BY STEPHANIE ESLAKE
We often consider the harp to be an instrument that’s a little rare, a little beautiful, a little mysterious. But could defining this instrument and boxing it into the category of ‘otherworldly’ limit our ability to recognise its versatility?
Jessica Fotinos will be the first to tell you the harp isn’t bound by style or era. One of Australia’s foremost harpists, she brings her experiences in performance with the Melbourne, West Australian, and Tasmanian symphony orchestras (among others) into Berceuse – a new concert program hosted by the Forest Collective this June 6 and 7.
Berceuse is a concert of exploratory music by living composers, and not only will Jessica bring this music to life on harp, but she returns to the Forest Collective as a guest artist having been one of its founding members.
Jessica, you were a founding member of Forest Collective and now you return as a guest artist for this performance. Tell us what the Forest Collective means to you.
Forest Collective began humbly as a group of enthusiastic uni friends wanting to play some new and experimental music together. It has just grown and grown since then to become one of Melbourne’s most eclectic and dynamic grassroots arts organisations.
It is an absolute joy to be a part of a Forest Collective event once again. It is an ensemble dear to my heart. My artistic collaborations with the Forest Collective’s Evan Lawson go all the way back to our first year of university. As soon as he found out I was a harpist, he immediately asked if I would help him with harp writing, and play in his end of year composition recital. He became really focused on harp composition, and would listen to me practice and compare notes at the end.
Tell us about Berceuse. I’m interested in the idea that it’s about “weaving a journey of myth and lullaby”, particularly as we often associate your instrument with these otherworldly themes. Why does this concert serve your instrument and your own performance styles?
Harp is one of the world’s truly ancient instruments, and yet its modern form was only established in 1905. This makes it an ideal instrument to evoke ancient and mythical ideas like Orpheus’ lyre or a Dionysian prayer (‘Thriambus’), with all the harmonic and expressive possibilities of a modern instrument.
In this concert, Evan’s composition really explores the resonance of the modern harp – a much larger and richer sound than ancient or folk versions of the instrument – as well as the haunting timbral effects of attaching Blu Tack to the strings to alter their vibrations. It is an instrument of storytelling, which can gently rock a cradle, or bring worlds crashing down.
You were in fact the very first harpist ever to be accepted into the Australian National Academy of Music. Why do you feel that your instrument is still considered ‘rare’ today, when in fact it is so versatile across style and era?
I’m glad you recognise its versatility! There is still such a strong stereotype of the ‘angelic’ harp in popular culture, but you only need to look at the symbol embossed on your next pint of Guinness to be reminded of the harp’s importance in folk music and storytelling throughout history. The harp has accompanied songs of battle and war as much as love songs and lullabies. Think how the story of Beowulf might have sounded with its original harp accompaniment! The harpist Benjamin Bagby studied and recreated this in his stunning performance of the Anglo-Saxon epic.
What have you learnt from your performances of harp within the country’s major orchestras, which you now bring to exploratory performances such as those with Forest Collective?
I don’t really think too much about genre. I approach every performance in the same way – I’m striving for what the composer wants, what the conductor wants, or what the music itself wants to say. Boxing it in to the rigid confines of prescribed genre rules doesn’t necessarily help the development and performance of a work. If you come in with such rigid ideas about what is and isn’t ‘allowed’, you can lose the music and what it has to say.
How have you found that your choice of instrument has made an impact on your career, particularly with regards to perceptions of harp as being ‘rare’ or ‘different’ in some way to other classical instruments?
I suppose studying harp could be a bit lonely at times, as I was the only one in my year at the Victorian College of the Arts, and again during my time at ANAM. But it also gave me the opportunity look at the harp from other perspectives.
I regularly attended piano class and string class, as the harp sort of bridges the gap between those two instrumental groups. I loved taking the knowledge and ideas from those classes and applying it to my instrument. It’s also part of the reason why I adore the collaborative process of chamber music.
Regardless of instrument, what do you feel that initiatives like the Forest Collective offer to Australia’s music community?
Forest Collective prides itself on its rich environment for independent artists to develop interdisciplinary and experimental ideas alongside traditional art forms. It knocks down the confining walls of the concert hall and allows the concert-going experience to grow beyond the ordinary. There is a lot of terrific music out there that needs to be heard and Forest Collective gives it voice. Their international Call For Scores program has led to two world premieres in this weekend’s Berceuse concert – works that are extraordinary, fresh and original, and that deserve the audience’s eager ears.
In many ways, our modern world is flooded with music, but so much of it is mass-produced and passes us by like traffic or furniture. Forest Collective’s concerts instead offer music that is distilled, precious, unique, and new. And at Berceuse, you will hear an extraordinary admixture that is equal parts provocative and soothing, intense and gossamer, telling stories that are simultaneously ancient and modern.
Jessica will perform with the Forest Collective at 7.30pm July 6 and 7 in Church of All Nations, Carlton. Tickets and the full line-up on the Forest Collective website.
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