Sound Gardens: Vivid New Music at the Con

Sound Gardens is a festival of genre-bending Vivid new music produced by the best of the Sydney Conservatorium of Music’s home-grown composers, jazz and contemporary musicians, combined with the magic and vibrancy of Sydney’s beloved Vivid Sydney.

The iconic ‘music castle’ nestled on the edge of the Royal Botanic Gardens, will light up for an afternoon and evening of daring original performances and installations washed down with food and drink. Special guest artists Thymolphthalein featuring Natasha Anderson, Anthony Pateras and Clayton Thomas are joined by the Conservatorium’s Contemporary Music Ensemble, video artist Sean Bacon and others in an eclectic array of acoustic, electronic, improvised and composed music.

Sound Gardens is curated by Damien Ricketson with Clint Bracknell and Craig Scott.

Featured Artists

• Thomas Avgenicos Group - Thomas Avgenicos – trumpet, Felix Lalanne – Guitar, Roshan Kumarage – piano, Dave Quinn – contrabass, Oliver Nelson – Drums
• Mimi Kind and The Rhythm Machine 
• Sabrina Toon – voice/guitar/keys, Chloe Kim – drums, Lachie Halloway – bass, Bianca King & Brayden Harry – Dance
• Sarah Thompson
• Cloud Loops - Holly Conner – Drum Kit, Jacques Emery – Double Bass, Novak Manojlovic – Piano
• Anthony Pateras: prepared piano and Clayton Thomas: prepared bass
• Thymolphthalein trio - Natasha Anderson (contrabass recorder/electronics), Anthony Pateras (prepared piano/electronics), Clayton Thomas (double bass)
• Sydney Conservatorium of Music Contemporary Music Ensemble: Holly Conner – drums, Jess Dunn – bass, Felix Bornholdt – piano, Joe Lisk – trumpet, Heather Prowse – trumpet, Alex Jasprizza – tenor sax, Frank Dasent – trombone, Mary Rapp – bass, Phil Slater & Simon Barker – Ensemble co-ordinators
• Secret Suburbs - Conor O’Reily – lead vox/rhythm guitar, Jack Johnston – lead guitar, Joseph Plunkett – bass, James Spitaller – drums & Campbell Barnes (guest) – keys/electronics
• Mlekö 

Installations

• Harry Burgess 
• Victoria Pham & James Maher - “Pendulum” 
• Micro-lit - Sydney Conservatorium composers team up with video artists and wordsmiths ‘Spineless Wonders’ in a collection of multisensory vignettes led by Daniel Blinkhorn
• Live video by Sean Bacon