Some memorable selections of World and Country premieres
Visages peint dans les Opéra Békin III for Soprano, Peking Opera and Electroacoustic Music
World Premiere Beijing Music Festival
Composer Zhang Xiaofu (China)
Soprano Xenia Hanusiak (Australia)
Peking Opera: Wang Xiaoyan (China)
To give this composition a predominant feature of its cultural background, the composer extracted the common practices of traditional Chinese theatre and created a system of highly symbolic "sound vocabulary" to constitute a language of electroacoustic music which is characteristic of its "shape of sound." Included in this "sound vocabulary" are: samplings of metal and leather theatre percussions, the four major vocal pattern in Peking Opera: singing, reciting, speaking voice, and rhythmical declamation. The composer handled all these samplings of sound under electroacoustic devices, highlighted and arranged their refined character in an acoustical coordinate framework, giving the composition its special effect and charm.
Lohn
Australian Premiere Melbourne International Arts Festival (2004)
Asian Premiere
Composer Kaija Saariaho (Finland)
Soprano Xenia Hanusiak
“The title Lohn, meaning far away or distant, comes from the old Provençal language, in which the text is sung. The text itself, a poem about love from afar, famous among scholars of mediaeval poetry, is attributed to the mediaeval troubadour Jaufré Rudel. Formally, the piece loosely follows the form of the poem, and is thus divided into nine sections…”
Crossing Movements
World Premiere | Modafe Festival, Seoul
Composer Yuta Kumachi
Opera Xenia Hanusiak
Dancers Miyao Akino, Moukam Fonkam, Park Soon-Ho, Lee Seung-Min and Son Hye-Jeong
Electronic Szenography & interactive installation
This work was realized in the context of the Crossing of Movement Project residency at MODAFE 2009. The work includes an interactive installation with 15, 360º video environments, and a performance piece where some of the video-environments became the stage.
The Diary of Anne Frank
Australian Premiere Malthouse Theatre Melbourne (2006)
Composer Grigory Frid
Conductor Brett Dean
Soprano Xenia Hanusiak
The Diary of Anne Frank is a monodrama in 21 scenes for soprano and chamber orchestra, composed in 1968 and first performed in 1972. The music and libretto are by Grigory Frid, after the eponymous diary. Press.
Xenia has given the country premiere of seminal works by over 50 composers including John Harbison, John Cage, William Bolcom, Luciano Berio, Menotti, Kaija Sariaaho, David Wood, Wolfgang Rihm, David del Tredici and the world premiere performances Australian composers including Gerard Brophy, Andrew Greenwell, Stuart Greenbaum to name a few.
Selected Curation and Artistic Direction
Artistic Director "SONGLINES FOR A NEW WORLD” National Sawdust, Spring Revolution Festival March 2018
Curator, CHAMBER MUSIC AUSTRALIA (2010-2013)
Curator, THE GARDEN OF JOY AND SORROW, Melbourne International Arts Festival
In Passion and Prayer Press