Anthony Pateras

Anthony Peter Pateras was born in 1979 and grew up in Melbourne.[1][2][3] As an undergraduate he scored numerous theatrical productions at La Mama, The Carlton Courthouse and LaTrobe Student Theatre. He was a sound composer for a play, Carboni, written by John Romeril and performed in June 1999 at the Carlton Courthouse.[4] For William 37 (November–December 2001) at La Mama, Pateras worked with Jeremy Collings on the soundscape, which Kate Herbert of The Herald Sun reviewed, "[it] has some appropriate and interesting moments but is often too loud, intrusive and poorly placed."[5]

From 2001 till 2006 he scored numerous short films, two were accepted in the Cinéfondation section at the Cannes Film Festival: Martin Four (2001) and Footnote (2004).[6] He curated the Articulating Space concert series from 2001, which later transformed into the Melbourne International Biennale of Exploratory Music in 2008.[7][8] In May 2003 he collaborated with Australian electro-acoustic improviser and composer, Robin Fox, to release the duo album, Coagulate, which AllMusic's François Couture described, "[it] is blatantly maximalist: loud, occasionally harsh, very in-your-face and occasionally quite entertaining."[9]

Robin Fox (at left) and Anthony Pateras (right), Toff in the Town, July 2008

Pateras' solo album, Mutant Theatre (January 2004), was rated by AllMusic's staff writer as three-and-a-half stars out-of five.[10] For the recording he composed the tracks, provided piano, prepared piano and vocals, and conducted the session musicians as well as co-producing the work.[10] Pateras and Fox' second collaborative album, Flux Compendium (March 2006), had Couture observe, "the two electronicians toned down the harsh noise in favor of a more discreet – and intriguing – sound palette. It seems these two can build impromptu compositions out of any type of sound: breath, belches, coins, laughs, doors, and yes, even pure electronic tones."[11] Also in that year, Gauticle, an album was released by Pateras joined by Sean Baxter on drums and David Brown on guitar, which had been recorded two years earlier.[12] Couture noticed, "[they] play their instruments in unorthodox ways, looking for quiet, delicate sounds. Pateras spends most of his time inside the piano, hitting, scraping, and rubbing its strings."[12]

Chromatophore (September 2008), his next solo album, was rated at three stars out-of five, with Couture explaining, "there is no real theme, genre, form, or instrumentation running through the six works... except [his] creativity and broad palette."[13] He provided computers, electronics, prepared piano, synthesiser and vocals whilst also working as conductor and producer.[13] His third collaboration with Fox, End of Daze, followed in January of the next year, which Couture felt was, "chock-full of exciting experimental music, and nicely sequenced into a fun yet challenging listen... Samples and glitches are digitally treated and combined on the fly to produce fast-paced pieces that stand somewhere between sound collage and digital noise music."[14]

Pateras composed and conducted a performance, Percussion Portrait, which brought together two groups: Speak Percussion (Nat Grant, Peter Neville, Matthias Schack-Arnott, Eugene Ughetti) from Melbourne and Clocked Out (Nozomi Omote, Vanessa Tomlinson) from Brisbane.[15] Steven Hodgson of Australian Music Centre reviewed the event and described the last part, Refractions (2008), "[it is] highly sectionalised, progressing from texture to texture with a continued sense that pitch and rhythmic materials have been selected to serve the instrumental combination in use at any particular time. The work features a variety of non-conventional percussive sounds, amongst them the crinkling of lolly wrappers, the rattling of keys, and rice poured onto the skins of bass and timpani drums."[15] At the APRA Music Awards of 2011 his composition, Refractions, was nominated for Art Music Award for Performance of the Year as delivered by Clocked Out and Speak Percussion.[16]

In March 2012 he performed Ontetradecagon – his interpretation of jazz musician, Miles Davis' work – at the Adelaide Festival, with a 14-piece ensemble.[17] The ensemble performed it live-in-the-studio for Andrew Ford's The Music Show on Radio National.[17] At the APRA Music Awards of 2012 he was nominated for Art Music Award for Work of the Year – Instrumental for Flesh and Ghost, which was performed by Speak Percussion in September 2011.[18] The judging panel described Flesh and Ghost, as "a wonderfully epic piece where the composer utilises the 12-player percussion ensemble beautifully, creating a one sound world and a lovely sense of texture. It has a sense of space with spectrums of sound."[19] At the APRA Music Awards of 2015 he was nominated for Art Music Award: Performance of the Year for Beauty Will Be Amnesiac or Will not Be at All, which was performed by Synergy Percussion.[20] The work was commissioned by Sydney-based ensemble, Synergy Percussion, for their 40th anniversary celebration.[21]

Pateras performing live, Melbourne, March 2012

Pateras collaborated with Mike Patton (of Faith No More) to establish their tētēma project: they released an album, Geocidal, late in 2014.[22] Danny Baraz of Janky Smooth felt it was, "nothing short of an abstract, conceptual masterpiece. There are no hooks here. This will receive no radio play – except, possibly from the least commercial, college radio stations."[23] In 2016 the BBC Symphony Orchestra performed Pateras' composition, Immediata, under Brett Dean with Thomas Gould as soloist and Pateras on revox.[24] The following year the tētēma project headlined the MONA FOMA festival.[25] The second album by the group, Necroscape, appeared in April 2020, with Pop Matters' Justin Vellucci declaring, "[it] is not a record of hits; instead, it unfolds in Bizarro chapters as a catalog of misses... [they] flesh out some interesting sonic touches and have a grasp on ambiance, sure. But, sadly, the compliments have to end there."[26] While the staff writer from Smells Like Infinite Sadness observed, "[it's] very much a challenging listen... but its unique, crazy quilt mix of musical components should be just as engaging for any adventurous listener."[27]

• Official website