Welcome to the Obscure Orchestra: a curious world of multi-textured alchemy, experimental sparks, and symphonic grandeur, woven into a daringly original whole. Earlier this year QMA-winning multi-instrumentalist, composer Matt Hsu, released a milestone double album, five years in the making, with collaborations across his First Nations, queer, trans, non-binary and disabled Obscure Orchestra community, a blissfully outlier ensemble who have grown to a rabble of renegade artists; an eclectic, radically-inclusive ensemble underpinned by community-minded inclusivity, visibility and gender diversity.
Together, these two albums—Forest Party and Noodle—form a 28 track mecca (collectively subtitled ‘Slowly Made Music For Curious Ears’), that are the culmination of a decade’s mythos rumbling from strange TEDx featured multi-instrumental tinkerer to 25-piece award winning alternative orchestra (‘an anti-racist orchestral-punk ensemble’) that challenges the industry binary of ‘white musicians do indie, black musicians do hip hop’. They are a deep immersion into the obscure brain of a kookily playful artist and fierce activist. Where songs swing from hip-hop built on strange instruments over samples, sonic declarations of love for ramen, to densely textured takedowns of ‘Capitalism™’, to a winking lament of being ‘The Only Person of Colour at the Indie Hang’.
Matt’s mythos as an inimitable composer-performer—crafting otherworldly, cinematic sounds that bottle the cosy tactile warmth of lo-fi bedroom pop with hip hop’s conscious punch, while exploring intersectional themes and the juicy spaces between cultures—has snowballed. Beloved for combining rare instruments, found objects, DIY punk ethos, and intimate reflections of Asian-Australian identity, Matt’s music roams freely from Magandjin/Brisbane’s experimental fringes to revered stages like QPAC and QAGOMA.
Matt Hsu’s Obscure Orchestra is Matt Hsu – director, composer, so many instruments; Shani Raman – vibraphone, xylophone; BADASSMUTHA – vocals; Sophie Kristensen – clarinet, sax; Tenzin Choegyal – vocals, dranyen, limbu; Nima Doostkhah – rap; Katherine Gough – violin; Sarah Probets – cello; Laura Hjortshoj-Haller – french horn; Matt Hsu – composer, various instruments; Andrew Humphreys – trombone, trumpet; Georgie-Rose Jurss – flute; Courts Lovell – clarinet, soprano sax, bari sax; PJ McEwan – viola; Lucie Pegna – vocals; Katie Randall – drum kit; Han Reardon-Smith – flute, bass flute; Saro Roro – vocals, flute; Jodie Rottle – flute, found objects; Gabby Spina – harp; Jonathan Sriranganathan – tenor sax, vocals; Kaya Tominaga – taiko, rap, toy piano, ukulele, bongos; Caroline Townsend – bass; Ebony Westwood – trumpet; Fiona Wheeler – trombone, slide trumpet, ukulele, vocals; Madi Martson – illustrator, alongside an expansive and inclusive contingency of collaborators from around the world.
About BEMAC Live
BEMAC Live is a series of professionally produced shows, underpinned by BEMAC’s programming principles, that champion and elevate diverse artists, and their artistry, as creators of original work of the highest quality and relevance possible. For more information about BEMAC’s program of upcoming events, visit bemac.org.au/season/
5:00pm, Sunday 19 October 2025
Queensland Multicultural Centre
102 Main Street, Kangaroo
Tickets $35/$25
There is limited parking at the QMC. We encourage all guests to use public transport. QMC is only a 2-minute walk from the Holman Street Ferry Terminal and bus route 234. You can find more info about how to get to QMC at
http://qmc.org.au/visit
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