SPLINTER FEST @ 21 Shepherd

Splinter and The Living Room Theatre present…

SPLINTER FEST @ 21 Shepherd
Sunday 8 March, 2026
4-9pm

Following a 4-week residency at 21 Shepherd, Splinter invites you to this mini ‘festival’:

Afternoon and evening, musicking will unfold with 21 Shepherd: the warehouse, and its surrounding streets and laneways, through constellational solos, duos, trios, small ensembles, a soundwalk, and the full Orchestrating Sonoverse.

ENTRY BY DONATION (cash preferred!)
Kids welcome
There will be food shared at 6pm - ish

Full schedule:

[Session 1]
4-6pm
An ongoing, unfolding long-form play with and within the venue.

[Dinner]
6-7pm
We’ll have some food to share for dinner! Food donations welcome, and/or $ to help cover costs.
(NB: Venue is licensed, so no BYO drinks, but BYO food is fine, if you prefer not to share)

[Session 2]
7-9pm
A nearby outdoor performance, a sound walk, a set of small groupings from within Splinter.

NB: Audience is welcome to write, craft, draw etc as they listen, if so inclined. We’ll also have a little station with some paper, pens, stamps etc set up if you feel the inspiration.

Splinter Orchestra 

Splinter is a large-scale electro-acoustic improvising Orchestra playing with Dharug Country, Sydney, Australia.  
 
One of the few groups of its kind anywhere else in the world, Splinter was formed in 2002, currently comprises 30+ members and brings together musickin from various backgrounds to co-create on equal terms – without any leaders, composers, or conductors. 

The ensemble is based on a social, democratic, gender equal and a non-hierarchical cooperation via improvisation. Inherently this regard and reciprocity is extended to non-human musickin, and Place.  

Each Splinter iteration is an ecology where musicians can explore instrumental and vocal techniques, and relations in unconventional ways.  Our process is musicking, recording, listening, and discussion.

Splinter Residency 

In February Splinter will work to develop a new durational Orchestration with the exciting new home of The Living Room Theatre at 21 Shepherd.  

Over many years, Splinter abandoned standard concert-hall rituals and worked towards large scale, longer durations, moving orchestrations; a co-creative engagement with Place. We will generate ways of working that are co-creative with 21 Shepherd and relevant to the group of musickin who now constitute the Orchestra.  

Much of Splinter’s public work for many years has been an exploration of moving together to create orchestral playing in vast spaces - at Mungo, Pilliga, Jindabyne, and Bundanon the geophony (weather) and biophony (critters) has as much say as any anthrophony (cars, planes, axe-throwers and musicking). So, much of our residency will be to learn how to play with this Place and the sounds that swirl in and around it. Our aim is to find and develop appropriate ways to co-create with 21 Shepherd and its surrounding streets and alleys. 

Splinter Festival 

On Sunday March 8 Splinter will sound in every nook and cranny of 21 Shepherd and the streets outside, in all sorts of combinations; solos, duos, trios, quartets, quintets, etc, and of course, the full Orchestrating Sonoverse. We auralize the event will unfold from around midday through till 9pm, with plenty of food, drinks, and craft activities. Audience members can come, go, and come back, or stay for the entirety. (Although, almost certainly, no one person will be able to experience every part of the whole.)

Link: https://livingroomtheatre.org/splinter-orchestra-in-residence/