SIMA Jazz:NOW – Ghosts Between Streams II

“The pleasure of discovering this music—unfolding so calmly, so secretly—will inevitably draw you back, because it remains, at its core, distinctly unexpected.” – bestofjazz.org

For the final show of our 2026 Jazz:NOW program SIMA are delighted to present the new large scale multimedia work of Sydney stalwart Tom Avgenicos – Ghosts Between Streams II alongside the 2026 recipient of the Judy Bailey Emerging Composers Scholarship and the debut screening of Chloe Kim’s ‘Music For 50 Musicians’.

Following the success of Ghosts Between Streams, the virtuosic genre-bending ensemble Delay 45 led by award-winning trumpet player and composer Tom Avgenicos (Freedman Fellow ’22) returns with its second iteration: a dynamic fusion of contemporary jazz, strings, and a powerful visual counterpoint which explores the environmental history of the ancient Coquun (Hunter River). With Ghost Between Streams winning Best in Music and Best in Dance at the 2024 Sydney Fringe Festival, this show is the Sydney debut of Avgenicos’ lauded new work which at its heart is a conversation between past and present.

Tom Avgenicos is a trumpeter, composer, and producer living and working between Muloobinba (Newcastle) and Gadigal (Sydney) across a diverse range of creative contexts, from contemporary classical and improvised music to collaborations with breakdancers and multimedia artists. Driven by environmental sustainability and a deep connection to place, Avgenicos seeks to create works that fosters meaningful dialogue between artists, performers and audiences. 

His work has been performed at the Sydney Opera House, Melbourne Recital Centre and MONA and internationally across Europe. Recent awards and recognitions include the Freedman Jazz Fellowship, Best in Music and Best in Dance at the 2024 Sydney Fringe Festival, a 2025 APRA Art Music Award nomination, and the 2025 Made New Commission. He leads the ensemble Delay 45 - a renowned cross-genre group who have developed a dynamic performance style that flows seamlessly between structure and spontaneity. Drawing from hip-hop, minimalism, modern jazz and contemporary classical music, simple and recurring motifs interspersed with tight-knit interplay and textural dynamism characterise their performance style.

Established in 2024 to honour jazz icon Judy Bailey’s significant contribution to nurturing young Australian jazz musicians, The Judy Bailey Young Composers Award provides a musician or composer under 35 with the chance to work side by side with a composer or artist of their choice on a new work for jazz ensemble, and the opportunity to premiere their composition at one of SIMA’s flagship events.

This event will also see the debut screening of Chloe Kim’s large scale composition ‘Music For 50 Musicians; Lasting Gratitute, No Regrets, Dying Light. This work was a result of Kim’s reception of the SIMA Emerging Composers Scholarship and brought together a who’s who Kim's friends and collaborators from Sydney, Melbourne, USA and Switzerland. Recorded and filmed by Matt McGuigan (Hospital Hill), the work “reflects [Kim’s] hope to strive to live every day well, so that what lasts beyond death can be my gratitude towards my friends”. This will be the premiere screening of the work.