Speak Percussion is one of Australia’s most diverse percussion collectives whose activities span a wide variety of contexts and genres. Beyond percussion ensemble and new music practice, Speak Percussion works to create an evolving and hybrid art form.

In this concert, percussionists Eugene Ughetti, Peter Neville, Matthias Schack-Arnott and Leah Scholes will present an eclectic program to celebrate a diversity of acoustic languages on the vibraphone. In a program of predominantly virtuosic pieces by Australian composers, Speak Percussion will present the ultra-complex work of Richard Barrett from his mammoth chamber work Opening of the Mouth and the first-ever recorded vibraphone work from the vaudeville era, the infamous Aloha Oe.

The program will also feature the world premiere performance of Surface Given Radiance by Luke Paulding, a brilliant young composer who is gaining notoriety for exploring unconventional timbres and extremes of playability. Paulding’s work augments the vibraphone with 80 microtonally tuned aluminum tubes, creating tightly woven textures with explosive force and the blazing resonance of metallic overtones.