Opportunities for emerging composers to experiment and to develop and produce new work are rare and precious. Curated by composer Dylan Crismani and presented by Adelaide’s Soundstream New Music Ensemble, EMERGE showcased four engaging and imaginative works by energetic South Australian composers.

First up was Nomos Duo, a joint improvisation by Iran Sanadzadeh, using her laptop and two of her movement-sensitive floor panels, and David Moran on cello. In recent years, composer, musician and sound engineer Sanadzadeh has constructed several panels – hollow boxes nearly a metre by a metre and several centimetres deep that sit on the floor and contain movement sensors that are connected electronically to a laptop which in turn is amplified through a PA. Using more modern technology, she is building on the work of Australian dancer and choreographer Philippa Cullen (1950-1975) who in the early 1970s experimented with theremins to produce sound through dance movement and developed a pressure-sensitive dance floor to generate sound. Sanadzadeh has recently added lights to her panels and these also respond to movement.

For this performance, Sanadzadeh stood or sat on the two panels and made small movements to generate subtle changes in the signal sent to the laptop which was...