The Imaginary Menagery was a large scale intermedia work that Luke was commissioned to write for the opening of the 2008 Adelaide Festival of Arts.

 

Featuring experimental electro-acoustic band Hidden City with additional members from the Zephyr String Quartet , this work combined Artificial Intelligence with free improvisation. Samples and pre-composed score fragments for the string players were triggered across a wireless network of 5 computers in response to the improvisations of saxophonist Derek Pascoe.

 

The projections that featured on the walls of the hall throughout each set were generated by Luke through a combination of data mining and Game Theory using MaxMSP / Jitter. These utilised the same algorithms as the interactive software used in the performance.

 

The premiere contained 3 sets, each of which was different, attracting an audience of around 1000 people in Elder Hall. We were thrilled to perform in front of such a big crowd, and are grateful to the Elder Conservatorium of Music for their kind support.

 

Performers: Stephen Whittington (piano), Derek Pascoe (sax), Lauren Sutter (Commodore 64) Seb Tomczak (Abelton Live) Luke Harrald (Generative IPD software over a network of 5 computers + projections) Emily Tulloch (violin), Karen De Nardi (viola) and Hilary Kleinig (Cello).