I had the great pleasure of working with Auckland Museum to create this series of four filmed performances – The Museum Sessions.
This is the first content that Auckland Museum has created for its own online exhibition purposes.
We selected four emerging artists. Each of them chose a song they wanted to perform and I music directed the performances (which were filmed live, after hours when the museum was otherwise empty) to each fit into a unique space in the building. I also changed the musical context of the songs and rearranged the music to include new instruments and styles that the artists hadn’t explored before, so that the performances would be completely unique.
Louis Baker’s beautiful song ‘Love’ was performed in He Taonga Maori with Horomona Horo on Taonga Puoro (traditional Maori instruments), Chris O’Connor on drums, Sandy Mill on vocals and myself on backing vocals and trunk organ.
We filmed Raiza Biza performing ‘Get By’ on the roof of the museum in the midst of winter. It was freezing. Bianca Paulus featured on vocals, CrimeHeat on laptop, Mike Hall on Acoustic Bass and myself on Rhodes. The fact that the recording sounds as if it happened in a studio is entirely down to the talents of Andre Upston who recorded all of the films. This sound is a live take from the top of a huge building on a windy night.
‘Don’t Move’ is Georgia Campbell’s first live performance and certainly her first performance with an acapella choir. The song was so moody and dark – and the acoustic of the Museum’s glorious Entry Foyer, that it seemed the perfect opportunity for the voices of the Jubilation Choir. This performance also features Chris O’Connor on percussion.
Finally, we recorded ‘Reptilian Journey’ with Estere in the beautiful Castle Gallery. Sandy Mill returns on backing vocals, my husband Ashley Brown performs cello and vocals and I perform rhodes and vocals.
