Juanita Neilson

Juanita Nieslen (1937 -75) was a wealthy young woman in Sydney who ran a newspaper "Now" which was a vehicle for her views, in particular, the buying up and demolishing of elegant old terrace houses to redevelop Kings Cross, which involved the harassment of tenants living in the area. She disappeared after a meeting in a club owned by Abe Saffron, and her dissappearance has never been solved. Due to corruption in the NSW police at that time, the original investigation was bungled -- perhaps deliberately -- but a thorough coronial equiry was not held until 1983, 8 years after her disappearance. The piece is dedicated to Jon Rose, who lived in NSW for many years, and the string performance techniques are inspired by him. The score reflects my impressions of this story -- a young woman's life moving forwards, ending by being cut up and dispersed, only to followed by a slow reflection on her past. The work was premiered by Decibel at the Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts in September 2012.​To perform this work, you need the Decibel ScorePlayer which has the score built into it. A digital or hard copy of the score is available from Material Press.