Pat Rix (Australia)

Playwright, musician, composer and Artistic Director of Tutti Ensemble, South Australian Pat Rix is internationally recognized for her pioneering work in social inclusion and leadership in bringing the strengths of community and mainstream arts together. In 1997 Pat founded The Tutti Ensemble, a world first choir for people of all abilities. With over 100 people, two thirds of whom identify with a disability, Tutti provides opportunities for its members to participate in high quality local, national and international arts events.

In 2001 Pat was awarded the inaugural Arts SA Mid Career Artists fellowship to develop a new music-theatre work My Life, My Love with Tutti and State Theatre for the 2002 Adelaide Festival. It won the 'Light of the Festival' Award and received a nomination for the 2003 Helpmann awards. Pat was with us for the first kickstART! and joins us again as a kickstART2 Choir and song workshop leader.

kickstART2 Appearances
Pat Rix is working with the kickstART2 Choir
Opening Ceremonies Thursday 7:30 pm
Closing Ceremonies Sunday, 3 pm
FREE in the Performance Centre

Mouth Music Workshop with Pat Rix
Friday and Saturday, September 17-18, 2004
Weyerhaeuser Workshop Stage  10:30 am - 12:30 pm
$22/$17 per day

More about the workshop:

MOUTH MUSIC

Pat Rix, Artistic Director of the TUTTI Ensemble

The Tutti Ensemble is an incorporated South Australian community arts organisation with over 100 singers and musicians dedicated to the creation of music-theatre which reflects the concerns and interests of society. The musical term ‘Tutti’ means ‘everyone will now perform together after only a few have been allowed to play’.

This exciting ‘mouth music’ workshop is your chance to work with Pat Rix, Artistic Director of the Tutti Performing Arts Centre and members of the internationally acclaimed Tutti Ensemble. Areas covered will include voice production, diction, vocal improvisation and writing for performance. At Tutti there is a focus on higher order performance skills and on creative strength rather than disability. Music and songs developed for performance include country & western, jazz, rock, groove and opera.. In Tutti, people with disabilities sing language they find difficult to articulate in speech, especially if it is rhythmic. Mouth music is about creating rhythmic sound which describes everything from everyday work movements to a range of dances. It springs from the precept that you can't know a tune properly unless you know the words which give it rhythm. In this workshop you will experience individual and group choral techniques which enable people with a disability to communicate against the odds. These techniques have enabled us to develop the songs and music for Tutti’s landmark works like My Life, My Love, The Singing of Angels, and Circles.

As an ensemble, Tutti has performed interstate, overseas and with nationally and internationally respected artists and companies. These include soprano Yvonne Kenny, pianist David Helfgott, the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, State Theatre and Opera SA. Tutti’s current major project is ‘Circles’, a collaboration with Interact Theater in Minneapolis.