Past, current and upcoming projects include:
NOVEMBER 2021
Yay! On Sunday 14 November, The Thin White Ukes are back at the Brunswick Ballroom, post lockdowns, and Oblique Strategies are soooooo excited to be supporting their album launch.
AND
On Friday 12 November As Melbourne opens and the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) draws to a close, the artists of Cabaretica throw their loving arms around audiences and our precious planet to show how much they care. Isabel Knight and I are delighted to program Bradley Storer and Thabani Tshuma to shape the grit into a pearl of hope and prepare the way for some divine visitations.
This event is presented in association with CLIMARTE and ClimActs
image source: ClimActs
OCTOBER 2021
On 31 October I am proud to be part of a visitation of Angel Climate Guardians sending a message of support from the people of Melbourne to delegates as the UN Climate Change talks, the COP26, begin in Glasgow. This image is of Climate Guardians defying a State of Emergency ban on protesting during COP21 in Paris, 2015.
Image by Maggie Miles.
AUGUST 2021
It was fun to play a small part in , Flora and The Baron, an excellent narrative audio tour through Melbourne’s iconic Royal Botanical Gardens – just launched by Bowerbird Theatre (aka Karen Berger and David Joseph) – yay! You can use your smartphone and headphones to journey through the Gardens with this audio guide that features Baron Ferdinand von Mueller’s prolific writing and imagines his response to his considerable and complex legacy.
https://www.rbg.vic.gov.au/melbourne-gardens/flora-and-the-baron/
AUGUST 2021
I was delighted to co-present the paper Fusing Horizons: Evolution and Intersection within Roy Hart Voice Work and Our Unique Selves with the wonderful Amy Mihyang Ginther for the 2021 International VASTA (Voice and Speech Trainers Association) Conference – online, of course (at 12noon, 1 August New York = 2am, 2 August Melbourne!).
JULY 2021
Oblique Strategies are thrilled to support The Thin White Ukes at the splendid new Brunswick Ballroom on 18 July. POSTPONED due to COVID-19 lockdown
JULY 2021
Midnight Assembly – music made with Nick Thorpe, Phil Barbuto and Paul Dalby – begins recording some original songs. Ohhhh… very exciting
Image: Phil Barbuto
JUNE 2021
In June Cabaretica, with MC Fiona Scott-Norman and featured artists Patrick Collins and Picked Last for Sport, we shouted-out against the closures of theatre departments and cuts to student theatre organisations by numerous Australian universities – NO!
We were proud to launch Act for Arts, a movement that aims to mobilise the public and the arts sector to stand up for arts in education and society and uphold its value as an essential component of our culture.
DESIGN: Cat Sanzaro IMAGE: Matthew Howat and Melissa Viola
Isabel and me at Cabaretica, bling masks and all Photo: Darren Gill
MARCH 2021
Emerging from the lockdowns of last year Cabaretica was back with a blast! Isabel Knight and I were delighted to program Maude Davey as MC with Mama Alto and Willow Sizer as featured artists. A glorious night with stunning performances.
Photo: Darren Gill
DECEMBER 2020
La Mama Cabaretica presented a message of support, solidarity, and love created by members of our cabaret community to celebrate the close of an enormous year for everyone. Here’s “wahoo” to the arts community and beyond for a shiny new year in 2021!
NOVEMBER 2020
La Mama Musica presents Listen for the Future a time capsule, an archive of ideas that invites artists to imagine a world that’s better for everyone. It is presented as part of La Mama Theatre’s online programming addressing the impact of COVID-19 on live performance. Karen Berger and I made this piece as our response to the question posed by curator Gemma Horbury, What are you listening for?
We are listening for clues and reminders in the rainy runoff
Listen for the future
OCTOBER 2020
Biddy Connor and I had a great time creating and presenting this new song, River Tales, featuring the wonderful Federation Handbells, as part of Museums Victoria’s programming for Children’s Week 2020. We think our colleague, Simone, did brilliant work on the animation – yay!
OCTOBER 2020
Adventuring into the world of audio books, narrating Elliot Perlman’s Catvinkle series – yay!
Photo: Justine Sloane Lees
SEPTEMBER 2020
In September I contributed Meeting at the edge as part of Shorelines, a project by Babak Fakhamzadeh as part of Sound Walk September, a yearly global festival celebrating sound walks.
Meeting at the edge
https://walklistencreate.org/sound-walk-september/
JUNE 2020
Hello From The Moon, animated version presented as part of Museums Victoria’s Museum at Home online program in response to COVID-19. Music, lyrics and dance moves written, sung, played and produced by Susan Bamford Caleo and Biddy Connor.
JANUARY 2020
The Wonderlands, Federation Handbells at Melbourne Recital Centre, a Betty Amsden Foundation commission.
Photo: Elissa Goodrich
NOVEMBER 2019
OCTOBER 2019
Oct 31 – Just for One Day – The Thin White Ukes and Oblique Strategies at Wesley Anne celebrating the music of David Bowie and Brian Eno
Oct 12 – Oblique Strategies – La Mama Courthouse filming extravaganza!
19 MAY 2019
Performing with Dave Evans as part of the La Mama Rebuild national campaign launch. Such a GREAT cause and an important arts community day.
MARCH 2019
Digging Deeper – Karaoke creation
Digging Deeper: Secrets of the Neo-COALonial Movement Unearthed! at The Butterfly Club – is a production of ClimActs, a politically strategic, voluntary-run Australian performance collective using striking visual spectacle and satire to communicate the urgent need for the world to respond to grave threats from climate change. ClimActs’ celebrated Climate Guardians (Angles) have performed as guest artists at numerous Australian and international festivals.
JANUARY – FEBRUARY 2019
M: Kaddish For The Children – Vocal Director
M: Kaddish For The Children concept, writer and performer Deborah Leiser-Moore and writer and performer Richard Moore. Premiere season at Footscray Community Arts Centre 28th February -9th March 2019 as part of the International Women’s Day program.
DECEMBER – FEBRUARY 2019
Hello From the Moon – Music, lyrics and dance moves written, sung, played and produced by Susan Bamford Caleo and Biddy Connor as part of Museum Victoria’s summer program at Scienceworks and ongoing programs.
1 DECEMBER 2018
Itinerant Sound – created by Geoff Robinson. Performed by Susan and 11 other performers
Itinerant Sound – part of a series of events for Liquid Architecture’s ‘Why Listen to Plants?’ that travelled from Design Hub making their ways to Royal Park.
https://liquidarchitecture.org.au/events/filamental-consciouness.
19 JULY 2018
Oblique Strategies – Benefit for La Mama at Bar Oussou
Drawing by Bernard Caleo at Bar Oussou, 19 July 2018
MAY/JUNE 2018:
Oblique Strategies – Voice (Susan Bamford Caleo) , Vibraphone (Elissa Goodrich), Violin (Caitlin French) and Accordion (Robert Stephens)
Reinterpreting the musical visions and imaginings of Brian Eno
12 DECEMBER 2017
for Elevate.1 a global day of performances, interventions and think pieces to be staged in elevators across the world on December 12, 2017.
29 NOVEMBER 2017
Concert at St Paul’s Cathedral with Elissa Goodrich (Vibraphone) and Susan Bamford Caleo (Voice) – original and other songs
OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2017:
Voice and Body Exploration – A chance to play with your voice
This Voice and Body Exploration series will be led by Susan Bamford Caleo. It is designed for people wanting to develop their voice and body awareness and to play with the expressive potential of their voice. The classes will
- include explorations through improvisation and gestural work influenced by the Body Voice work of Zygmunt Molik (Grotowski Theatre Laboratory) and the extended voice work developed by Alfred Wolfson and Roy Hart
- establish a shared practice with an emphasis on creating the potential for embodied vocal and physical choices and imaginative flight
- incorporate spoken and sung voice and may include monologues, poems or songs.
- offer the opportunity to establish a network for discussion and information sharing
SEPTEMBER 2017:
Co- written by Susan Bamford Caleo and Bernard Caleo and voice over performances by Susan Bamford Caleo, Bernard Caleo, Zac Pidd and Cassia Stolio. National Gallery of Australia children’s audio tour for the Hyper Real Exhibition (Canberra, October 2017 to February 2018)
JUNE/JULY:
Fragments
SOLD OUT season at La Mama
JUNE 28 – JULY 2 2017:
A duet in fragments. Vocalist and percussionist take up their positions. Susan and Elissa are facing a beast of their own wondrous creation. They plunge into the chaos and the comedy. Taking the monster by the tail, they get to work.
Given breath by the creations of others including Rainer Maria Rilke, Sharon Van Etten, Gyorgy Kurtag, Nina Simone and more, music and words are unleashed.
Created and performed by Susan Bamford Caleo and Elissa Goodrich
Provocateur and outside eye: Margaret Mills
Lighting design by Gina Gascoigne
Image by Daisy Noyes
JUNE 2017:
Body, Voice, Improvisation: Weekend Workshop
A Weekend Workshop with Danielle Cresp and Susan Bamford Caleo
Dates: June 3 & 4, 2017
This workshop was directed towards:
* improvisation and voice practitioners who are interested in new ways of playing or in deepening their current artistic practise.
* physical and vocal performers who want to further integrate movement and voice and develop their on-stage presence.