Flora Wong
Artist Interview. March 23, 2021.
Flora Wong is an Australian violinist based in Meanjin. She is Associate Director of the Australian post-genre concert series Dots+Loops, member of Nonsemble, Voltfruit, Helge Quartet and Tango Enigmático, and a lecturer in contemporary violin. Her work has taken her around Australia as well as overseas.
Violin
Flora as a child playing a toy violin
"I have a complicated relationship with the violin. I've spent hundreds of hours playing; it's an extension of myself, I love it. But it has a lot of baggage being tied to classical music. I like to push it outside of that space."
Flora played violin extensively throughout her schooling. It wasn't until her masters degree that she began to break the classical mould, initially with help from colleague Chris Perrin. She also cites Stéphane Grappelli, Pekka Kuusisto, Vanessa Tomlinson and Erik Griswold as influences.
Collaboration
Flora performing at Oscillo Scape 2019
"Collaboration is so important for a musician. Every time you play with someone different you learn about how they play; what you love about it and what you don't."
Dots+Loops
Tijana Kozarcic performing at Dots+Loops Synthesis. Photography by Daniel Lopez.
Formed in 2014, Dots+Loops is a post-genre music and arts series with over 20 critically acclaimed gigs under its belt.
Dots+Loops Nonstop 2019. Photography by Dan Lopez / Rue Arts.
"It's somewhere at the intersection of a traditional classical concert, underground club gig, and an experimental art show." The core team includes Kieran Welch, Connor D'Netto and Flora.
Airport DJ performing at Dots+Loops Drones. Photography by Isabelle Rainbow.
After a very busy 2019, the team took last year to officially become a registered not for profit organisation and also began their Joining The Dots podcast series. It includes interviews with artists in the Dots+Loops family as well as educational videos about making music and staying creative.