Tasmanian composer Constantine Koukias returns from Amsterdam with Dutch sound designer Willem van Erven Dorens to present a site-specific work for Beaker Street Festival (6–17 August) that transforms Hobart’s Theatre Royal with a bespoke 360° sound system. Inspired by the 1998 discovery that the universe’s expansion is accelerating, VAST translates dark energy into sound, with more than 120 voices and 80 instrumentalists dispersed as shifting sonic “particles”.

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Tasmanian composer Constantine Koukias returns from Amsterdam with Dutch sound designer Willem van Erven Dorens to unveil a groundbreaking work that transforms the invisible force of Dark Energy into a live sonic spectacle. This site-specific work has been created for Beaker Street Festival and the Theatre Royal.

Forget conventional concerts. Inside a transformed Theatre Royal, a bespoke spatial‑audio system reshapes the room into a 360° universe of sound, where more than 120 recorded voices and 80 instrumentalists break apart into sonic “particles” that swirl, collide, and drift like unstable matter in an invisible field. What you hear depends entirely on where you sit. No two seats share the same journey.

The international ensemble features Australian pianist Gabriella Smart, American soprano Katharine Dain, English tenor Tyrone Landau, Tasmanian musicians Jennifer Owen (violin) and Yoram Levy (trumpet), Celia Craig (Cor Anglais, SA), Greg Gurr (sound supervisor), Jason James (lighting designer), and Donald Bate (live delay operator).