# An obscure orchestra and an opera for the dead

An episode of [The Music Show](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/156556864), 7 Feb 2025, 54 min.

Audio: https://mediacore-live-production.akamaized.net/audio/02/6g/Z/19.mp3

Matt Hsu’s Obscure Orchestra has more of an ethos than a sound. A twenty five piece indie band with constantly evolving membership, it began as a solo project by Matt Hsu, whose values and “punk-trained” composition shine through on not one but two new albums released on the same day: Noodle, and Forest Party. Opera for the Dead (祭歌) is a "contemporary Chinese cyber opera" that explores cultural practices around death and grieving. Guzheng player and in-demand collaborator Mindy Meng Wang and sound artist and composer Monica Lim have teamed up to create a work which features four instrumentalists, a countertenor, electronics and cutting-edge visuals. Andy chats to them about how rituals, improvisation and friendship inform the performance.

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