Built within an empty iron tank on the Cobar plains, the new Cobar Sound Chapel is a permanent new sound installation; a marriage of sound, architecture, art, poetry and nature.

Creator of the project and composer behind the sound Georges Lentz says it’s the most fun he’s had artistically in his whole career. 

“It’s definitely out there, and I make no apology for that,” said Mr Lentz, less than a month out from the April opening date. 

When approached by the late Cobar mayor Lillian Brady in 2008, Mr Lentz was offered no money to bring art to the region, but instead some land to work from.

When he saw the tank, a structure from 1901 covered in graffiti, Mr Lentz saw it as the obvious choice, a contrast between roughness and elegance. 

“When we saw that, we knew it was going to be perfect,” he said. 

Retaining the graffiti on the exterior was an intentional artistic choice, according to Lentz.

Since then, progress for the project has come in ebbs and flows, recording sounds with a Sydney orchestra for six years, finding funding for the project, and dealing with the inevitable delays of the pandemic. 

While orchestra music isn’t typical of the Cobar landscape, Mr Lentz said that he couldn’t think of a better fitting place. Born in Luxembourg and having lived in Australia for over thirty years, it is the red dirt of the outback, he says, that represents the real Australia. 

“It’s wide open spaces, the night sky, the Aboriginal culture, the silence,” he said. 

There’s also a thrill to be found, he said, in the challenge of convincing a new audience of the worth of his art, after being used to the crowds of the Sydney Opera House.  

“I was nervous for a long time…but that’s where it gets exciting. There’s no sense in preaching to the converted,” Mr Lentz said. 

A dream of 20 years that has come to life, Mr Lentz said that the Cobar Sound Chapel has no religious connotations by any means, but is inherently spiritual.

The project involved a collaboration with other artists, including architect Glenn Mercutt, The Noise String Quartet, and Cobar local Indigenous artist Sharron Ohlsen.

The tank was redesigned by renowned Australian architect Glenn Murcutt.

In keeping with the string quartet theme, the Cobar Sound Chapel and its surrounds will also be home to a new yearly ‘Cobar String Quartet Live Festival Weekend’, showcasing concerts presented by a different leading string quartet ensemble selected from all over Australia each year. 

The annual festival is set to commence in 2023. 

The Cobar Sound Chapel will be officially launched on April 2, where the featured musicians The Noise String Quartet will perform.