splinter orchestra
Buy the album at www.splitrec.com or get it on iTunes
The next Splinter Orchestra performance will be at the NOW now festival on Sunday 18th January 2009
The band has recently had it’s first regional tour - starting in Newcastle at This Is Not Art, and over the course of a month The Splinter Orchestra went to Wollongong, Wagga Wagga, Bathurst, Katoomba and back to Sydney.
October 2008 tour:
Thursday 2nd - Friday 3rd : Electrofringe Festival @ This Is Not Art, Newcastle
Thursday 9th : 1/4inch @ Music Farmers, Wollongong
Friday 24th : Wagga Wagga Art Gallery
Saturday 25th : Bathurst Memorial Entertainment Centre
Sunday 26th : October : Footbeat Festival, Katoomba
Monday 27th : the NOW now series @ Serial Space, Sydney
This tour wouldn’t happen without the support of Arts NSW 
The Splinter Orchestra are one of the few large-scale improvisational ensembles working in Australia, or anywhere else for that matter.
Formed in 2003, the group has comprised of up to 50 members. Made up of individuals from the improvised music scene, electronic musicians, sound artists and those who are involved in environmental sound and field recording, the Splinter Orchestra create a stark minimalism despite their large number – without any leaders or conductors.
The group aims for graceful tension, restraint and simplicity. They are intent on becoming one instrument…
Past and present members of the orchestra: Jim Denley, Dale Gorfinkel, Peter Farrar, Karen Booth, Lloyd Honeybrook, Ian Pieterse, Matt Ottignon, Inge Olmheim, Shannon ONeill, Luke Callaghan, Emily Morandini, Ben Byrne, Alex Davies, Daniel Whiting, Joe Derrick, Simon Ferenci, Clayton Thomas, Mike Majkowski, Abel Cross, Milica Stefanovic, Michael Sheridan, Matt Earle, Adam Sussmann, Paul Taylor, Martin Ng, Peter Blamey, Robbie Avenaim, Alex Masso, Jon Rose, Hollis Taylor, Chris Abrahams, Monica Brooks, Amanda Stewart, Clare Cooper, Ben Gerard, Chris Burke, Gail Priest, Reuben Derrick, Rod Cooper, April Fonti, Sam Dobson, Gerard Crewdson, Cass McGlynn and more
“The Splinter Orchestra’s music is like quicksand: it can suck you in, just as each of the 27 musicians relinquished his or her sense of self within this monumental improvising ensemble. Listening to it is like looking down on a jungle from above, with infinite layers of foilage making for an image without surface. Behind every sound lurks another sound, and then another. The result is eerie and weirdly beautiful; more diaphanous then dense, which is a tribute to both the subtlety of the interaction and the sophistication of the recording. Remarkable.”
John Shand, Sydney Morning Herald Jan 12 2008.
Click here to check out an article on Australia Adlib
Check out some excerpts from our album:
Saturday, 27 September, 2008
Splinter at Anode
FIELD TRIP is a free subterranean excursion through art and sound, projections, performance, installation, photography, and music. Along the way you’ll find artist Jess Cook musing on Sydney, and Token Imagination giving a moving performance. ANAT present the live improvised sound art of the 20-piece Splinter Orchestra. Check out Perran Costi’s Portable City installation, odd travel photography by Alex Crowfoot, take a seat in the pop-up cinema to see animation by Ingrid K Brooker, or hang out at the Bodega crew’s car park deck party.
Domain Car Park, Sydney.
Free. 12 - 7pm
For more on Anode go to http://www.anode.net.au/
Thursday, 2 October, 2008
TINA
Featuring The Splinter Orchestra and many friends of the NOW now.
Newcastle 2nd-6th October
Thursday, 9 October, 2008
1/4_inch
Aaron Hull, Scott Morrison and the Splinter Orchestra
Music Farmers 5 Crown lane. Wollongong
1/4_inch presents another eclectic program of audio visual and improvised music
Log onto the audio stream for a preview of what is to come on the evening. http://130.130.76.34:8000/
::Artist Bio's::
Scott Morrison is a Sydney based audio-visual artist. His screen based works have been exhibited and screened extensively throughout Australia and abroad. His primary interest lies in the musicality of
the image, the drama of natural occurence and how this can be re-imagined as new experience. Since 2007 this approach has been presented under the title of "ballad(s) for quiet horizons". The work
has been presented as live performance and exhibited as installation with the Canberra Contemporary Art Space - Gorman House, Kudos Gallery, Sydney and Level 17, Melbourne.
Aaron Hull is a Wollongong/Sydney artist who reguarly moves his practice between multi screen audiovisual installation work and solo sound performances. Aaron has presented work overseas and more frequently in Australia. Prepare to emmerse yourself in a sound world of landscape recordings and synthetic minimal textures. Aaron is the curator of the performance series 1/4_inch, technical officer by day at the UOW, artist and a researcher madly trying to finish his thesis titled "Corroded Memories" by night. Go to Aaron's Website for more info. http://www.halftheory.com/hull/ah/Aaron%20Hull.html
Splinter Orchestra "The Splinter Orchestra's music is like quicksand: it can suck you in, just as each of the 27 musicians relinquished his or her sense of self within this monumental improvising ensemble. Listening to it is like looking down on a jungle from above, with infinite layers of foilage making for an image without surface. Behind every sound lurks another sound, and then another. The result is eerie and weirdly beautiful; more diaphanous then dense, which is a tribute to both the subtlety of the interaction and the sophistication of the recording. Remarkable." John Shand, Sydney Morning Herald Jan 12 2008. Splinter Website http://www.splitrec.com/index.php?go=thesplinterorchestra
Friday, 24 October, 2008
Splinter Orchestra @ Wagga Wagga Art Gallery
The Splinter Orchestra is heading to Wagga Wagga for the first time, as part of an ambitious regional tour.
7pm @ Wagga Wagga Art Gallery
cnr Baylis & Morrow Street
WAGGA WAGGA NSW 2650
Buy tickets here
Saturday, 25 October, 2008
Splinter Orchestra in Bathurst
Sunday, 26 October, 2008
The Splinter Orchestra @ Footbeat Festival
Formerly know as 'Songlines', Footbeat is a festival that celebrates the outstanding natural and cultural environment of the Blue Mountains World Heritage Region. The Festival is a journey, an exploration as much as a celebration of ‘Our Place’. Footbeat festival programs are both informative and celebratory. Our activities add value to the community and play a key role in the development of creative, innovative and accessible arts and environment events. The belief and commitment towards diversity and understanding unifies the vast program.
This closing night gig features some of the excellent Blue Mountains experimental musicians (Sun of the Seventh Sister, Stasis Duo, The Spiders) as well as The Splinter Orchestra and more
From 5pm
St Candice's Hall
158 Katoomba St
Katoomba
Check out the Footbeat Festival website for more info.
Monday, 27 October, 2008
the NOW now series #10
The Splinter Orchestra returns from its travels around NSW to the inner city where it has always lived. Don't miss a rare Sydney gig by this unique large improvising ensemble.
Buy tickets here
@serial space 33 Wellington St Chippendale $10 + 8
Sunday, 18 January, 2009
the NOW now Festival : Sunday
Sunday 18th January 2009
Midday in Wilson Park : KITE MUSIC : Jon Rose and Robin Fox
Afternoon Concert @ Wentworth Falls School of Arts
2:00pm : THE SPLINTER ORCHESTRA : the NOW now's very own house band
2:45pm : Anthony Pateras : solo piano
3:30pm : THE LOOP ORCHESTRA : Australia's longest running experimental music project : John Blades / Richard Fielding / Manny Gasparinatos / Hamish Mackenzie / Juke Wyatt
4:00pm : Mike Majkowski : solo double bass
Evening concert @ Akemi
from 7:00pm :
- Dave Brown / Joe Musgrove / James Heighway/ Reuben Derrick : sax, guitars and electronics
- THE UNAUSTRALIANS
- Hosebeast : Jon Hunter / Ivan Lysiak / Peter Newman : guitar and drums and computer
- Lucas Abela / Sean Baxter
Click here to get your festival tickets.
