Australian Music Centre | Breaking sound barriers

Event Details

The Australian Art Orchestra will celebrate its twentieth anniversary with a gala concert at The Coopers Malthouse, the venue which hosted the first AAO concert in 1996. The evening features a suite of works drawn from the repertoire of the Australian Art Orchestra developed during twenty years of commissioning and performance including Passion (the AAO response to Bach’s St Matthew Passion), Testimony (Sandy Evans’ tribute to Charlie Parker), Ringing the Bell Backwards (the first work written for the Orchestra by Paul Grabowsky) and most recent work Struttin' With Some Barbecue by Eugene Ball, which features acclaimed world/pop vocalist Ngaiire in a tribute to Louis Armstrong that premiered at MONA FOMA in January 2014.

This program also features a new work commissioned especially for the occasion from brilliant young Sydney-based composer, Austin Buckett, which explores the meeting point of composition and improvisation and features a range of outstanding performers including vocalist Gian Slater, turntablist/experimental DJ Martin Ng and AAO Artistic Director Peter Knight on trumpet and electronics.

20UP will showcase some of the most extraordinary improvising musicians in Australia including AAO founding members and new faces brought into the fold since Peter Knight’s appointment.

Featured non-Australian music: Bach

Further information for this event is available online at the event's website or by phone on (03) 9602 4393

Featured Australian Works

Featured artists

• New work by Austin Buckett
• Music of Eugene Ball
• Performer Australian Art Orchestra