Ghosts Between Streams II : Tom Avgenicos

Tom Avgenicos, one of Australia's boldest jazz innovators, brings together an extraordinary team to capture the complex life of the ancient Coquun/Hunter River. This visionary team of creatives, including Sydney/UK multimedia artist Jordan East (Rüfüs Du Sol, The Freedom Collective), award-winning jazz quartet Delay 45 and pioneering string quartet APEX4 have created a stunning audiovisual collaboration.

At its heart, this is a conversation between past and present. The eight-piece ensemble creates a sound world that shifts between intimate chamber music, free-flowing jazz, and electronic landscapes. Hundreds of hours of Hunter River field recordings and archival footage have been transformed through experimental audiovisual technologies, into an immersive visual counterpoint.

The river itself becomes the central character—once a source of abundance, now simultaneously a channel for the world's largest coal exports and a living ecosystem struggling with pollution. Through music and image, we're invited to see Coquun as more than just a waterway—it's a mirror reflecting the tensions of modern Australia.

Don’t miss this unique performance for one night only. Say you were there.

DURATION
75 minutes

SENSORY & CONTENT WARNING
This performance includes large scale projections, lighting and loud sounds.

ACCESSIBILITY
Wheelchair accessible venue.

ARTISTS & COLLABORATORS
Tom Avgenicos is a Muloobinba-based trumpeter, composer, and interdisciplinary artist whose work is exploratory, bold, and deeply emotive. His dynamic performance approach spans contemporary jazz and multidisciplinary collaboration, with a strong focus on place, locality, and environmental sustainability. Avgenicos has emerged as a force in Australia’s creative music scene, described as “a bold new chapter in Australian jazz” (Sydney Morning Herald) and “the type of trumpeter who comes along once in a generation” (Limelight Magazine). His has received numerous awards and honours including Freedman Fellowship (2022), Best in Music and Best in Dance (2024 Sydney Fringe Festival) and Create NSW ‘Creative Steps’ (2025). Follow Tom on Instagram : @tomavgenicos

Delay 45 is an acclaimed jazz & improvisation quartet led by trumpet/composer Tom Avgenicos, alongside close collaborators Roshan Kumarage (piano), Dave Quinn (bass) and Ashley Stoneham (drums). With a musical relationship that stretches back as far as their high school years, Delay 45 have created a dynamic performance style that flows seamlessly between structure and spontaneity. Drawing from hip-hop, minimalism, modern jazz and contemporary classical music, simple and recurring motifs interspersed with tight-knit interplay and textural dynamism characterise their performance style. They have toured internationally and have performed at the Sydney Opera House, Melbourne Recital Centre and Phoenix Central Park.  Follow Delay 45 on Instagram : @delay45_band

Jordan East is a media artist currently working between London and Sydney. His practice explores our relationship with technology & music, through immersive video and augmented physical spaces. East’s work spans across video, projection, interactive installations and theatre – often collaborating with improvisational musicians, exploring the intersection of experimental electronic music and video, or interfacing performers and audiences with the work through sensors. His work aims to blend the real with virtual, and often includes procedural animation, photogrammetry, real-time generative processes, or workflows that explore the ever-changing landscape of technology. Follow Jordan on Instagram : @jordan_east

Ensemble Apex: APEX4 String Quartet 
Established in 2016 and featuring some of the most thrilling emerging players in Australia, Ensemble Apex has quickly established itself at the leading edge of large ensemble and chamber music innovation, often playing in non-traditional spaces (warehouses, storage depots) to bring their music to new audiences. Featuring four of Australia’s most exciting string players, Ensemble Apex appears as APEX4. Follow APEX4 on Instagram : @ensembleapex 

Collaborators: Awabakal Local Aboriginal Land Council and sound artist Kiel Clack. 

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Co-presented by Newcastle Improvised Music Association (NIMA). Ghosts Between Streams II is supported by City of Newcastle's New Annual festival, the NSW Government through Create NSW, and the Awabakal Local Aboriginal Land Council.