Smoke Between Mountains

*Smoke Between Mountains* is a new work by composer and AAO Artistic Director, Aaron Choulai with the Australian Art Orchestra.
Composed for an ensemble of ten musicians, *Smoke Between Mountains* traces its dreamlike narrative against an innovative score building outward from a Ghibli sound world. The work draws upon Shinto and Australian First Nations ecological thought, centred around the entwined visions of a girl from a coastal mountain island in southern Japan, and a boy from the high plateau of inland Australia. Their visions are as vivid as they are unfamiliar, and imagination gradually mirrors reality as they strive to comprehend a message from nature, ahead of a climate catastrophe.
**AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE - Wednesday 8 July 2026, 7:30pm:** for SONIC CITY, Immigration Museum, Melbourne

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Sonic City

**A new and expanded program for 2026**
Sonic City returns on 8 July 2026 with an expanded city-wide program celebrating contemporary creative music across Melbourne’s CBD. Spanning a series of performances and live experiences, the event invites audiences to explore the city through sound, movement and shared encounter.
Sonic City transforms Melbourne into a connected musical landscape, with audiences encouraged to wander between venues, discovering performances in diverse spaces throughout the day and into the night. Each venue offers its own atmosphere and perspective, creating a journey that is as much about experiencing the city itself as it is about the music.

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To Kill A Magic

We Got Used To -

Premiere

Full-length premiere video now on YouTube

To Kill A Magic We Got Used To, a daring and culturally-coded new work by Artistic Director Aaron Choulai and Roman MC, premiered on 28th November 2025 at Athaneum Theatre II, Melbourne.

The work across three movements is a reimagining of Stravinsky’s L'Histoire du soldat for a digital age, and follows a modern artist trading authenticity for social media fame. Multiple musical worlds and cultural references are kneaded into new shapes in a genre-defying work, building the story live through Choulai’s unique Sono-Kinetic Conducting system. Stravinsky’s music is abstracted into a blend of composition and improvisation around Roman MC’s narrative-led spoken word and freestyle, demonstrating new languages in jazz and hip-hop through the sonic world of a Spike Lee movie score. This gripping work confronts the cost of visibility and the fragile balance between creative ambition and artistic integrity.

Latest Projects

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Ane Ta Abia

Ane Ta Abia - Aaron Choulai, Australian Art Orchestra and the Tatana Village Choir. Experience a stunning choral concert bringing together musicians and singers from Australia and Papua New Guinea.

Kutcha Edwards and the Australian Art Orchestra

‘Wuigada – Gagada (To Sing – Loud)’ is a collaboration with iconic Australian and First Nations singer-songwriter, Kutcha Edwards. Reimagined for the AAO, this performance celebrates the songs of country, history, pain and joy expressed in Kutcha Edward’s repertoire, and creates space for experimentation by some of Australia’s most creative voices of jazz and improvisation.

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