Into Possibilities

If curiosity opens the question, and courage gives us the confidence to step into the unknown, what becomes possible afterwards? Tonight’s performance takes that question into music. Across centuries, traditions, and technologies, the programme moves through memory, improvisation, collective uncertainty, oral transmission, and new forms of dialogue between historical practice and contemporary technology.

What emerges is not one answer, but a series of possibilities. A centuries-old guqin work carries memory across mist and distance. Preluding turns the familiar keyboard into a space for spontaneous invention. Muralist Ensemble acts within radical uncertainty. Aural Breakthroughs asks what musicians trained through scores might discover by listening to a tradition transmitted through memory and participation. Finally, Unforeseen Hotteterre brings the improvisatory spirit of the French Baroque into contact with looping, live electronics, and an AI-driven musical partner. Curiosity and courage may begin the journey; tonight, we listen for what they make possible.

PROGRAM

• Mist and Clouds Over the Xiao and Xiang Rivers, Xiaoxiang Shuiyun (潇湘水云) / เมฆหมอกเหนือลำน้ำเซียวเซียง — Guo Mian

• The Art of Preluding, Showcase from masterclass led by Jeroen Malaise

• As far as “it” unfolds, Muralist Ensemble, Thailand

• Aural Breakthroughs through Folk Music, Collaborative project between PGVIM, YST Conservatory and Queensland Conservatorium

• Unforeseen Hotteterre, Yim Thanida x Ham Tanid, Thailand

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Mist and Clouds Over the Xiao and Xiang Rivers

Xiaoxiang Shuiyun (潇湘水云) เมฆหมอกเหนือลำน้ำเซียวเซียง

This piece was written by the renowned guqin player Guo Mian (1190–1260 CE) toward the end of the Southern Song Dynasty. It depicts the scenery of the Jiuyi Mountains and the Xiao and Xiang Rivers, as witnessed by Guo Mian during his travels through the Chu region (modern-day Hubei and Hunan) after “casting aside rank and fame.” The region was historically associated with exiles.

Whenever he felt homesick, Guo Mian would gaze toward his homeland across the Xiao and Xiang Rivers and the Jiuyi Mountains, only to find the view obscured by mist and clouds. This inspired him to reflect on the state of his homeland and its imminent fall to the Yuan Dynasty.

Evoking feelings of sadness, disappointment, melancholy, and bitter resentment, Guo Mian composed this piece to portray the clear and luminous waters of the Xiao and Xiang Rivers shrouded in mist, and the strong, majestic Jiuyi mountain range obscured by rain clouds. This imagery vividly conveys a profound sense of melancholy and sorrow, as well as the complex emotions associated with the loss of one’s homeland.

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The Art of Preluding

According to the renowned pianist, composer, and pedagogue Carl Czerny, the art of preluding is the very first step into the world of musical improvisation.

Improvised preludes were a common practice and a regular feature of piano concerts throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. They were used not only to introduce the repertoire that followed, but also to warm up the fingers and create the appropriate atmosphere for the audience.

For today’s pianist, preluding offers a unique opportunity to develop a personal connection with different keys and their associated playing techniques. Practising this discipline strengthens tonal awareness, develops technical fluency, and stimulates the imagination. Ultimately, it opens the door to a deeper awareness of the innate human desire to improvise and express oneself spontaneously through music.

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As far as “it” unfolds

As far as “it” unfolds investigates the relationship between curiosity and courage within the creative process, asking how artists cultivate agency and continue to act under conditions of radical uncertainty. When there are no definitive reference points and the future cannot be known, only speculated upon, creative errors become part of the process of artistic discovery and action.

The project draws together the audacity of Friedrich Nietzsche in re-evaluating inherited systems of meaning, Slavoj Žižek’s interrogation of the ideological assumptions that structure our perception of reality, and the idealistic conviction of Don Quixote. Together, these ideas illuminate the thin line between rational courage and foolish bravado: the willingness to act even when failure remains possible.

Muralist Ensemble brings this inquiry into a quasi-theatrical performance combining collective improvisation, electro-acoustic elements, spoken text, and sensory deprivation. The musicians must speculate on the unfolding texture, relying on instinct and internal conviction to act. The performance becomes a real-time aesthetic inquiry into how collective curiosity and the courage to act can generate a productive space for shared artistic exploration.

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Aural Breakthroughs through Folk Music

Aural Breakthroughs through Folk Music grows from a collaborative project between PGVIM, YST Conservatory and Queensland Conservatorium. The wider project, Aural Breakthroughs, seeks new approaches to the development of aural skills through collaborative action research.

For this stage of the project, the musicians turn toward Thai folk music, learning from a tradition that is oral, non-score-based and socially functional. Students from YST and PGVIM reflect on the practice of Thai folk musicians, particularly the ways memory, listening, and aural skills operate when music is learned and transmitted without depending primarily on notation.

Those encounters become material for creation. Through listening, reflection, and working together, the students develop new ideas and create a piece for this evening’s performance—allowing the research process itself to move from observation into musical practice.

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Unforeseen Hotteterre

Unforeseen Hotteterre explores how the music of Jacques-Martin Hotteterre can be reimagined through contemporary performance using real-time improvisation technology, while remaining deeply connected to the improvisatory spirit of the French Baroque tradition.

Although Hotteterre is one of the most influential figures in the history of the flute, his music is often approached today as fixed repertoire rather than as a living practice shaped by ornamentation, spontaneity, and the art of the prelude. Here, selected works for traverso become the starting point for live performance, experimentation, and interaction. Thanida Iamsirikulmitr combines historical transverse flute with live looping and effects, while the AI-driven SoMax2 system, operated alongside live electronics by Ham Tanid Sintaratana, acts as a responsive musical partner based on listening, reaction, and dialogue.

Rather than presenting Baroque music as a static historical artefact, Unforeseen Hotteterre asks how its improvisatory foundations might remain active in the present. Historical flute practice, looping, effects, AI, and live electronics meet in real time, allowing Hotteterre’s music to become a starting point for new creative possibilities.

PERFORMERS

Mist and Clouds Over the Xiao and Xiang Rivers

Tri (Tyler) Rutnin

The Art of Preluding

PGVIM Students

Mentor Jeroen Malaise

As far as “it” unfolds

Muralist Ensemble, Thailand

Nichakan Thanarakpokin

Siraphob Maitreesirimongkol

Chavanin Khemsom

Waris Warindarawej

Pichamon Nimana

Phistawan Chaisaeng

Phistawan Chaisaeng      

Wichayaporn Thompun

Aural Breakthroughs through Folk Music

PGVIM / YST Conservatory 

Ryan Lim (YST) — Erhu

Preston Ng (YST) — Violin

PGVIM Students

Mentor Karst de Jong

Unforeseen Hotteterre

Yim Thanida x Ham Tanid, Thailand

Thanida Iamsirikulmitr — Traverso, Live Looping & Effects

Ham Tanid Sintaratana — SoMax2 & Live Electronics