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Kieran Welch

What

Kieran Welch is a Queensland violist, event curator and producer, DJ, teacher and writer. He received investment from Arts Queensland’s Individuals Fund to support his place as a fellow in the 2016 Bang on a Can Summer Festival.

The three-week intensive is one of the most respected contemporary classical music mentoring programs in the world. Kieran performed alongside leading contemporary musicians such as pianist Vicky Chow and cellist Nick Photinos, and worked with Grammy and Pulitzer prize-winning composers John Luther Adams, David Lang and Julia Wolfe.

During the festival, Kieran performed in the American premiere of Brisbane composer Connor D'Netto's String Quartet No. 2 in the galleries at The Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art.

This professional development opportunity also provided Kieran with business development mentoring to support his performance career and further develop Dots+Loops, the Brisbane-based concert series he manages.

 

Kate Outterbridge, Lena Vidulich and Kieran Welch performing at Bang on a Can Summer Festival. Image courtesy of Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art.

When

July – August 2016

Where

Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art,

North Adams, Massachusetts.

Arts Queensland contribution

$2,000 – Individuals Fund   

Outcomes

  • Kieran developed a rich and well-connected network of like-minded artists and musicians including leading figures in contemporary art music and passionate early-career artists. He is now working with three of these established artists to facilitate tours in Australia. They will perform as part of his concert series, supporting the development of local audiences for this genre of music.
  • The business development mentoring Kieran received at the Bang on a Can Summer Festival will support the development of his local concert series and artist collective Dots+Loops.
  • The opportunity to participate in the Bang on a Can Summer Festival allowed Keiran to observe new ways of rehearsing, facilitating and performing contemporary art music. Kieran will share his learnings with students and peers in Queensland.
  • Participating in the Bang on a Can Summer Festival has built Kieran’s skills and confidence to begin the process of self-recording and producing a solo album.

 

Performing Martin Bresnick's Going Home alongside Bang on a Can All-Star cellist Ashley Bathgate (who will be featured in a September 2017 Dots+Loops show in Brisbane). Image courtesy of Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art.

 

Learnings and reflections

Keiran described what it was like being in an intensive program:

"There were a number of moments where I started to feel a bit overwhelmed with my work load, and questioned whether I would be able to perform the difficult music required of me to a level that the audience, festival organisers, composers or myself would be happy with. I was driven to work extremely hard to present at a level of professionalism that hasn't been required of me before.

The program gave me the opportunity to work and perform alongside world-leading performers, composers and event curators.

I have been greatly inspired by meeting so many people with similar artistic goals and passions, and have learnt a lot by talking with those with different artistic goals. In a number of instances I learnt a lot and changed my thoughts along the way.

I feel encouraged to push much harder for my artistic goals and feel empowered to be successful in doing so."

 

Contact for further information

Email:  kieranwelch@gmail.com

Website:  http://www.kieranwelch.com

Links

Watch Kieran’s performances at the 2016 Bang on a Can Summer Festival:

Tell Me Everything  Julia Wolfe  

Music for People Who Like Art  Andrew Hamilton

Boil  Ken Thomson

Dots+Loops concert series:

www.dotsandloops.com.au

www.facebook.com/dotsandloopsbrisbane