Dots+Loops 2017

Cutting-edge international talent meets Australia’s new generation of local stars in uniquely compelling post-genre concert experiences. Find out more at our 2017 season page.

Past shows

Dots+Loops Recomposed
2 July 2016, Queensland Gallery of Modern Art (GoMA)

Dots+Loops Recomposed featured Max Richter's "Vivaldi Recomposed" performed for the first time in Brisbane using its original instrumentation, acclaimed indie-chamber group Nonsemble performing the world premiere of Chris Perren's "Fibreglass Forestry", and closed with a DJ set flowing on from the rest of the concert. Co-presented by QAGOMA, the night took place in the Queensland Gallery of Modern Art's stunning River Room, featuring panoramic views across the Brisbane river and cityscape.

"A feast for the senses [...] Kyla Matsuura-Miller gave a stunning performance, not only playing with poise and drama as the soloist, but visibly leading the band to mesmerising synchronicity [...] There were several moments where irrepressible delight broke out from the tight rhythms and lush harmonies onto the faces of performers and audience alike. A fantastic show..." — Kate Byrne for Scenestr

"Dots+Loops Recomposed was truly unique [...] Everything about it from start to finish was awe-inspiring and I don’t even know where to begin to explain how much I enjoyed this concert." — Nahima Kern for The Creative Issue
Dots+Loops Delay
26 February 2016, Cupo

Dots+Loops: Delay presented an intimate, engaging and conceptually tight program of music for viola, delay and electronics. Featuring Kieran Welch on viola, along with a number of special guests, the concert featured the world premiere of Chris Perren's "A Missing Moon", as well as Australian premieres of music by Michael Gordon, Missy Mazzoli and Nico Muhly.

"[Dots+Loops Delay] represented the fulfilment of an artist’s imagination, a celebration of the viola sound, technique and repertoire [combined] with mastery encompassing all performing characteristics..." — Raquel Bastos

"The program was inspired, showing the versatility and expressive capacity of the viola in [contemporary] music..." — Patrick Murphy
Dots+Loops 5x4
12 December 2015, Cupo

Three groups of four musicians each, performing five captivating contemporary pieces. Dots+Loops 5x4 presented Australian premieres of Missy Mazzoli's "Harp and Altar" and Pulitzer prize-winning composer Caroline Shaw's "Entr'acte", alongside lauded works from local composers Connor D'Netto and Maja Puseljic, and a rare performance of the hypnotic post-genre masterpiece "Amid the Noise" by So Percussion and Jason Treuting.

"With a broad range of local and international composers, and a focus on cutting-edge, post-genre work, Dots+Loops is emerging as a vibrant new player on the Brisbane music circuit [...] If the series can continue forwards with the nous, talent and dynamism it has shown [tonight], it will go on to play a vital role in Brisbane’s cultural scene." — Madeleine Dale for The Creative Issue
Dots+Loops Radio Rewrite
​20 March 2015, The Triffid

Held in the stunningly renewed airport hangar at The Triffid, Dots+Loops Radio Rewrite saw indie-chamber outfit Nonsemble joined by a host of talented local musicians to perform Steve Reich's Radiohead-inspired "Radio Rewrite". The night also featured Armas Quartet presenting the Australian premieres of Bryce Dessner's "Aheym" and "Little Blue Something" to critical acclaim, as well as "Landscape" for quartet and guitar by local composer Robert Davidson, and closed with a DJ set from Airport conceptually following on from the rest of the program.

"Dots+Loops is the latest hip attempt to bridge the gap between art and the mainstream; to find that happy medium between the musicianship of high classical and the laid-back coolness of contemporary indie, pop and even dance music. And Dots+Loops succeeds." — Andrew Messenger for CutCommon
Dots+Loops Tape
12 December 2014, Contortionist Studios

Australian premieres of Missy Mazzoli's "Tooth and Nail" and Nico Muhly's "Études for Viola", as well as Steve Reich's "Different Trains", and a DJ set from Chris Perren (Software of Seagulls), held in the laid-back warehouse space at Contortionist Studios.
Dots+Loops Drones
​3 July 2014, SYC Studios

Dots+Loops Drones presented the Australian premiere of Nico Muhly's "Drones" cycle, accompanied by hypnotic live visuals from Chris Perren, and featuring internationally recognised musicians Sam Mitchell on piano, Courtenay Cleary on violin, Kieran Welch on viola, and Ben Heim on live electronics. Sydney Symphony's Julia Doukakis featured as solo violist in the Australian premiere of Judd Greenstein's "In Teaching Others We Teach Ourselves", and Nonsemble Trio opened the concert with the world premiere of Chris Perren's "Winterstate".
Dots+Loops (From the Concert Hall to the Dance Floor)
22 March 2014, SYC Studios

The first concert in the Dots+Loops series was based around the concept "from the concert hall to the dance floor". Held in a converted warehouse space in Brisbane's Woolloongabba, the show began at the concert hall end of the spectrum with Armas Quartet performing Philip Glass' incandescent post-minimalist masterpiece, String Quartet No. 5. Covering the territory in between, Nonsemble premiered their second major work "Go Seigen vs. Fujisawa Kuranosuke", which went on to see them sign to London label Bigo & Twigetti. Finally, the night closed with DJ Airport presenting a set of contemporary electronic and dance music, focusing on music indebted to or influenced by modern and contemporary western art music.