Sydney orchestral trailblazers Ensemble Apex are bringing Apex Festival, a two-night, immersive concert experience, to the city.
Following a series of sold-out events under the direction of conductor Sam Weller, Apex Festival heralds a new era for the ensemble. The programme of Apex Festival harmonises tradition and modernity, promising a dynamic way to appreciate orchestral music and furthering Ensemble Apex’s legacy for setting new standards of live performance in Sydney.
Ensemble Apex was formed in 2016 as a university project. It’s a cutting-edge collective of musicians from around the country, who gather to create exceptional musical experiences. They’ve previously presented showcases at Vivid and Sydney Festival, with collaborations including Simon Tedeschi, Sydney Philharmonia Choirs, Phoenix Central Park and Sydney Dance Company.
Things kick off at Apex Festival with ‘Wake Up & Die’, a captivating orchestral journey exploring humanity’s relationship with morality. It invites introspection, challenging the audience’s imagination. The first of two nights will feature contemporary classical compositions from John Adams, Henry Gorecki, and two Australian premieres from Kitty Xiao and George Crumb.
“'In flesh ii' is a work about the body. The body to be heard, the spacious singing of its flesh, it's imaginary, not uniform or in a homogenous way,” Kitty Xiao says of her composition. “Inspired by the poetry of Chinese-American writer Jenny Zhang, 'In flesh ii' seeks to explore sound in a similar way to that of Zhang, the grotesque tactility in her use of language; especially sticky, thick, guttural.”
“It is a desire to chew, swallow and spit out the parts of us which are indissoluble, which cannot be washed away, and to seek out the relationship between inside and outside - all that separates us.”
The next day, Ensemble Apex invites audiences to immerse themselves in ‘Symphony In The Round’, to experience Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4 in live surround sound. Tchaikovsky is also known for works like ‘Swan Lake’, ‘The Nutcracker’, and ‘Romeo & Juliet’.
Tickets are on sale 13 August at 10am AEST.
Apex Festival is on at Lower Town Hall (Sydney) 11-12 October.
