Five-time Grammy-nominated composer Suzanne Ciani has announced a run of Australian dates this November and December.
The electronic music trailblazer – who turned 80 this year – will bring her Buchla modular synthesiser performances to stages in Sydney, Hobart and Melbourne, all performed in immersive quadraphonic surround sound. The tour also includes talks, film screenings and workshop events across three cities, plus a set at the now sold-out Meredith Music Festival.
Ciani has spent more than five decades shaping the landscape of electronic sound. She’s released over 20 solo albums, created the iconic Coca-Cola pop-and-pour sound effect, voiced Bally’s groundbreaking Xenon pinball machine and designed sound logos for Fortune 500 companies. Her documentary A Life in Waves premiered at SXSW in 2017 and remains available across digital platforms. This year, she’s marking the milestone birthday with the release of her live album CIANI/OKREST, of which just 200 limited-edition records are available in Australia.
Suzanne Ciani Australian Tour 2026
Live in quadraphonic sound
- 29 November – Aco On The Pier, Sydney
- 3 December – Altar Bar, Hobart
- 6 December – The Edge, Fed Square, Melbourne (w/ Liquid Architecture and MESS)
- 11 December – Meredith Music Festival, Meredith (SOLD OUT)
Talks, film screenings and workshops
- 28 November – Art Gallery of NSW, Sydney (screening of Sisters with Transistors)
- 1 December – Powerhouse Parramatta
- 8 December – MESS, Melbourne
Stay up to date with what’s happening in and around Melbourne here.
Classically trained at Wellesley College and a Masters graduate in composition from the University of California, Berkeley, Ciani found early doors that the world wasn’t quite ready for her brand of electronic experimentation. So she pivoted to commercial sound design, walking into Coca-Cola’s studios and demanding they listen. The rest is, quite literally, embedded in pop culture history. She went on to score countless video games and commercials before returning to the concert stage as audiences caught up with what she’d been doing all along.
The Australian dates are presented in partnership with Corner Soul and will offer audiences a rare chance to experience Ciani’s music as she intends it – surrounding the listener from all four corners of the room. Her live performances on the Buchla synthesiser are famously unpredictable, with Ciani treating her instruments as temperamental collaborators rather than tools.
For anyone keen on the broader story, the talk events will feature screenings of Sisters with Transistors, a documentary exploring the overlooked contributions of women to electronic music, alongside Q&A sessions and workshops diving deep into Ciani’s remarkable career.
For more information, head here.
