Annie Hui-Hsin Hsieh: Swell

Annie Hui-Hsin Hsieh is a Taiwanese-Australian composer working in acoustic and electroacoustic mediums. Her work focuses on creating visceral physical experiences and articulates sonic expressions in terms of spatial gestures and relational sociality.

Written in close collaboration with Australian violist Phoebe Green, Swell, a new work for solo viola d’amore and live electronics, expands the ideas of reverberation both as a phenomenon and a metaphor. Reverberation helps us sense and understand the space around us, shaping how we interact with our environment. Through carefully crafted movements of sound behaviours, Swell is a musical essay on how memories are revisited upon each recall to conjure a surge of emotions that are internalised, learned, and embodied to help shape our unique sense of self.

Swell will be performed alongside another of Annie’s works, Echoes of the Unspoken. Written for string orchestra and percussion soloist, it is inspired by the story of Echo, the nymph from Greek mythology. The work was commissioned as part of the 2020 Monash University International Women’s Day Composition Commission Prize.

Annie Hui-Hsin Hsieh composition / electronics
Phoebe Green viola d’amore

Louise Devenish percussion
Aaron Wyatt conductor
Monash Sinfonia

This work was developed as part of the Monash University Performing Arts Centres commissioning program.

This performance is part of the 2025 Sundays in the Sound Gallery series, showcasing exceptional artists in the intimate and acoustically superb David Li Sound Gallery.