GABRIELLA SMART

The Electric Crystal

SUNDAY October 15th
at 7.30 p.m. [doors at 7]

For 35 years, Gabriella Smart’s practice has embraced performance, composition, curation, education and advocacy. At the People’s Republic she delves into the unique sounds of the Electric Crystal (inspired by the Cristal Baschet invented by the Baschet Brothers in France in 1952), a hand-crafted instrument invented by Dylan Crismani (SA) in 2019 and the only one of its kind. This fragile, microtonally tuned instrument made from glass rods and aluminium, generates volatile vibrations and random frequencies that feedback on themselves, creating a drone-like soundscape. At times the Electric Crystal can be heard in its amplified, rich rawness; at other times it is completely masked by the electronics it generates. Its sound production is unstable, relying on the friction between water and glass.



GABRIELLA SMART holds a PhD in Music from the University of Adelaide and is an active researcher with publications on new music, curation and Australian musical history. An internationally recognised multi-award-winning pianist specialising in classical and new music, she also works across an array of electronics, acoustic instruments, samples and field recordings, employing electronic means to fuse and distil the natural resonance of acoustic instruments.
She has performed extensively in Australia and internationally, premiering over 80 new works for solo piano by Australian and international composers in Australia, Europe and China, and collaborating with musicians as diverse as Elena Kats Chernin, Cat Hope, Lisa Gerrard, Constantine Koukias, Cathy Milliken, Brian Ritchie, Jon Rose, and Erkki Veltheim. She has performed in the Sydney, Melbourne, Perth and Adelaide International Festivals, MONA MOFO, TURA (Perth), in China (Forbidden Palace Beijing, Shanghai Conservatory, Lyceum Theatre Shanghai) and across Europe. In 2010, she represented Australia at the World Expo in Shanghai. Gabriella has also given numerous live and recorded broadcasts for ABC Classic FM. An active and engaged composer, she has been commissioned by the Australian Dance Theatre, the Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide Film Festival, Perth International Festival, ABC Classic and Art Zoyd (France).
Gabriella’s excellence has been recognised through major awards including residencies and prestigious fellowships. In 2020/21 she was the recipient of the Paris Residency from The Australia Council for the Arts, a South Australian Government Creative Fellowship, and an APRA AMCOS Art Music Award for Excellence by an Individual in 2019. In 2018, she was awarded a Prelude Composer Residency (Australia) and a UNESCO City of Music residency in Katowice, Poland. Previously, she has been the recipient of a Churchill Fellowship (2010), national Helpmann Award (2009), and Ruby Award for Best Event in South Australia in 2009.

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