role in supporting and enhancing the development of the local music scene. Her passion for music that is boundless, challenging and left of centre keeps her explorations alive, her desires to a form of music that is inspirational and exciting, building on the energy of creator and listener alike, transcending the unattainable. This is the force that oils the machine!

Woods has performed her original work in JOLT's WIGGA CONCERT 2 and is a key performer for JOLT and the Footscray Community Arts Centre's THE NIS project. Woods has recent;y joined Hullick's BOLT ENSEMBLE and has quickly established herself as a core member of the group. create