Melbourne’s CBD is not a quiet place, but this June a new note will join the orchestra of jackhammers, tram brakes and bicycle bells. The Rivers Sing is a sound work that will flood the streets surrounding the city’s river and when it fades, most who hear it won’t quite know what they’ve just experienced. The Rivers Sing is a collaboration between composer and soprano Deborah Cheetham Fraillon and artists Byron J Scullin and Thomas Supple.
The trio first worked together in 2017 for a performance that was broadcast from a helicopter at Hobart’s Dark Mofo. Now they’re creating songs that will echo across much of Melbourne’s CBD every sunset for the duration of this year’s Rising Festival . Opera singer Deborah Cheetham Fraillon is performing in the Rising Festival event The Rivers Sing, from Crowne Plaza with huge speakers around her, overlooking the river.
She will be part of a performance that will be broadcast along the Yarra. Credit: Wayne Taylor The work’s scale is impressive even for Rising, the annual festival of art and performance that takes over the city each June. Now in its third full year, the festival’s offerings range from avant-garde international music acts to critically acclaimed mainstage theatre and mass participation events (think 11,000 people playing kazoos at Fed Square).
Last year, Rising recorded more than 750,000 attendees – but The Rivers Sing could reach just as many ears nightly. It’s poetic justice given that the work’s i.
