Eve de Castro-Robinson Photo: Gareth Watkins / Lilburn Trust / Wallace Arts Trust
The world première performance by the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Giordano Bellincampi, Auckland Town Hall, 15 February 2018.
De Castro-Robinson dedicated 'Tipping Point' to her son Cyprian for his 26th birthday.
Cyprian is in the grindcore band Sick Old Man. And in a vestige of the punk spirit that inhabited an early version of the work, principal percussionist Eric Renick plays a full drumkit.
The title of work and its thematic intent refer to 1953 when the U.S. and the USSR exploded hydrogen bombs. This event resulted in the hands on the Doomsday Clock being moved to two minutes before midnight.
When that drama passed, the clock’s hands were turned back to a calmer time.
But at the time of writing, with Donald Trump and Kim Jong-Un trading threatening tweets, the clock’s time was moved forward again to two and a half minutes to midnight.
