MNM presents: SYNTHESIS

Saturday, March 16th at Glasshouse - Brisbane CBD- Doors at 7pm, Music from 7:30. $15 entry.

// KRISTIN BERARDI
Berardi is one of the first calls in the Australian Jazz Scene. She has worked with such international greats such as Kenny Werner, Jim Pugh, Ingrid Jensen, Christine Jensen, Pascal Schumacher, Dan Weiss, Thomas Morgan, Gary Versace and such Australian Jazz greats as Julien Wilson, Sam Anning, Barney McAll, James Muller, Jamie Oehlers, Ben Vanderwal, Tony Gould amoungst others. She won the Montreux Jazz Festival's International Shure Voice competition in 2006 and the following year supported Al Jarreau and George Benson at the Montreux Jazz Festival. She won the National Jazz Awards for Voice 2012 at the Wangaratta Jazz Festival and has three Bell Awards for the Best Jazz Vocal Album of the year. Also, in 2010 she was awarded the Freedman Fellowship for Jazz in Australia, and is the only vocalist to ever win this prestigious award. Since 2013, Berardi has been on casual staff at the Brisbane Conservatorium of Music, and WAAPA from 2017. She also guest lectures around universities in Australia and New Zealand, and continues to tour and record albums. She has released ten albums to date.

// NONSEMBLE

Nonsemble inhabit a space between contemporary classical and adventurous pop music, resulting in a diverse output that ranges from sprawling and evocative modern compositions to meticulously crafted chamber-pop. Since forming in 2012, they’ve released two critically acclaimed albums and an EP, played alongside Sigur Ros and Beck at Harvest Festival, were invited to play and talk at TEDxBrisbane, and have toured across Australia, featuring performances at Tasmania’s MONA and Brisbane’s GoMA.

A septet consisting of piano, string quartet, drums and guitar (plus the occasional blast of electronics), the group’s musical backgrounds are as varied as their output: classically trained instrumentalists and seasoned rock players whose musical interests range from obscure electronica and instrumental math-rock to early baroque music. This unique setup and blend of influences provides for a wide palette of sounds. Olafur Arnalds-esque lushness meets Joanna Newsom jubilance, while the shimmering brightness of minimalist composers such as Steve Reich and John Adams rubs shoulders with the intensity of Godspeed You Black Emperor or 65daysofstatic. Nonsemble have a penchant for the rhythmically complex, but theirs is a music where the heart always wins—often in spite of heavy doses of heady conceptualism.