In Bronzewing, highly acclaimed period musicians Katie Yap (viola) and Donald Nicolson (harpsicord) have combined to create a unique musical identity that provides plenty of room to express their wide-ranging musical ideas.

Tempo Rubato – a vibrant classical music bar and venue in the heart of inner-city Brunswick – was packed for the duo’s latest concert, themed around shadows.

Katie Yap and Donald Nicolson: Bronzewing. Photo © Albert Comper

The program opened with an instrumental rendition of the chant O tu illustrata (O thou enlightened one) by the medieval mystic Hildegard von Bingen, followed immediately by Bronzewing’s longer response to von Bingen’s work. Played on a five-string electric viola and synths, this ancient melody acquired an unearthly, luminous quality.

The next item was an assured performance of The Unthanks’ song Magpie, based on the children’s nursery rhyme, in which Yap sang and played the viola – strumming insistently to “Devil, I defy thee” – and Nicolson accompanied her on the synths.

The first half finished with a synths solo by Nicolson. For this concert, Nicolson had swapped out concert blacks for a cap, T-shirt and psychedelic runners, and he gave full vent to this colourful alter ego in Solar Flare. He had replicated the sound effects of the early arcade games in pre-recorded segments, and built them into an intriguing, improvisatory solo work for synths. The way in which he built excitement kept the audience engaged throughout, and the first half ended with a feeling of jubilation.

The second half opened with Arvo Pärt’s Fratres. Bronzewing realised Pärt’s seminal work beautifully; with the evident empathy between the players underlining the depth and serenity of the music.

There followed the world premiere of laila for solo viola by Hawaiian composer Leilehua Lanzilloti on commission for Yap. laila (place) comprises several short movements, each exploring a different nuance of the Hawaiian word. While Lanzilloti’s score stipulates the tuning and a series of musical patterns based on harmonics, she leaves it to the violist to develop those patterns in performance. laila had a magical quality, with the bell-like harmonics suggesting both fluidity and tranquillity.

Yap – singing and accompanying herself on the viola – then gave a moving performance of Australian songwriter Monique Clare’s elegiac Boats.

The concert concluded with Bronzewing’s Penumbra. It is difficult to describe in words the sense of engagement this duo created as their music wound its way between and around them: it was a riveting conclusion to an exceptionally varied and stimulating concert.

Bronzewing return to Tempo Rubato on 4 July with Bronzewing Baroque.