Expect some weird and wonderful sounds emanating from The Hotel Esplanade Basement this year, thanks to experimental new music specialists, Ossicle Duo. 

Ossicle Duo (trombonist Benjamin Anderson and percussionist Hamish Upton) are all about the exploration and extension of sound. Based in Melbourne, the Duo have been celebrated for their performances of contemporary art music, winning the Melbourne Recital Centre’s Contemporary Masters Award in July 2019.

In the series, Ossicle Duo invite local and international guest musicians to join them for an experimental improv jam in the basement of the Hotel Esplanade. Together they’ll explore radical noise production, extended playing techniques, and the strange and intimate connection between some bizarre instrument combinations.

The guest for this Espy Underground Session is Louise Devenish.
Louise Devenish is a contemporary percussionist whose creative practice blends performance, collaboration and artistic research. A passionate advocate of new music and Australian music, Louise has commissioned over 50 works for percussion, and her performances are acknowledged for their ‘dazzling vitality’, ‘stunning virtuosity’, ‘interpretive flair and technical brilliance’. Louise is a core artist with acclaimed electroacoustic sextet Decibel (WA), and percussion-piano-bass clarinet trio Intercurrent. She is currently Senior Research Fellow at Monash University, where she is also Percussion Coordinator.

Ossicle Duo are thrilled to be joined by Louise in one of her first musical outings since moving to Melbourne. Fun fact - Louise was an assessor of Hamish’s Masters Thesis!

What to expect in this performance?
Metal objects abound, when tuneful percussion meets lyrical trombone. Vibraphone and steel pan drumform hypnotic loops, while cymbals and gongs provide a shimmering wash. Muted trombone sings across this luscious bed of sound. There is a heavy metal pun to be made - but we don’t want to go there.

TIME: 7PM
WHERE: The Basement, Hotel Esplanade
COST: Free

The Espy Underground Sessions would not be possible without the support of the City of Port Phillip through the Cultural Development Fund and Hotel Esplanade through the Arts Program.

To find out more about what is coming up in the Espy Arts Program visit https://hotelesplanade.com.au/arts-program/

We acknowledge the lands on which we present this work are the lands of the Yaluk-ut Weelam people of the Kulin Nations. We pay our respects to their elders, past, present and future.