Ethereal Eye is a musical homage to the architecture and ideas of Walter Burley Griffin and Marion Mahony, the American architects who, in 1911, won the international competition to design and build Canberra as a new capital for a new nation—a bold, highly original vision for a unique metropolis to be located within the contours of a distinctively Australian landscape.

Ethereal Eye is inspired by an alternate Australia imagined by the Griffins, unlocking the subliminal connections between music and architecture, and featuring specially designed microtonal instruments and tunings performed by an ensemble featuring soprano, trombone, piano and percussion.

As part of this special Melbourne Festival collaboration, Ethereal Eye will be performed within the magnificent dining hall of Newman College designed by the Griffins themselves. Enhanced by stunning projections onto the Hall's domed interior by renowned projection artist Ian de Gruchy, the work will feature musicians from the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music and ANAM.

Jonathan Mills is one of Australia's most acclaimed composers, spanning the fields of opera, ballet, concerto and chamber music among others. He has also directed arts festivals across Australia and from 2006 to 2014 was Director of the Edinburgh International Festival.

Ian de Gruchy is a multi-media artist whose work employs the best of both analogue and digital technologies to produce complex projected works.