Swiss new-music powerhouse Ensemble Contrechamps makes its first Australian visit with two strikingly different programs in this year’s Canberra International Music Festival that showcase the breadth of its artistry.

In Récit des sensations fragiles (Tales of Fragile Sensations), the Geneva-based ensemble performs a major late work by Swiss composer Jürg Frey, whose luminous sound worlds have made him one of the most distinctive voices in contemporary music. Lasting nearly an hour, the score invites audiences into a landscape of stillness, timbral beauty and heightened listening.

The ensemble also appears in Tissages du Temps, an ambitious program tracing centuries of French musical imagination – from Charpentier, Couperin and Rameau to Ravel and Gérard Grisey.

Ahead of the concerts, Limelight spoke with Serge Vuille and Antoine Françoise of Ensemble Contrechamps.

Ensemble Contrechamps. Photo © Guillaume Collignon

Will this be your first trip to Australia as an ensemble? How are you feeling?

Serge Vuille: Yes, this is Contrechamps’ first trip to Australia. We’re excited, and particularly grateful for the many opportunities to collaborate with Australian artists,...