07 October—11 December 2025

Season XVIII reflects Phoenix’s sustained devotion to foregrounding independent artistry from a slew of Australian music cultures.

Our eighteenth season also marks a number of landmark achievements, including our 300th distinct presentation to date and over 50,000 attendees to our intimate capacity performances.

New performances announced at The Church, a meticulously restored 19th-century Gothic church in Alexandria owned by Judith Neilson AM that houses rehearsals and work development for musicians by invitation.

Thursday 09 October 2025, 7:00pm

Formed against the backdrop of the pandemic in 2020, the project of Awabakal land / Newcastle-based dual guitarist-vocalists Gabriel Stove and Justin Teale, bassist Liam Smith, guitarist and saxophonist Adam Ridgway, and drummer Kye Cherry, dust offer an invigorating new take on Australian post-punk: progressive, catchy, and irresistible. Just as artistically motivated by the fragmented, free-genre steps of Yung Lean and Burial, merging experimental jazz and electronica into a sound as immediate as Inhaler and Violent Soho, this idiosyncratic joining of the fringes comes together much like their roots in Newcastle, and the band’s careful balance of in-betweens.

Wednesday 22 October 2025, 7:00pm

Acopia is a band from Naarm/Melbourne, formed in 2018 by Kate Durman, Lachlan McGeehan, and Morgan Wright. Working with restraint and atmosphere, their music unfolds slowly and deliberately, guided by instinct and emotion. Their debut album Chances was released in 2022 on Melbourne imprint Companion, followed by a self-titled, self-released LP in 2023. Since then, they’ve sold out headline shows across the UK, Europe, and Australia, performed at festivals including Wide Awake (UK), Les Nuits Botanique (BE), and Golden Plains (AUS), and shared the stage with artists such as Bar Italia, Tirzah, and Raisa K. Their third album, Blush Response, is out September 2025 via London label Scenic Route.

Tuesday 28 + Wednesday 29 October, 6:30pm + 8:15pm

Composed, directed and produced by Callum Mintzis, this performance is a multimedia adaption of his new album, And the Wind was my Dear Friend, Once Again. Featuring movement-artist MaggZ, electronic artist Tilman Robinson and string quartet (Madeleine Jevons, Georgia Cartlidge, Dana Lee & Jack Ward), the work reflects a longtime interest in the process of connection, and the notion of accepting that which we repress, judge, and push away.