Kooptet
Peter Koopman - guitar
Simon Ferenci - trumpet
Brett Hirst - double bass
James Waples - drums & cymbals

Hilary Geddes & Theo Carbo (MEL)
Hilary Geddes - guitar
Theo Carbo - guitar

US experimental metal trio SUMAC will make their Australian debut. Formed by Aaron Turner (ISIS, Old Man Gloom), Nick Yacyshyn (Baptists), and Brian Cook (Russian Circles, Botch), SUMAC have carved a reputation as one of the most uncompromising and visionary acts in modern heavy music. Their sound merges colossal sludge, free-form improvisation, and avant-garde exploration—constantly shifting between structured heaviness and total sonic freedom.

Melbourne’s own Convulsing will join SUMAC on all Australian dates.

Eating Rinds: Aidan Wong - tenor saxophone, Cassidy Pyc - guitar and Alex Tucker - drums.

Alien Meal: Henry Hall - double bass and electronics, Tom Vogel - drums

Peter Farrar: submerged tiles

7:15 BUCK / SPENCE
Tony Buck, drums
and Alister Spence, piano

8:30 BELIEVE
Peter Farrar, saxophones and percussion
Novak Manojlovic, piano and percussion
Clayton Thomas, double bass and percussion
Laurence Pike, drums and percussion

Developed over three years across residencies, tours, and periods of deep listening, “Your Whistle Tells of Landscape” finds Australian sound artist Alexandra Spence continuing her investigations into the perceptual entanglements of sound, place, memory, and imagination.

Opening DJ - JWPaton

Tickets: Free, by ballot only

Schkeuditzer Kreuz - Industrial synth crust from the blue mountains in Australia
Chlorine Gargoyle - Darkwave from Sydney
Restrukture - Australian industrial music
Cheap Coffins - One-man alternative/industrial band from Dharawal/Wollongong

Internationally acclaimed trombonist and bandleader brings his trio to Australia for the first time.

Samuel Blaser (Swiss) trombone
Marc Ducret (France) guitar
Peter Brunn (Denmark) drums

Susie Bishop - Violin, Maharshi Raval - Indian Tabla, Elsen Price - double bass

The Mesos Trio perform a mix of Western Folk, Indian classical music, plus a few little detours in a fun musical tapestry. They all met and played for the first time during their recording session for their self-titled EP. As a trio they've since been playing around Sydney with many heads turning to their fun, virtuosic and passionate mix of musical creations.

Music in the Wild showcases flute and piano, presenting contemporary works interspersed by Scriabin’s tenth piano sonata and concludes with a work discovered in an attic many years after Escher’s death.

PHILLIPE GAUBERT Fantasie for flute and piano (1912)
XU YIFAN Tumbleweed (2022)
ALEXANDER SCRIABIN Piano Sonata No. 10 Insect Sonata (1923)
SARAH KIRKLAND SNIDER Parallel Play (2019)
RUDOLF ESCHER Sonata (1976)

Tickets: Free, by ballot only

Ground Patrol (AUS/USA)
Kyle Sanna - guitar & bass
Alon Ilsar - drums & percussion

Underwards
Ellen Kirkwood - trumpet, voice
Hilary Geddes - guitar, effects
Brendan Clark - electric bass, effects
Alex Inman-Hislop - drums

Isabella Rahme is a composer, harpist, and vocalist whose work explores the use of symbolism and gesture to express ideas surrounding the navigation of cultural identity. Isabella's practice includes explorations with electric harps and electronics, including live-processing of the instrument and her voice.

Pyc/Undy/Tucker improvise, and play compositions that are sometimes original, sometimes not. Utilising rhythmic structures, riffs and grooves, the music resembles something that could be described as song form. Cassidy Pyc – electric guitar Cameron Undy – electric bass Alex Tucker – drums

Silver Tapes second edition presents Berlin based experimental sound/noise artist Nick Klein.

Supported by live ambient artists JWPATON, gi & BODYXVIII .  

Ground Patrol are a Brooklyn/Sydney guitar-and-drums duo whose sound emerges from live improvisation, evolving loops, and interlocked rhythmic cells.
Kyle Sanna (guitar) and Alon Ilsar (drums) create slowly shifting sonic landscapes that reward deep listening.

Opening the night are HELU, bringing their transcendent strain of instrumental rock.

DUO
Hilary Geddes, guitar
Niki Johnson, vibraphone

BELIEVE
Peter Farrar, saxophones and percussion
Novak Manojlovic, piano and percussion
Clayton Thomas, double bass and objects
Laurence Pike, drums and percussion

The Quartet uses microtonal scales and Anatolian modes in intricate rhythmic music, where contemporary sensibilities meet tradition.
• Metin Yilmaz – Bilûr/Kaval (Traditional Flute)
• Jodie Michael – Drums
• Matt McMahon – Piano
• Stephen Elphick – Double Bass

Alex Jasprizza is a Sydney based saxophonist and composer known for creating immersive live performances that meld field-recordings with ambient soundscapes and electronics. Alex will be bringing together some of the city’s most accomplished improvisors, with an ensemble featuring Hinano Fujisaki, Felix Bornholdt and Holly Conner.

Tickets: Free, by ballot only

Original acoustic music and Arabic songs from local composers/musicians Antonio Aguilar, Pavle Cajic, Maissa Alameddine, Maxeem Georges and Armistice Flute Ensemble - Keyna Wilkins, Chloe Chung, Laura Chislett, Jessica Scott, Liz Cheung.
100% of profits from this concert will go directly to the charity project Al Nuseirat Kitchen who distribute food, water and clothes and supplies around Gaza for thousands of local people amidst bombing and starvation.

An intimate, unplugged night performing selects from the album ‘V’ and more - rearranged for a chamber trio.
Simeon Bartholomew - guitar
Peter Hollo - Cello
Monique Turner - Viola + Violin

Matinee session doors at 5pm w/ special guests Wartime Sweethearts [SOLD OUT]
Evening session doors at 8pm w/ special guests Highways

Vinay Desai, visiting from the USA, who received guidance from the legendary Padma Bhushan Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma, the pioneer who introduced the Santoor to the global stage.
Abhijit Dan - tabla.

Hallucinations
Laurence Pike – Drums/Electronics
Ken Allars – Trumpet
Jack Stoneham – Alto Saxophone
Novak Manojlovic – Piano

Phil Slater & Chris Abrahams
Phil Slater - trumpet
Chris Abrahams - piano

Puscha x Aarti Jadu is an exploratory interplay between synthesis and vocals. An on-and-off collaboration between two artists from Naarm/Melbourne. Puscha creates hypnotic, post-ambient auditory spaces and musical impressions. Aarti Jadu is known for creating a hybrid of cinematic compositions and bass music laced with disparate vocal arrangements.

Opening DJ - Index

Tickets: Free, by ballot only

Chloe dedicates the final year of her 20s to a deeply personal and creative journey. Throughout 2025, she will focus each month on learning, growing, and creating, sharing her process through monthly performances.

These performances are RSVP only. To reserve your spot and receive event details, please email chloekim12months@gmail.com

Puscha

Alexandra Spence

Land Systems

Rachel Lyn: modular synth, hardware, software and analog video
Khaled Kurbeh: field recordings, contact mic and buzuq
J.WLSN: tape machines, guitar pedals, modular synthesis
JWPATON: field recordings, synths, software

Rachel Lyn, a First Nations Yuin composer who is based in Berlin, and Khaled Kurbeh, a Syrian composer who is also based in Berlin. Rachel's music focusses on nature's glitches and sound narratives. And Khaled's music focusses on muhawalāt [attempts, variations] and hawāmesh [sonic footnotes].
They will be supported by Sydney's J.WLSN and JWPATON.

Systemet deploys its sound through self-built portable synthesizers, usually in natural environments such as mountaintops and riverbeds, or urban non-places, contextualizing its art in a psychogeographical manner. systemet.bandcamp.com

dprk will be the trio of Richard Fielding, Nick Dan and Juke Wyat.

FeDo is the duo of Andrew Fedorovitch and Evan Dorrian.

Sydney art music trio Polymorphic Orkestra perform an intimate concert at the fabulous Church Street Studios in Camperdown. Having recently released their 6th album, this is a rare chance to catch Polymorphic Orkestra live.
Lee McIver - Trumpet | Flugelhorn | Laptop | Effects
Ed Goyer - Vibraphone | Mallet Kat | Percussion
Ed Rodrigues - Drums | Samples | Percussion.

AARON CASSIDY 27. Juni 2009 (2021) for E♭ clarinet
EINAR TORDI EINARSSON Zone of proximity: (and the weakly interacting particles) (2023) for recorder and violoncello
EVAN JOHNSON Contemptus Mundi (2021) for clarinet in C and piano
RICHARD BARRETT instar (2015-16) for soprano recorder
LIZA LIM Ghosts make form (2024) for violoncello and piano

Tickets: Free, by ballot only

For almost five decades now, Tokyo based artist Merzbow has held the undisputed position as the iconic forefather of noise music. His work catapults the listener into an utterly unfamiliar but wholly compelling cosmos of sound, a full spectrum eruption, a pyroclastic cloud of sound.

Lawrence English is known for work that tests at the edges of harmonic ambience and low energy sound pressure.

Fabulous Contraption combine metal, jazz and fusion in unpredictable musical forms.

Godswounds deliver alt-prog pop, angular grunge and cinematic noise.

Basil’s Kite perform microtonal math-rock with sharp, precise shifts.

Shanghai blend film-rock and prog exotica with brassy, protean compositions.

Life Forms is the latest album from trumpeter Niran Dasika and his Melbourne-based trio featuring legendary pianist Andrea Keller and virtuoso bassist Helen Svoboda.

Tickets: Free, by ballot only

BENJAMIN BETELLI String Quartet no. 3

SAMUEL ADAMS String Quartet no. 3 Alma

Tickets: Free, by ballot only

Lauren Tsamouras (piano) & Tom Avgenicos (trumpet, electronics) launch two albums released on ABC Jazz: 'For Judy' a tribute to legendary pianist/composed Judy Bailey OAM and 'Bye For Now' (releasing on the night 27 Feb) an EP of original compositions.

Jacques Emery - Solo Double Bass - will debut a new set of solo pieces called ‘Hymns’ interspersed with improvisations, inspired by his recent study of the physics of the bowed string.

Khaled Kurbeh is a Berlin-based musician and composer of Syrian background who experiments with improvisation and rhythms by combining piano with of fragments of field recordings, buzuq and other sound sources. He has released several albums and composes music for theatre, radio and film.

Muharrem Aslan is a Sydney-based musician and music therapist from Türkiye, blending the sounds of Anatolia with global influences.

Aslan performs with his dynamic band: Dimitri Vouros (bansuri, flute, clarinet) and Hugo Powell (bass guitar).

AnSo, an interdisciplinary South Korean artist and performer residing and creating on Dharug land, blends their Korean culture with contemporary performance in their practice. For this performance at Phoenix Central Park, AnSo will be collaborating with harpist Isabella Rahme, as well as choreographers and movement artists Emmy Harkins, Risako Katsumata, Alana Searles, and Amara Shin. 

Tickets: Free, by ballot only

Ustad Shujaat Khan — one of India’s finest sitar virtuosos.

Intimate Indian classical music concert.

Michael Vorfeld (Berlin) percussion and film in a night of collaborations:

with Philip Samartzis (presenting Air Pressure)

and in Quintet with
Jim Denley, woodwinds
Saskia Shearer, percussion
Uma Volkmer, trumpet
Clayton Thomas, double bass

Ronan Apcar is a pianist, musician, and composer with a love for music across many styles – jazz to the avant-garde, contemporary art music to house music.

JOHANNES BRAHMS Fantasies, Op. 116 No. 4; Fantasies, Op. 116 No.5; Fantasies, Op. 116 No. 6; Fantasies, Op. 116 No. 7
LEO ORNSTEIN Suicide in an Airplane
GERARD BROPHY Abraço
FREDERIC RZEWSKI Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues

Tickets: Free, by ballot only

Missy Mazzoli - Orizzonte (vibraphone + electronics)
Caroline Shaw (arr. Abby Fisher) - in manus tuas (marimba solo) 
Kate Moore - Joyful Melodies (vibraphone solo) 
Gemma Peacocke - I Promise Not to Poison You xoxo: Hemlock, Crocus Sativus (marimba solo)
Anna Meredith (arr. Jessica Wells) - Bumps Per Minute: from 18 Studies for Dodgems; Joy Subdivision,  Norcanaoe, Tom Cruise Runs (vibraphone + electronics) 
Claire Edwardes/Paul Mac - Dual Attractor (drums + electronics) 

Claire Edwardes (percussion)

In Hand to Earth, Yolŋu song keepers Daniel and David Wilfred recontextualise their 40,000 year old song tradition in a resolutely contemporary setting with Korean-born vocalist Sunny Kim, trumpet and electronics maestro Peter Knight, and woodwind virtuoso Aviva Endean.

Tickets: Free, by ballot only

Muharrem Aslan - Baglama
Alister Spence - piano
Muharrem and Alister explore ways to bring together Anatolian bağlama music—with its evocative quarter-tone language—and jazz and free improvisation on the piano, an instrument defined by equal temperament. This performance marks their debut as a duo.

In:Flux is an improvised, electroacoustic, ambient performance by jazz musician Gary Daley on accordion and composer/improviser Fiona Hill on electronics and gestural controllers.

Tickets: Free, by ballot only

Melbourne/Naarm-based On Diamond take an anomalous look at alternative pop. Their sound relies on an interactive group dynamic and is inspired by folk, noise, rock, jazz, and improvised music, with lyrics that are personal and poetic. The current ensemble features Lisa Salvo (vocals), Scott McConnachie (guitar and synth), Myka Wallace (drums), Jules Pascoe (bass), and Duré Dara (percussion).

Tickets: Free, by ballot only

Switzerland-based Australian cellist James Morley plays:

SALVATORE SCIARRINO Ai limiti della notte
GIUSEPPE COLUMBI Chiacona
GYÖRGY LIGETI Sonata for solo cello
JANE SHELDON The Unfolding Hour
DAVID FULMER Star of the North - Requiem for Zhanaozen
FERGUS HALL Adrift
LIZA LIM Spirit Weapons I
BRETT DEAN Eleven Oblique Strategies
HEINRICH IGNAZ FRANZ VON BIBER Passacaglia

Tickets: Free, by ballot only

The concert includes both new and reimagined songs from Greenwell’s extensive catalogue of performing arts and concert works, made especially for this piano trio.

The program will include pieces set to lyrics by leading Australian and international contemporary writers such as Jordie Albiston, Fiona Benson (UK), Alison Croggon, Katy Didden (US), Ross Gibson, Maryanne Lynch and Felicity Plunkett. The concert also features the world premier of Katie Liu’s Shorebird Suite.

Tickets: Free, by ballot only

Led by pianist and composer Lauren Tsamouras, Another Green World draws on elements of Greek traditional music as a way of exploring Tsamouras’ Greek heritage and what it means to be Greek-Australian today.

Lauren Tsamouras (piano), Hilary Geddes (guitar), Brendan Clark (bass) and Ashley Stoneham (drums).

Pianist Ronan Apcar and saxophonist Alice Morgan join forces to present a contemporary take on saxophone playing

PAUL STANHOPE phoSpheric Variations
ELIZABETH JIGALIN New work World premiere
EINOJUHANI RAUTAAVARA Notturno
KEVIN JUILLERAT L’Étang du Patriarche
ANDREW HOWES The Eyes of the Earth
GERARD BROPHY trois tableaux

Tickets: Free, by ballot only

Tabla virtuoso Bobby Singh is coming to Sydney to promote his extraordinary new album Sutradhaar - a cross-cultural musical journey featuring some of Australia’s finest musicians and composed by his guru, Dr Aneesh Pradhan, arranged by Sandy Evans. Including Jeff Lang, Greg Sheehan, Lara Goodridge, Shenzo Gregorio, Ben Walsh, Zela Margossian, and Tjupurru. 

The Sydney Cringe Festival is back and we are here to be your weirdest event of the year.

Cassy Judy, Designer Mutts, Doctor Robot, Julio Stinky, Myxi Buns, S. Miles, Scruffamudda, Sister Ursuline, Terrificus, The Lost Futures, Tom Adamson, Whatever Eva and Skitzenbitz, DJ Underwatermelon, The Clown Bride, LIVING SCIENCE Dept. (Visuals)

Guitar Club brings together Hamburg-based guitarists Danica Hobden and Pouya Abdi with Sydney musicians Hinano Fujisaki and Alex Inman-Hislop.

DANICA HOBDEN Gamelan; Pescatarian; Sleepwalker; Warmbluetig; Brouwer’s Will

POUYA ABDI Facereader; Kunterbunt

Tickets: Free, by ballot only

Jon Rose and Erik Griswold are two of Australia’s foremost improvising experimentalists. Unnamed Road engages two violins: one an amplified tenor violin, and keyboards — a regular piano and a MIDI keyboard hooked up to samples of prepared piano - in free improvisation.  

Tickets: Free, by ballot only

Jordan Chung presents a new set of original music for solo piano. Drawing from an array of influences, the performance will explore the freedom of improvisation.

Tickets: Free, by ballot only

O Mensch! transforms 21 poems by Friedrich Nietzsche into a series of musical declarations in major living French composer Pascal Dusapin’s intimate song cycle.
Mitchell Riley - baritone and Jack Symonds - piano.

Tickets: Free, by ballot only

The Mesos Trio is an Australian Folk/Indian classical ensemble featuring Susie Bishop (violin), Maharshi Raval (tabla) and Elsen Price (double bass). They perform unique arrangements of Folk music from the broader European community and Indian Classical inspired improvisations. 

Tickets: Free, by ballot only

Laura Chislett - flute
Satsuki Odamura - koto
Brad Gill - percussion

This performance will consist of structured improvisations: Kaze, Flung Ink, Crossways, Murmuration

Tickets: Free, by ballot only

Afternoon Concert: 16 May 2026, 2-6pm
The Music Box Project - Imaginary Radio Station
Jim Denley and the Eternally Orchestrating Sonoverse
Trevor Brown - Chromo Suono Solo
Monika Brooks

Evening Concert: 16 May 2026, 7.30-10.30pm
SPEL with Jason Noble and Louisa Rankin
W.E.S.T. - Wilcox Encarnaçao Swanton Trio
Hilary Geddes Quartet

An intimate winter gathering in the Blue Mountains, bringing together Dungeon Synth and Dark Ambient artists.

Tir
Lurid Orb
Most Ominous Mystic
Atavus Infectum
Mythscribe
Aniseed Shroud