Since their first performance in 2000, experimental ensemble Speak Percussion has become increasingly renowned for innovative and virtuosic musical explorations. Artistic Director Eugene Ughetti is a composer, conductor and percussionist who has worked with a dazzling array of international conductors, musicians and ensembles, including occasional stints with the MSO. For Fluorophone, Ughetti was joined by Speak Percussion Artistic Associate Matthias Schack-Arnott, Sounds Unheard Coordinator Kaylie Melville and Perth-based percussionist and member of the Decibel New Music Ensemble, Louise Devenish.

The interconnectivity between sound and light sources was thrillingly evident in the works performed in Fluorophone. Award-winning composer Damien Ricketson is the founder of another eminent group of Australian performers, Ensemble Offspring; his Rendition Clinic (2015) is for two percussionists and a strobe light operator, and is a minimalist consideration of the interplay between light and sound. The performers played in complete darkness, lit only by intermittent flashes of white light in conjunction with electrically generated sonic snaps. Eugene Ughetti’s Pyrite Gland removed the tom-tom drum from its usual role as component of a traditional drum kit. Three players explored the textural possibilities of this instrument using foot pumps, hoses, balloons, electronics and effects pedals to create a breathily organic sound...