Lucky Number: The Music of Syd Clayton

Venue: ABC Iwaki Auditorium

Date: Friday July 17 2009, 7pm

Syd Clayton composed a significant body of experimental music in Melbourne from
the mid 1960s until his

death in 1994. Clayton explored chance operations as a compositional tool, using
his signature toy roulette

wheel to select musical elements to be used within structures that he would
adapt from such diverse sources

as cricket score cards and childrens games. The result was a unique blend of
music, theatre and ritual.

His work has been described as magical, achieving a Zen-like veneer of
simplicity that masks a deep

complexity of ideas both musical and philosophical.

Since his heyday at Carlton's La Mama theatre in the late 1960s/early 1970s,
Clayton's music has only been

performed sporadically, and virtually forgotten by contemporary performers since
his death. In Lucky

Number, director Barnaby Oliver dusts off Clayton's sometimes-oblique scores and
issues the challenge to

a new cast of performers from Melbourne's experimental music community
(featuring a smattering of former

Clayton collaborators) of interpreting Clayton's music in a fashion that is both
true to the original spirit and

injects new energy.

ABC Iwaki Auditorium, ABC Southbank Centre, Ground Floor, Southbank Bvd,
Southbank VIC 3006.

Friday July 17 2009, 7pm

Admission $25/$20.

Performers:

- Adam Simmons (saxophones)

- Mark Cauvin (double bass)

- The Crystal Set with Judy Pile (vocals and percussion)

- Barnaby Oliver (piano / percussion)

- Clinton Green (pitched percussion)

- Hugh McSpedden visuals

Programme to include:

- Yehudi (wind and double bass)

- Archaeopteryx (wind, drone, percussion)

- Birds of Passage (wind, voice, percussion)

- Lucky Number (pitched percussion)

- The Man On The Left He's Joe Bigger From Topeca (voices, instruments)

- He Colours the Wild Orchid Slipper Wagon (piano - World Premiere)
Performance of Lucky Number will commence at 7pm and continue throughout the
evening. The main program

will start at 8pm.

Lucky Number is a rare, one-night-only exploration of one of Melbourne's most
neglected composers that is

not to be missed.

For more information:

email: luckynumbersyd@...

web: www.myspace.com/sydclaytonluckynumber