The Tramp
SR 1993
Radio inside a Violin: A gift to Jon Rose by the marketing department of WDR Cologne
  • Produced for Robert Karge at Saarländischer Rundfunk as 'Der Landstreicher'.
  • Text and violin - Jon Rose
  • Round Midnite by Thelonius Monk (features Alexander Von Schlippenbach on MIDI keyboard).
  • Direction and Mr. 'fix it' for SR Stefan Dutt
  • In German, in case you were wondering

A violin playing tramp journeys through the streets and sewers (a huge thank you to the Sewage department at Saarbrücken for access to the sewers), meditating on the decline of civilisation, the species, and everything. This is a depressing and very black piece! As the tramp goes through the garbage, the chorus shouts out a litany of woe (mainly environmental) and eventually hurls its abuse and hatred at him too. This production was recorded just after the 1992 Rio Earth Summit. Now 30 years later, we know just how much we have screwed the environment. The tramp is not bothered, concentrating on life's little pleasures... like picking his nose. (Extract from the original full length production).

What's New

April 2023
'Rock/Paper/Scissors' - first performance of a radical new interface between violin improvisation, composition, orchestra, and conductor. Highlights here.
KNM, Berlin
March 2023
'Beak' - Kronos Quartet plays the world premiere, a composition based on the song of a Pied Butcherbird by Jon Rose and Hollis Taylor.
Adelaide Festival
March 2024
'Night Songs' celebrates an interspecies multi-media engagement between the ancient music of a uniquely Australian songbird - Cracticus nigrogularis (the Pied Butcherbird) and Australia's premiere new music group Ensemble Offspring. Documentation here.
The Adelaide Festival
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