Composition & Performance

SELECTED WORKS

Partial Disclosure was commissioned by ACME for No New Noise, their inaugural program for Melbourne Festival in 2017. This work combines live and taped components, using notation, text and visual cues to respond to the notion of technology as a hidden agent that shapes the recorded music we hear through algorithmic reverbs, EQ, compression, autotune etc. This piece sets relatively unaffected instruments against other parts that are saturated by these effects, bringing them to the surface in some subtle and non-so-subtle ways.

Sub-Troppo was composed for my collaboration with the brilliant Sydney based pianist Steve Barry. An extended improvisation departs from a tightly notated introduction that creates a crystalline texture of repeating pitches and bell like chords. The texture fragments and dissolves by gradual improvised processes. The score is available by clicking the button below.

In the first months of 2016, I composed a suite of music called Confrontations for Scott Tinkler and my trio with James McLean and Marty Holoubek. With the support of the PBS Young Elder of Jazz commission, I created six pieces that explored conflict and multiplicity in a variety of notated and improvised configurations. We premiered the pieces at the Melbourne International Jazz Festival in 2016 and had a second opportunity to perform five of the pieces at Wangaratta Jazz Festival later the same year. There was a fantastic energy throughout the latter gig, which was recorded by James Kennedy for broadcast on ABC Jazz. The full album is available at: https://joeoconnor2.bandcamp.com/album/confrontations-live-at-wangaratta

Vignettes is a suite of mini-concerti featuring each member of Penny Quartet in a quasi-soloists’ movement. The role of the soloist is neither stable nor unchallenged. Each miniature responds to an image or situation suggested by the movement titles: Waking Dream (feat. Jack Ward on Cello), Choir Loft Maverick (feat. Amy Brookman on violin), Idle Talk (feat. Madeleine Jevons on violin) and Filigree (feat. Anthony Chataway on Viola). Vignettes was composed during the four-year period 2014-2018. It was premiered at Melbourne Recital Centre in 2018 and was performed for Penny’s Musica Viva regional tour in 2019. The score is available by clicking the button below.

LINKS

https://soundcloud.com/arts-centre-melbourne/5x5x5-joseph-oconnor-the-past-in-my-present

https://peoplesound.bandcamp.com/album/soft

https://musictrust.com.au/loudmouth/soft-joe-oconnor/

https://unfix.bandcamp.com/releases

https://blindspotmusic.bandcamp.com/releases

https://www.jazzhead.com/cms-jazzhead-records/histories-monash-art-ensemble.phps

https://www.jazzhead.com/cms-jazzhead-records/live-at-uptown-paul-williamson-quartet.phps

https://joeoconnor2.bandcamp.com/album/problematic-pennies-live-piano-club

https://jeremyrose.bandcamp.com/album/iron-in-the-blood

https://calgfr.bandcamp.com/album/space-available

https://a-c-m-e.com.au/

https://www.pennyquartet.com/