Greek-Australian composer Constantine Koukias will present his new chamber opera “Kimisis” at Verge Gallery in Sydney from March 25-28.

A hit at Tasmania’s MONA FOMA Festival in 2010, Kimisis is a gallery-style installation work written and directed by Koukias, a Tasmanian composer and opera director of Greek ancestry based in Amsterdam.

Koukias is the co-founder and artistic director of IHOS Music Theatre and Opera, which was established in 1990 in Tasmania’s capital city, Hobart.

Kimisis commemorates the ‘falling asleep’ or the death and assumption of Mary, Mother of Christ, to Heaven.

Influenced by traditions of the Greek Orthodox Church, Koukias translates this religious occasion into a secular and highly contemporary experience: Byzantine and Christian Arabic music clash with electronic sounds and the soprano, singing in Ecclesiastical Greek, performs on a Pilates Trapeze machine.

The ritualistic elements, visual design and dramatic staging, combine to make this a universally moving and deeply immersive performance.

Soprano: Irene Sarrinikolaou