A composer’s epic cartography of an unknown landscape celebrates winter’s longest night.

Nick Tsiavos is one of Australia’s most enigmatic musicians who doubles as an architect of sound. He fuses ancient sacred chant with otherworldly avant-garde techniques to create performances that enthral and challenge. For Tasmania’s DARK MOFO festival he will invite listeners to join him on an extraordinary 14.5-hour journey titled Immersion. It will be an epic cartography of an unknown landscape.

Tsiavos is a Melbourne-based composer and double bassist renowned for his explorative performances that open new sound worlds. “Part of my work is the idea that art can be transformative. This experience is not just something that you consume and walk away from, but something that actually stays with you and changes you,” Tsiavos explains. His music embraces the metaphysical by speaking directly to the soul.

Tsiavos studied classical double bass at the Victorian College of the Arts before studying with Dr. Bertram Turetzky and then François Rabbath in Paris. Reflecting on the development of his unconventional style, Tsiavos recalls his childhood visits to the Greek Orthodox Church. “I think the rediscovery of that richness started feeding into the work I was doing,” he says.

Tsiavos combines the...