Blue Grassy Knoll are a 5 piece gypsy-bluegrass ensemble that formed in
Melbourne
Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
in 1996. Original members were Steph O'Hara (violin, mandolin), Simon Barfoot (guitar, vocals, drums) Gus Macmillan (Banjo, Flute) Philip McLeod (accordion, cello, mandolin, harmonica) and Alex Miller (double bass). Other members have included Dan Witton (double bass, 1999–2000), Phil Collings (guitar/drums, 2001) and Mark Elton (double bass, 2007 - )
Over their 13-year career they have cemented their place as one of Australia's most unusual, accomplished and enduring performance troupes, as their cross-over from music to live filmscore has set them apart from any other ensemble. They have created a body of work encompassing four feature-length live filmscores, five short live filmscores, have released 4 CDs, and have embarked on 15 international tours, performing at festivals on all 5 continents, the highlights being seasons at The
New Victory Theater on Broadway, The
Edinburgh Festival
__NOTOC__
This is a list of arts and cultural festivals regularly taking place in Edinburgh, Scotland.
The city has become known for its festivals since the establishment in 1947 of the Edinburgh International Festival and the Edinburgh Fe ...
,
Lyric Theatre in London, the
Sydney Opera House
The Sydney Opera House is a multi-venue performing arts centre in Sydney. Located on the foreshore of Sydney Harbour, it is widely regarded as one of the world's most famous and distinctive buildings and a masterpiece of 20th-century architec ...
, and festival appearances in Ireland, China,
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...
, Brazil, Korea, Germany, the Netherlands and New Zealand.
After a 4-month tour across the US and Canada in 2003 the band were beginning to experience touring fatigue and only performed sparingly over the next 4 years, playing once a year at festivals such as Sydney's Rocks Aroma Coffee Festival in 2004 and 2005 and the
Singapore Arts Festival in 2006. A turning point for the band came in 2007 when they were commissioned by the
Victorian Arts Centre
Arts Centre Melbourne, originally known as the Victorian Arts Centre and briefly called the Arts Centre, is a performing arts centre consisting of a complex of theatres and concert halls in the Melbourne Arts Precinct, located in the central M ...
to create a new score for the 1922 Chinese
silent film
A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, when ...
Labourer's Love, which toured to Beijing and Shanghai as part of the Australian
Theatre Festival. They found themselves reinvigorated by success of this project, as well as the following Australian performances at the Westgarth
Film Festival and 2007-2008
Woodford Folk Festival, and the company have resumed their career as an ongoing venture.
In 2009 the band obtained funding from the
Victorian Arts Centre's Full Tilt fund to develop a new score to
Buster Keaton
Joseph Frank "Buster" Keaton (October 4, 1895 – February 1, 1966) was an American actor, comedian, and filmmaker. He is best known for his silent film work, in which his trademark was physical comedy accompanied by a stoic, deadpan expression ...
's classic 1926 film
The General and commenced 4 weeks paid rehearsal as
artists-in-residence at the Arts Centre in July/August. They performed this new score in 2010.
Television Appearances
They appeared on the
RMITV
RMITV is a not-for-profit, community access television production facility based at RMIT University City Campus in Melbourne, Australia. It is a full member of the Melbourne Community Television Consortium, a not-for-profit consortium that ...
show
Under Melbourne Tonight on 17 April 1996.
References
www.bluegrassyknoll.com/Information for 5 November 2010 performance at Melbourne Recital Centre
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Australian folk music groups