At the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, the New Music Ensemble joined forces with Swiss contemporary group Ensemble Contrechamps for a compelling concert celebrating Australian and Swiss composition.

Curated by Damien Ricketson and conducted by Sam Weller, the collaboration between emerging and established voices was united by a shared commitment to adventurous contemporary music-making.

Ensemble Contrechamps. Photo © Charlotte Leamon

The evening opened with a striking work by Australian composer Katia Geha, whose and they leave me in the dark confronted the harrowing reality of violence against women.

Referencing cases in which women’s bodies have been discarded in garbage bags, the work unfolded through abrasive multiphonics, dense dissonances and chordal agitation that conveyed both horror and grief with unsettling immediacy.

Extending beyond sonic imagination, in the final moments of the work the performers tore their scores into 35 pieces and placed them into garbage bags, mirroring the dismemberment of victim Shraddha Walkar.

While all art is political, Geha’s compositional voice is rich with activism and protest. As Ricketson stated, she does not shy away from topics that are difficult to face....