Sisters with transistors – Q&A with musician Suzanne Ciani

Sat, 28th Nov 2026 02:00 pm

Art Gallery of New South Wales, Art Gallery Rd, The Domain, Sydney NSW 2000

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Celebrate the enduring legacy of American synth trailblazer Suzanne Ciani with this special screening of Sisters with transistors (2020), a documentary traversing the lives and archives of Ciani and nine other pioneering women in electronic music. Ciani will be in attendance for a Q&A following the screening. Co-presented with Corner Soul. About the film Narrated by Laurie Anderson, director Lisa Rovner’s enrapturing, explorative documentary weaves together the tales of ten female electronic musicians, all of whom found joy and discovery in an emergent genre, even as they faced resistance from their male counterparts. Among them are synth doyenne and ‘diva of the diode’ Suzanne Ciani, theremin master Clara Rockmore, Doctor Who composer Delia Derbyshire and experimental artist Maryanne Amacher. In studios overflowing with tangled cables and outsized machines, Rovner unravels the threads that tether her subjects to one another: an anarchic spirit, a disruptive urge to create, and a dedication to their craft. ‘An unapologetically geeky [film] … which veers fearlessly into the experimental end of the knob-twiddling spectrum.’ – The Guardian About the speaker Suzanne Ciani is a five-time Grammy-nominated composer and electronic music pioneer who has released over 20 solo albums. Among her many achievements, she was the first woman solo composer on a Hollywood film, Lily Tomlin’s 1981 sci-fi comedy The incredible shrinking woman. She has also provided the voice and sounds for Bally’s groundbreaking Xenon pinball machine, created Coca-Cola’s ‘pop-and-pour’ sound, and designed logos for Fortune 500 companies.