World-class Melbourne improv string trio BOWLINES releases second album
Three of Australia’s leading improvising bowed string players, Bowlines, will launch their new CD, Not All Who Wonder Are Last, on Sunday 7 October at Carlton Church of All Nations.
Not All Who Wonder Are Last is a wellspring of sparkling improvised instrumental music created by Australia’s leading klezmer violinist, Ernie Gruner, with virtuoso players Helen Mountfort (cello; Cosmo Cosmolino) and Hope Csutoros (violin, viola; The Stiletto Sisters, Circus Oz).
The recording captures the trio’s inspired interplay, their musical brilliance, and the love, trust and respect they bring to each other, their music, and the moment.
The CD is true to the trio’s collaborative and creative sensibilities in every way, with input from artists including storyteller Niki Na Meadhra. Niki’s choice of the title Not All Who Wonder Are Last is a beautiful word play on J R R Tolkien’s “Not all those who wander are lost” line from the poem “All that is gold does not glitter” (Lord of the Rings). It speaks to the notion that slowing down to wonder may be at first a delay, but ultimately it is an enhancement of pace, focus and direction in a creative journey.
Like watching a flock of birds circling at dusk, engaging in an unexpectedly enlivening conversation with a stranger at a party, or turning—on a whim—to saunter down an unfamiliar path, Not All Who Wonder Are Last evokes a sense of exploration, playful whimsy and the inherent value of taking time to wonder and ponder.
The launch concert will be a theatrical and musical extravaganza, featuring improvised music from Ernie, Hope and Helen, along with creative contributions from Adam Simmons (saxophone, flute, clarinet and words), Karen Berger (hang drum), and members of the Melbourne Playback Theatre Company as well as Travel Art Theatre Company.
Bowlines concerts are a breath-taking experience for audiences, inviting them to dive into a rich and intense new world of ephemeral music. The players’ melodies curve and weave, together and apart, creating harmonies that fill the space and reach into the heart. In the words of one audience member, “… it’s inspiring to be in the presence of the communion, the communication, the listening, the connection between the musicians and to receive the gift of their musical creation, happening in the moment”.
Their CD launch will offer Melbourne audiences a rare opportunity to hear these three world-class string musicians creating new music in the moment and inviting others to experience the magical and transformative power of collective improvisation.
ABOUT BOWLINES
Ernie Gruner formed the Bowlines trio in 2012 to create new improvised music by virtuoso bowed string players from eclectic backgrounds with a shared passion for improvising. The group’s music is inspired by The Necks (Australian experimental jazz trio), Coolangubra (atmospheric, genre-defying music), Kronos Quartet (celebrated contemporary US string quartet) and Born In A Taxi (improvisational theatre). Not All Who Wonder Are Last is Bowlines’ second CD (their debut was Circling Strangers).
MUSICIAN BIOS
Ernie Gruner (violin/viola, octave violin)
Ernie is widely recognised as Australia’s leading klezmer violinist and a significant contributor to the development of Australia’s world music scene (earning him a profile in Seth Jordan’s 2010 book World Music: Global Sounds in Australia).
Ernie has co-founded, performed, recorded with and guested in countless bands, theatre and cabaret groups, at countless major festivals and concert venues. He appeared twice on ABC TV’s musical quiz program, Spicks and Specks, and has more than 75 recording credits to his name.
His studies in New York, Kracow, Budapest and Montreal have helped him develop a technical brilliance that gives wings to his love of improvised music, resulting in inspired performances across multiple genres including klezmer, jazz, blues, Latin, art music, and folk (Middle Eastern, Balkan, Irish, Australian bush, gypsy), as well as in cabaret and theatre.
Renowned for his ambitious and ingenious musical collaborations, and as a much-loved fellow musician on the world music scene, he’s been a member of Dya Singh band (Sikh), Kalinka (European), Zingara (world/gypsy), Howlin’ Wind Band (world/rock) and accompanied Zulya Kamalova, Kavisha Mazzella, Bronwyn Calcutt, Gypsy Fire – Matthew Fagan, Texicali Rose (mariachi) Colin Reid, Brahim Benim (Moroccan), Afandi Siyo (Oromo/East African). As a classical musician, Ernie led the Monash String Quartet for 10 years and was an orchestral violinist.
His theatre involvement and collaborations include Melbourne Playback Theatre, Cafe Scheherezade, Progress and Melancholy, Our Chalk Circle, Dante, Russian Soup , Emma Celebrazione, Blue Absinthe and cabaret with Jugularity.
Hope Csutoros (violin, viola) (left hand side of photo)
Hope Csutoros studied at the Victorian College of the Arts and the Budapest Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Hungary. Performances and touring overseas includes My Friend the Chocolate Cake, Stiletto Sisters, Circus Oz, State Orchestra of Victoria, Phantom of the the Opera, David Chesworth Ensemble, Chamber Made Opera, and Deflocked String Quartet. Her recording credits include Midnight Oil, Deborah Conway, Mark Seymour and Renee Geyer.
Helen Mountfort (cello) (centre of photo)
Helen Mountfort performs with Fine Blue Thread, Cosmo Cosmolino and Not Drowning, Waving. She was a member of DeFlocked, improvising string quartet, and also David Chesworth Ensemble and My Friend The Chocolate Cake. She has recorded with many Australian artists including Missy Higgins, Archie Roach, Paul Kelly, Midnight Oil, Renee Geyer, Mark Seymour and the John Butler Trio.
SPECIAL GUESTS—BOWLINES CD LAUNCH
Adam Simmons (saxophone)
A virtuoso player of saxophones, clarinets, flute and shakuhachi (Japanese flute), Adam Simmons stretches the boundaries of modern composition and infuses a sense of wonder and playfulness into musical art forms better known for their gravitas. His performances are not so much ‘concerts’ as staged auditory spectacles—drawing audiences in to share in the uniquely communal power and euphoria of his music and art. He has a rare and uncanny ability to elicit the very best from the highly accomplished musicians he works with, as well as evoking spine-tingling emotion and rapturous applause from audiences.
Karen Berger (hang drum)
Karen has worked in Australia, Asia, Africa and Europe as a director, musical director, actor and musician. Career highlights include: devising and performing in an Edinburgh Festival Fringe First winning show, Believer (1992); improvising fairy stories for Bosnian children in Slovenian refugee camps (1993); musical directing and performing in a dance/music piece at the Melbourne City Baths, Walk on Water (2000); devising and directing a West African tour of Ashanti short stories, Who Stole Daawa’s Tail? (2004); playing teapot for the Melbourne International Arts Festival and Singapore International Children’s Festival in the Teapot Ensemble of Australia (2007) and co-directing ‘Forest Beats’, an outdoor circus show with 300 Zambian street children (2013).
Last year she was commissioned by the Dandenong Ranges Music Council to compose Bells of Peace for the Federation Bells at Birrarung Marr.
The original Hang (meaning ‘hand’ in Bernese German) was created in Switzerland in 2000. It uses some of the same basic physical principles as a steelpan, but modified in such a way as to act as a Helmholtz resonator – i.e. Air resonance in a cavity. Each note has a complex range of harmonics.
Travel Art Dance Company
Founded in 2003, Travel Art Dance Company brings together dancers from a range of dance and movement backgrounds, with the motivation behind the group being the combination of choreographed and improvised dance in a performance context. The experience of the dancers in the group ranges from contemporary dance, classical ballet, improvisation and creative dance to yoga, gymnastics, acrobalance, circus skills and martial arts.
Melbourne Playback Theatre Company
Melbourne Playback is a leading interactive theatre company that has been creating performances, professional training and workshops which transform, empower and entertain for over 30 years. They use personal story and the principles of improvisation as ways to awaken new perspectives.
NOT ALL WHO WONDER ARE LAST—CD DETAILS
by Bowlines
Release date: October 2018
Name of album : Not All Who Wonder Are Last
Artist : Bowlines
Musicians: Ernie Gruner (violin, viola, octave violin), Helen Mountfort (cello), Hope Csutoros (violin, viola)
Genre/s : World / improvised / art music / strings / classical
Recorded: Live at Northcote Uniting Church, Victoria, Australia, 30 October 2016
Recorded by: Nao Anzai and Yasutomo Umeki
Mixed & mastered by : Nao Anzai, Toys Of Noise
Australian distribution : Readings Carlton (309 Lygon St, Carlton), Captain Stomp (46 Forest Rd, Ferntree Gully) and L’Espresso Ballarat (417 Sturt St)
Via Ernie Gruner ernie@erniegruner.com ($20 inc postage within Aus)
Digital: https://bowlines.bandcamp.com/
Label : Independent
Cover art : Jamie de Rooij, DesignCrowd
CD layout : Implant Media
Photography : Rowan Gruner, Shawket Husseini
CD and track titles by: Niki Na Meadhra, storyteller
Track list :
- The Question Is The Key 3:14
- Rowing Into Sunlight 1:41
- The Traveller’s Dog 0:33
- Over The Hills To Faraway 0:33
- Unexpected Descent 0:33
- The Asking 3:16
- When Every Door Is Closed 2:51
- The Crone’s Advice 3:44
- The Horse Knows The Path Through 3:27
- Defeated By The Journey 3:37
- The Veil Is A Door 3:22
- Return To Home And Hearth 3:30
- A Home Outgrown 6:22
- Learning To Walk In New Shoes 4:44
Wolfe Words 
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