Cello star goes solo with ‘vulnerable, truthful, scary’ debut album
Former Zephyr Quartet cellist and composer Hilary Kleinig has stepped out of her comfort zone with her debut solo album alone : together.
Hilary Kleinig admits that creating a solo album has been “the thing that scares me most in this world artistically”.
For the past 20 years the cellist and composer’s career has been defined by collaboration, with works commissioned and performed by the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, Restless Dance Theatre, Adelaide Chamber Singers and the Adelaide Youth Orchestra alongside her long tenure as cellist and artistic director of the acclaimed Zephyr Quartet.
But 18 months ago, Kleinig faced her fear, taking to the Wizard Tone Studios in Hendon to record her debut solo album alone : together.
“I’ve spent many years collaborating and being a part of Zephyr Quartet, and I’ve played a lot of music on other people’s albums as well,” she says. “I’ve also written a lot of music for theatre and dance, but I’ve never released any music under my own name.
“I felt like I didn’t really know how to start doing that. But being a mid-career artist, I just stopped and really thought about it. I felt that the most vulnerable, truthful, scary thing to do would be for me to release an album of me playing my own music, by myself.
“So, I’ve done the thing that scares me most in the world… so tick!”
You might like
alone : together features a series of looping cello compositions, in a body of work Kleinig describes as “symphonic textures, ecstatic grooves and lush harmonies all created by one multi-layered cello”.
“This album is a bit like pop songs for solo cello, they’re all really accessible,” she says. “It’s quite textural as well, just from the way the songs are composed and the way the sounds are layered, it’s very approachable, friendly music.”
Rather than starting from scratch with each song, Kleining was able to breathe new life into several compositions that had been “sitting in my back pocket” for many years.
A piece she wrote for an advertising campaign that was never used, which draws inspiration from 2Cello’s version of U2’s With Or Without You, and compositions created for Restless Dance Theatre’s Seeing Darkness and the opening of SkyCity Casino all ended up on the album.
Subscribe for updates
“As a composer you have all these compositions that you create that you don’t do anything with so it’s nice to get them out there,” she says.
“There are also a couple pieces on the album I wrote for a State Theatre Company production called Vale, directed by Geordie Brookman. Geordie wanted me to create something with just strings, he wanted it to be a bit spooky, so I thought, ‘Okay I’ll have to limit my palette’, and I thought I will just use cello.
“So, even though this is a solo project, and it is just me playing alone, all of the compositions, in fact, are inspired by other people within our musical and artistic community here in Adelaide, but also in Australia.”
Kleinig will officially launch the album at the Wheatsheaf Hotel on May 25, taking to the stage with violinist and fellow Zephyr Quartet member Emily Tulloch.
A national tour will follow where the award-winning cellist will perform with a special guest artist in each state, including pianist Nat Bartsch in Melbourne, harpist Emily Granger in Brisbane and percussionist Claire Edwardes in Sydney. It will be a busy couple of months for Kleinig, with another project, The Lost Art of Listening, due to premiere at Vitalstatistix in July as part of Illuminate Adelaide.
“The truthfulness that comes from putting yourself out there as a solo artist is something that I’ve avoided doing,” Kleinig says. “I just absolutely love collaborating, and I always will collaborate. But I think, for me, part of that was a comfortableness of not having to look hard at yourself and be responsible for every aspect of everything.
“I’m really proud of the album. Even after listening to it many times I still enjoy it.”
Hilary Kleinig will launch alone : together at The Wheatsheaf Hotel on Monday May 25, before touring nationally
Want to see more stories from InDaily SA in your Google search results?
- Click here to set InDaily SA as a preferred source.
- Tick the box next to "InDaily SA". That's it.
Free to share
This article may be shared online or in print under a Creative Commons licence