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Dates
Thursday 20 February 2025
7:30pm at Hamer Hall Auslan interpreted
Program
Elena Kats-Chernin Milestone*
*Victorian Premiere of a co-commission by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and Asia TOPA, Arts Centre Melbourne
About this performance
Asia TOPA opens with a landmark new commission by one of Australia’s most celebrated artists.
Having reached his milestone 80th birthday, pioneering artist William Yang reflects on his extraordinary life in this epic new performance. Yang’s iconic photographs and captivating stories are complemented by a haunting score performed live on stage by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.
Internationally-acclaimed Australian composer Elena Kats-Chernin—a long-time friend and collaborator of Yang’s—will perform an original composition, arranged especially for Milestone, live on stage alongside the Orchestra.
Yang is a trailblazing champion of Asian-Australian culture internationally. He documented the birth of Australia’s LGBTQI+ rights movement from the early days of Sydney’s Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras to the devastating impact of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the 1980s and 90s. Unassuming, evocative and honestly examined, Yang looks back on his vast archive of photography, contemplating five decades of social change and the evolution of Australia’s bohemian artist community.
Milestone is Yang’s most ambitious and personal performance to date. Don’t miss this one-night-only encounter with a legend of Asia-Pacific performance sharing his stories of immigration, sexuality, creativity and family.
“All of us have similar stories…. We have our own landscapes that we carry around in our minds, a gallery of missing friends, a personal list of life-changing moments, of triumphs & regrets. By focusing on his own life, Yang has produced a body of work that speaks a universal language, inviting us to forget about those differences that are only skin deep & reflect on the things that are truly important.” (John McDonald, Sydney Morning Herald).
Featuring
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
Benjamin Northey conductor
William Yang narrator
Elena Kats-Chernin composer / piano
Warning: This performance contains adult themes and images of a sexual nature/full frontal nudity. It is recommended for ages 16+
Co-presented with Arts Centre Melbourne and Asia TOPA.
Milestone is supported by Playking Foundation and the Robert Salzer Foundation, with additional support from Creative Australia and City of Sydney.
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