Apex Festival Is Where Mosh Pits And Tchaikovsky Collide

Eora-based collective Ensemble Apex is not your regular orchestral ensemble, nor is their live performance experience your regular night at the opera.

Having played a series of performances in some of Sydney’s most iconic live music venues such as Phoenix Central Park and UNSW Roundhouse and institutions like the Powerhouse Museum, the journey thus far for Ensemble Apex has been long-winded. Their origins track back to 2016 when their formation as a collective began as a university project. Since then, the group has expanded rapidly, with musicians from all across the country – who play in prestigious orchestras in Queensland, Melbourne and Sydney – meeting once a year under the same roof to develop a live music experience unlike any other. 

Though the Ensemble Apex live experience can’t be brought together by words in a sentence, the collective is known for its unorthodox performance of classical, orchestral music set to the backdrop of unconventional music and art venues. While you may be used to hearing Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No.4 seated in the padded, wooden rows of Sydney Opera House’s Concert Hall, artistic director and Ensemble Apex conductor Sam Weller tells The Music that their mission statement is to “bring orchestral music to new audiences in ways that are meaningful and speak to new, contemporary and fresh tastes”.

“I'm a big advocate for orchestral and classical music, however, I know it's not the most diverse genre and not the most welcoming for a lot of people,” he said.

“I remember, I was in a cab with someone once, and he was talking about how he loved the opera, and when I asked why he didn't go more often, he said that one time he wore shorts to the opera and someone turned around to him and said he didn’t belong there,”

“That is just awful. And so we know the concert hall can be an unappealing place for people, so we try to activate new, interesting venues around Sydney.”

Classical music has always carried an unspoken formality to it – century-old architectural buildings turned concert halls hold thousand-dollar seats to the most distinguished performances reserved for only the wealthiest enjoyers of classical music. Clad in jewels, suits and fine garments, classical music at the concert hall always seemed to be an experience a select few could afford to witness. There is a definitive line drawn between the performer and those who have come to watch, and if that line were to be crossed, the entire system would lose its prosperous factor. 

To further the reach of orchestral music and make it more accessible, Ensemble Apex works to ensure the performance space is as immersive and interactive as possible, breaking down the traditionally built separator between performer and audience.

“We don't perform in a concert hall as a way to welcome other people,” Weller said.

“One of the biggest positives is people are surprised or excited about how close they can get to the ensemble because often there's a fourth wall between stage, space, and audience, and there's not any space to mingle or interact with the orchestra,”

“Whilst we're not having conversations with the audience during the concerts, we situate everything very close so that you can feel the aliveness of the music. And that's something I think the audience responds to. People really enjoy being up close with the musicians and experiencing this music in a place where they're not seated 50 to 100 metres away from where it's going on,”

“For us, it's a way to show the blood, sweat and tears, and demystify the act of performing this classical music by just letting people into the space. You can sit there with a beer and kick back.”

Classical music doesn’t become classical music without its traditional compositions, but the collective actively fuses tradition and modernity through its repertoire choices. An Ensemble Apex setlist could feature anything from a fine selection of reconfigured Beethoven symphonies to contemporary music by minority voices from around the world, to music made within their own backyard. 

The best way they’ve prepared to demonstrate the lengths and depths of their art wholeheartedly is through the first edition of their two-night, immersive concert experience Apex Festival. The festival promises a revitalised and renewed standard of live performance inside Sydney’s Lower Town Hall this weekend. Consisting of atmospheric lighting, introspective classical compositions, and a circular seating arrangement that surrounds the performance space, everything that Ensemble Apex stands for is exemplified through this two-night, belligerent, transformative live music experience. While it’s only the first year Apex Festival is running, Weller hopes to use this year as a training ground for providing a more extensive program going forward. 

“In five years, we want to be doing three big nights with smaller side shows during the day. We want to bring in cross genre artists, and interdisciplinary artists, whether that be dancers, painters, filmmakers. I'm always looking for the perfect DJ to do an orchestra-DJ crossover,” he said.

“But we will always focus on Australian talent. That's a big buzz thing with the festival community at the moment, balancing Australian acts with the international acts,”

“For us, orchestral music is an inherently European art form, so it's really important to rail against that and just focus on our Australian identity, and we hope in the future we can engage with many different communities in artistically exciting and informed ways.”

Apex Festival is set to be the boosting platform for Ensemble Apex to identify and connect with a community of Sydney audiences who are “musically curious” and want to experience a wealth of music. While the music they perform is rooted in traditional classical, they hope to reach fans of all kinds of genres and open them up to the charismatic, endearing, transcendental world of fusion orchestral music.

“We want to create a really rich, versatile, well-listened community where all music, whether it be punk, country, classical, has its space to flourish,” Weller said.

“So if we can do our bit in waving the flag for experimental classical and art music and give people the opportunity to be able to hear that music done in a really good way, then we will feel like we're doing our bit.”

Apex Festival is happening on Friday October 11th and Saturday October 12th at Sydney’s Lower Town Hall. Tickets can be purchased here.