Revolutionary Rhythms, the second concert in KLASSIK underground’s series at Illuminate Adelaide, brought together a thoughtfully curated program of music by Ukrainian and Russian composers with spellbinding visual effects.

KLASSIK underground: Revolutionary Rhythms at Illuminate Adelaide, 2022. Photo © Jack Fenby

Each concert in the tripartite series was a collaboration with a different Australian artist, and in this program it was prolific audio-visual artist Robin Fox. In an on-stage conversation with KLASSIK underground’s Tahlia Petrosian, he acknowledged the challenges of this project – the difficulty of adding meaningfully to an already-complete work of art, and the limited medium of lasers that he was working with. But Fox, with exceptional artistry and technique, integrated the visual effects beautifully into the performance, with a stunning array of textures and movement.

Ukrainian composer Valentin Silverstrov is not a name that commonly appears on chamber music programs, but his eloquent string quartet Icon deserves to be more widely performed. The string quartet – violinists Sophie Rowell and Matthew Tomkins with cellist Simon Cobcroft, along with Petrosian on viola – gave an exquisite rendition of the work with pristine articulation and ethereal timbres. Fox’s minimalistic use...