Jaslyn Robertson

BIOGRAPHY

Jaslyn Robertson is a Brisbane born, Melbourne based composer. Exploring new sounds and textural possibilities attracts her to the use of electronic processing, extended techniques and alternate tuning systems. Jaslyn completed a Bachelor of Music – Composition at Monash University, where she took lessons with David Chisholm, Mary Finsterer and Myles Mumford. She has also attended workshops with Liza Lim and Chris Dench. She has composed for world-class performers including the Swiss ensemble Vortex, Tristram Williams of ELISION, the Argonaut String Quartet and Landesjugendensemble Neue Musik Berlin. Her work has received multiple performances in Germany, including at the Deutsche Oper as part of Klangwerkstatt Festival für Neue Musik Berlin, as well as in Italy. Locally, she has had works performed at Tilde New Music Festival, the Bendigo International Festival for Exploratory Music and Future Creatives Festival, which she runs with a collective of students.

Her work Wandering for quartertone flugelhorn was awarded the 2015 Monash University Composition Prize. Inspired by the local music scene she has also reviewed performances of new works, which have been published in RealTime Arts magazine and on the Partial Durations new music blog. Currently, Jaslyn contributes to CutCommon magazine, presenting the Queer and Now interview series.

Composer website: soundcloud.com/jaslynrobertson

FEATURED WORKS

A Ship Full of Scientologists, Electronics (MaxMSP patch & midi keyboard).

‘A Ship Full of Scientologists’ is a piece for midi keyboard with pitches re-assigned to a just intonation tuning system with a MaxMSP patch. The music explores the intervalic relationships of the tuning system, winding between intervals that subvert and exaggerate the unusual sound. Part of the piece is improvised, with the notes changing one by one (at times unprecedented by the performer) to longer and shorter samples of wind, water and bells.

Featured in Keyboard Waves November 2016

Venus Express, for electronics.

Venus Express is a two-movement, electronic work performed on a midi keyboard with pitches re-assigned to quartertones, using a Max patch. While the first movement is pre-composed, the second movement is an improvisation where the Max patch also changes the partials of the notes as the improvisation progresses, warping the sound and pitch of familiar phrases.

Featured in Ambient Waves, October 2017

Wandering, for Quartertone flugelhorn.

‘Wandering’ for quartertone flugelhorn is an auditory journey through a forest of eerie sounds. The piece explores phases of feeling lost, from frantic anxiety to eventual acceptance of the unpredictable. Written for performer Tristram Williams, ‘Wandering’ received the Monash University Composition Prize in 2015.

Featured in Harmonic Waves (May 2019).