Immortal Diamond
Immortal Diamond, is a revelatory work by multi award-winning Australian icon Paul Grabowsky AO. Borrowing it’s title from a poem by Victorian-era English poet Gerard Manley Hopkins, Immortal Diamond comprises five movements that explore atmospheres of drama, dissonance, and mysticism. Renowned Australian soprano Lisa Gerrard sings in a floating free form style, alongside sixteen wordless singers. Though it pays tribute to a nineteenth-century poet, Immortal Diamond speaks to a very contemporary experience. Written during Victoria’s COVID-19 lockdowns, the work, in Grabowsky’s words, ‘can be understood as a secular requiem for those who passed, and a prayer for better days ahead.’
“it is incredibly rich and vibrant. A perfection of collaboration, truly an immortal diamond. Many times, I just closed my eyes and let the music take me to a whole new level of mindfulness and self-awareness. You felt you were swirling among the stars at times. The standing ovation at the end said it all.”
- Weekend Notes
“If you hear this piece Paul Grabowsky has written you’ll understand what we’re doing. You’ll levitate,” begins singer and composer Lisa Gerrard. “We walk towards the work without any preconceived sorceries. I’m improvising with him and we’re building a pathway towards each other in the track and unlocking what is intrinsically in the piece. I’m coming like the ghost at the banquet,” she laughs. “The rest will be said in the performance, in the ether.”
- Lisa Gerrard
