A Finding Our Voice commission, Ephemeral Echoes plays with notions of transience: of life, of experience, of sound. Ironically, it’s unlikely anyone will forget this world premiere performance.

New York-based Grammy Award-winning composer and instrumentalist Linda May Han Oh wrote Ephemeral Echoes, scored for sextet – bass, piano, drums and three percussionists – during a lengthy sojourn in her hometown of Perth.

To pigeonhole this rich, complex eight-movement work as jazz would be to do it, and Linda, a disservice. It is more a work of autobiography, of philosophy. And a celebration of the joy of creation.

Also, without having seen the score, it is difficult to know, past the global melodic, harmonic and rhythmic structures, what has been composed and what is being improvised. Which is a tribute to the performers.

Hearing the work more than once is the clear solution. And you really want to hear it again. And again. Echoes indeed.

Linda May Han Oh performs Ephemeral Echoes. Photo © Corey James

You could say Ephemeral Echoes is a septet if you include lighting designer Lucy Birkinshaw, so integral is her art to the finished work. You could also...