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. 

The duo are excited to work with some of the best new voices in composition and performance in 2019-2020, showcased in their Espy Underground Sessions Series.

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

Guests for their first session are the Horsley & Williams Duo - recorder virtuoso Ryan Williams and uilleann pipist Matt Horsley - themselves specialists in music ranging from 17th Century  baroque, to folk and cutting-edge new music.

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.