Children of the Drifting Weather

orchestra

Premiere by the University of Western Australia Symphony Orchestra, on May 27, 2022, at Winthrop Hall

Sample Score 1

Sample Score 2

Children of the Drifting Weather is the result of a collaborative project with sculptor Susan Flavell and dramaturge Sian Murphy, originating from Flavell’s series of masks created in response to the 2019–2020 bushfires and 2022 floods. Expanding into a large-scale orchestral production, the work integrates experimental sculpture-instruments, costume, and dance to explore the cyclical weather patterns of the El Niño–Southern Oscillation. Traditionally personified as El Niño (the boy) and La Niña (the girl), these atmospheric and oceanic cycles influence global wind, temperature, rainfall, and ocean currents, shaping ecological systems and driving extreme climate events such as droughts, fires, floods, and cyclones.

The production embodies these opposing yet interwoven forces through movement, sound, and visual design. Dancers, wearing intricate costumes crafted by Flavell, traverse the audience space in choreography developed by Murphy, responding dynamically to an orchestral score by Moses Kington-Walberg composed entirely in graphic notation. The music mirrors the unpredictable nature of the climate cycles, embracing extremes of indeterminacy while maintaining an overarching, spiraling structure. The costumes and choreography explore the shifting relationship between Niño and Niña, as well as their collective impact on Australia’s bushlands. Flavell’s sculptures, incorporating organic and found materials, evoke forms deeply tied to the natural world, while Murphy’s choreography blends structured movement with improvisational responsiveness, reinforcing the sense of environmental volatility.

A central element of the performance is a solo percussion instrument—a wooden bread-making bowl, reimagined by Flavell as a hybrid musical sculpture. Played with various objects, the bowl produces rich, organic timbres that blend seamlessly with the surrounding orchestral textures, grounding the work in tactile, earthbound sonorities.

Video exhibited at John Curtin Gallery From Feb 8 – Apr 14 as part of the Perth Festival exhibition: Horn of the Moon – 13 Goddesses