Sounds Unheard

Weekend listening: the Australian Art Music playlist is a monthly playlist of classical, jazz, experimental and electronic music focused on contemporary Australian composers, musicians and sound artists.

November's playlist is a collection of recent releases from independent artists, including several local Melbourne musicians and ensembles. Listen in to find some new favourites!

Listen to the Australian Art Music playlist Music by contemporary Australian composers,musicians and sound artists.

Our Sounds Unheard improvisation workshop with Duré Dara is part of Speak Percussion's final project for the year: Percussion, Conversation, Degustation.

Percussion, Conversation, Degustation curates 4 nights of improvisational music and cross-artform performance by Duré Dara, Speak Percussion and friends.

Structured as a series of menus, featuring never to be repeated ‘courses’ of percussion, performance, discussion and food, Duré and collaborators will encourage you to pause, listen, eat, reminisce, reflect, celebrate, critique and daydream about the past, present and future of experimental music, the restaurant business and social inclusion.

Concerts Nov 30 - Dec 3
Improvisation Workshop Dec 3, 11am-1pm
La MaMa Courthouse, Carlton

→ Concert tickets: https://lamama.com.au/whats-on/spring-2023/percussion-conversation-degustation/
→ Improvisation Workshop info: https://bit.ly/dure_improv_workshop
→ Improvisation Workshop registration: www.soundsunheard.com/join

On Friday November 3, eight Sounds Unheard participants performed the world premiere of Dark Voyages: a new work by Speak Percussion's Assistant Artistic Director Kaylie Melville, inspired by the Voyager expedition and the story of the Golden Record.

Thanks to Gallery Melbourne for having us as part of their Friday Night Social, and to everyone who came along to support our excellent performers! You can see more photos from the evening in our Dark Voyages album.

Image credits: Emma Byrne

Victorian secondary students are invited to take part in an improvisation workshop on Sunday 3 December, inspired by the work of Speak Percussion’s Creative Director Duré Dara.

For more than 50 years, Duré Dara has been making spontaneous music and performance. She is well known for her work with the late David Tolley, in the Brian Brown Quintet and as an improvisational musician, collaborating on countless music projects with some of the most admired Australian musicians.

In this improvisation workshop, secondary students will hear from Duré about her fascinating career, her ‘Percussion, Degustation, Conversation’ project with Speak Percussion, and her advice for young artists. Duré and Speak will lead the group through a number of guided improvisations, providing opportunities for students to play and explore their creativity together in a supportive environment.

Students will need to bring along an instrument for the improvisation exercises. All other materials will be provided.

11am-1pm, Sunday December 3 | La Mama Courthouse

→ For further information: https://bit.ly/dure_improv_workshop

→ To reserve your place: www.soundsunheard.com/join

The third episode of Victoria Pham's Studio Talk series, "Listening Backwards", focuses on how we can contemplate music making through historical objects, documents and listening. Victoria presents a case study in the form of her RE:SOUNDING project with artist and filmmaker James Nguyen.

Together Victoria and James worked with a range of collaborators to find a variety of sounds in a 3000-year-old bronze drum called the Đông Sơn drum, creating new music with an ancient instrument. Through this process of rematriation, RE:SOUNDING asks important questions about ownership, access and how we can continue to make music from the roots of those questions.

Join us next Thursday for the final episode in Victoria's Studio Talk series, "Listening to the Now".

SU Studio Talk 65: Victoria Pham - Listening Backwards Spanning art, technology and science, Victoria Pham is an Australian artist, evolutionary biologist, writer and composer based between Paris and Sydney. Orig...

This week's Studio Talk episode with Victoria Pham features a special guest: artist and filmmaker James Nguyen.

James' interdisciplinary practice moves between live and online performance, video, drawing and installation. He often makes work in collaboration with family and friends, inviting them to respond to specific sites using readily available materials. Processes of research and conversation play key roles in his practice, which examines strategies of decolonisation, while also interrogating the politics of family history, displacement and diaspora.

For those in Melbourne, you can see James' multi-lingual installation Open Glossary at the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art until 19 November 2023.

Join us tomorrow to learn about Victoria and James' collaborative project RE:SOUNDING.

OPEN GLOSSARY — jamesnguyens.com presented as part of the Copyright Agency Partnerships series of new commissions supporting mid-career and established visual artists to develop and present a major new body of work and the Australian Centre for conemporry Art (ACCA). With an ongoing commitment to collaborative models of making, Jam...

Performance opportunity! We're looking for 1-2 more secondary students to join us for the world premiere of Dark Voyages at the Science Gallery's Dark Matters exhibition on November 3.

Drawing inspiration from the Voyager space expedition and the story of the Golden Record, Dark Voyages uses percussion and artificial intelligence to synthesise the record’s sounds and new sounds from the modern day into a new cosmic language.

Rehearsals will be held on October 28 & 29, and applications are closing on Wednesday October 25.

For more information, visit https://bit.ly/darkvoyages
To apply, please visit https://soundsunheard.com/join/

Recommended listening: the Australian Art Music playlist is a monthly playlist of classical, jazz, experimental and electronic music focused on contemporary Australian composers, musicians and sound artists.

This month's playlist focuses on the harp, collecting recent releases, old classics, and hidden gems. Listen to this month's playlist at the link below, or explore the playlist archives on Spotify.

Listen to the Australian Art Music playlist Music by contemporary Australian composers,musicians and sound artists.

Tomorrow afternoon Speak's Assistant Artist Director and Sounds Unheard Co-ordinator Kaylie Melville will be performing at McClelland Sculpture Park and Gallery.

Assemblage showcases works at the forefront of post-instrumental practice - a movement revealing the hidden musical potential in everyday objects. Plants, wine glasses, alarm clocks and saw blades sit alongside an array of traditional percussion instruments, creating a universe of endless sonic possibilities.

For details and tickets, visit

Music at McClelland undefined

Closing soon! We have a handful of places left for young musicians to perform in the world premiere of Dark Voyages at the Science Gallery's Dark Matters exhibition on November 3.

Drawing inspiration from the Voyager space expedition and the story of the Golden Record, Dark Voyages uses percussion and artificial intelligence to synthesise the record’s sounds and new sounds from the modern day into a new cosmic language.

Rehearsals will be held on October 28 & 29, and applications are closing on Wednesday October 25.

For more information, visit https://bit.ly/darkvoyages
To apply, please visit https://soundsunheard.com/join/