Oren Ambarchi + Robbie Avenaim

8 August 2024

A note from Angus Andrew:

Oren Ambarchi and Robbie Avenaim, two pillars of Australia’s avant-garde music scene, bring over 30 years of boundary-pushing experimentation to Essential Tremors Sydney. Ambarchi’s guitar experiments defy convention, transforming the instrument into a conduit for ecstatic abstraction. Avenaim’s percussion and innovative instrument constructions push the boundaries of free improvisation and avant-garde composition. Together, their upcoming collaboration promises a dynamic fusion of virtuosity and creativity, inviting audiences into a realm where sound becomes a visceral journey of discovery and invention. 

Oren Ambarchi
Oren Ambarchi’s works are hesitant and tense extended songforms located in the cracks between several schools: modern electronics and processing; laminal improvisation and minimalism; hushed, pensive songwriting; the deceptive simplicity and temporal suspensions of composers such as Morton Feldman and Alvin Lucier; and the physicality of rock music, slowed down and stripped back to its bare bones, abstracted and replaced with pure signal. From the late 90’s his experiments in guitar abstraction and extended technique have led to a more personal and unique sound-world incorporating a broader palette of instruments and sensibilities. On releases such as Grapes From The Estate and In The Pendulum’s Embrace, Ambarchi employed glass harmonica, strings, bells, piano, drums and percussion, creating fragile textures as light as air which tenuously coexist with the deep, wall-shaking bass tones derived from his guitar.

Ambarchi has performed and recorded with a diverse array of artists such as Fennesz, Charlemagne Palestine, Sunn 0)), Thomas Brinkmann, crys cole, Keiji Haino, Alvin Lucier, John Zorn, Annea Lockwood, Alvin Curran, Loren Connors, Manuel Gottsching/Ash Ra, Merzbow, Jim O’Rourke, Keith Rowe, David Rosenboom, Julia Reidy, Akio Suzuki, Phill Niblock, John Tilbury, Richard Pinhas, Evan Parker, Fire! and many more.

Robbie Avenaim
Robbie Avenaim - is an innovative Australian drummer and sound artist with an international reputation for bold, sonic exploration. Focussed primarily on percussion and instrument building/percussion installations, his practice spans the domains of free improvisation and avantgarde composition. Avenaim has been at the forefront of the Australian experimental music scene both as a performer and a curator.

Over the past 25 years Robbie has developed a unique and personal musical language on the drums, combining traditional and extended techniques with physical modification of the drums. Modifications have included extending use of the instrument’s, various motorised percussive mechanisms and in so doing, provide greater scope for both composing and performing. As a drummer / composer / instrument builder, Avenaim’s musical ideas are inseparable from the instruments he design’s.

The design of new instruments is an integral part of the compositional process. Avenaim was also the co-founder and organiser of the legendary WHAT IS MUSIC? Festival, Australia’s premier annual touring showcase of local and international experimental music from 1994-2012 and has since organised many significant sound-based exhibitions, performances and festivals in Australia and overseas, which have been essential for the local growth and international prestige of Australia's avant-garde musical reputation. Avenaim is currently the drummer for AAA trio featuring Oren Ambarchi, Chris Abrahams (Pianist of the NECKS).

Performance

Performances

Thursday 8 August 2024, 9:45pm

Location

Phoenix Central Park
49 O'Connor St, Chippendale

Tickets

Free, by ballot only

Strobe lighting and other intense lighting may be used
Haze may be used

Ballot closed

Ballot draw date: Monday 29 July 2024

Ticketing FAQs

  • All performances at Phoenix Central Park are free.

  • Phoenix Central Park is an intimate performance space and tickets are limited. Due to high demand, tickets will be issued at random to those who have entered each ticket ballot. Each performance has a separate ballot, so if you would like to attend multiple performances, you will need to enter each ballot separately.

    We advise you to listen to the artist you are entering the ballot for, and consider which shows you’d really like to attend. Entering more ballots does not increase your chances of attending.

    Please only enter our ballots with your own details - if we catch you using false details, you won’t have any luck. We reserve the right to cancel any tickets we believe are obtained through false information at any time.

  • If you are successful you will receive an email up to ten days prior to the performance with instructions on how to claim your tickets.

    This offer is only valid for a limited time. Unclaimed tickets may be forfeited. You will have the option of confirming up to two tickets for a performance.

  • No, your tickets will be valid for a specific performance only. If you are unable to attend, please pass the ticket onto a friend or contact us at tickets@phoenixcentralpark.com.au to allow someone else the opportunity to attend.

    You can enter ticket ballots for your chance to attend another performance.