Barrel Room, Mona
January 15, 2016

A multitude of percussion instruments and chairs for the audience are set up in the centre of this cramped performance venue; the size of the space compromised by the tens of wine barrels that surround us.

On the busy first day of MOFO, we are in the Barrel Room of MONA underneath the museum’s wine bar. One of the first acts of the music and arts festival is Ensemble Offspring – at least, its two percussionists Claire Edwardes and Bree van Reyk.

They open the concert with van Reyk’s own Duet with Blindfold. Standing side by side with a series of drums before them, they wrap white fabric around their heads and, completely unable to see, they begin. Immediately obvious is the necessity to trust their own instincts – and each other’s. Not in any moment do the two instrumentalists betray a glimmer of doubt about where their instruments are as they play away, moving from drum to drum. They portray sheer confidence and an ability to let go when surrounded by risk.

The opening is astoundingly impressive, and the recital progressively so. The second piece is Reich’s Music for Pieces of Wood, with its five parts...