Tensions

Item details

Description +
- Duration: 6 min.
  
  Exploring the confluence of electronic dance music and classical marimba styles, Tensions is an intense and virtuosic marimba solo with tape backing. The tape draws from the sonic worlds of various EDM genres such as jungle, drum and bass, break beats, trance, and house, whilst also taking some influence from jazz fusion styles.
  
  The piece is inspired by the duality of tensions and releases that pervade all music forms: be it in the cadences of Western classical symphonies or in the build-ups and beat drops of modern EDM. In some ways, these tensions and releases can furthermore reflect the peaks and troughs of our own life experiences.
  
  Since the balance between soloist and tape varies greatly depending on the room played in and the technology used, the written dynamics should be used less as an indicator of volume but more so as an indicator of energy, character, and colour. This piece is also possible on a 4.3-octave marimba—ossia bars have been provided during these moments.
  
  Joey Eng
Instrumentation +
- Marimba and Tape
About the composer +
- Joey Eng (b. 2001) is an Australian percussionist, composer, producer and educator. As a soloist, Joey was a winner of the 2022 Warana Concerto Competition, a semi-finalist in the 2020 Warana Concerto Competition, a finalist for the 2022 Richard Gill Award, and a finalist in both the inaugural 2019 Marimbafest solo marimba competition and the 2021 Marimbafest solo marimba competition, in which he placed 2nd. A multi-skilled percussionist and collaborator, he has performed with many orchestras across Australia including the Western Australian Symphony Orchestra, Perth Symphony Orchestra, Australian Baroque, Australian Youth Orchestra, and the Vienna Pops Orchestra.
  
  As a composer, Joey was a finalist in both the 2020 and 2021 WAAPA Symphony Orchestra Composition Competitions and has had multiple new works premiered by the Defying Gravity percussion ensemble. Joey also regularly premieres new orchestral works, solo and chamber percussion pieces through his Youtube channel - works that have since been performed by percussionists around the world. As a composer-performer, he has scored and performed in live theatre productions including ‘The Hope Fault’ and Shakespeare’s ‘Julius Caesar’. Joey is also an adept arranger, and his arrangements of contemporary songs have been performed by the Perth Symphony Orchestra, the WAAPA Symphony Orchestra and Defying Gravity.
  
  Joey completed his Bachelor of Music from the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts under the tutelage of Tim White OAM, receiving the 2022 WAAPA Medal as the top graduate of the entire school. Joey has been awarded an ECU Vice Chancellor’s Award, an ECU WAAPA Scholarship, a 2022 Peter Hurford Award, the 2022 Luigi Paolino Award, and the 2021 Norman Archibald Percussion Scholarship.
  
  Joey is endorsed by Marimba One (USA).
Credits +
- Front Cover Graphics and Layout: Joey Eng
  Photo: Joey Eng
  Printed in Copenhagen, Denmark
  Copyright © Edition SVITZER
  www.editionsvitzer.com

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