Growing up in a Vietnamese household in Sydney’s southwestern suburbs Jenny Trinh, who performs as the electronic entity Wytchings, took an unusual approach during her school years.
Instead of following the path taken by many second-generation Asian students of achieving high academic points, Trinh would most often be found in the school music room, followed by sessions at the Bankstown Arts Centre.
“The Bankstown Arts Centre is the place where I used to go after school for lessons as a kid, and my parents let me do this as a 10-year-old, and my high school teacher also encouraged it,” Jenny Trinh said.
Fast forward 10 or so years and Trinh, performing as Wytchings, is back at the Bankstown Arts Centre for the 2026 Sydney Festival in a one-off performance with internationally recognised and Grammy nominated practitioner of Tibetan world music, Tenzin Choegyal.
Choegyal was born in Tibet, raised in Dharamsala and since 1997 has lived in Australia, though much of the year is spent overseas performing at festivals and recording.
His collaborations have included working with Philip Glass, Laurie Anderson, Riley Lee and local artists Matt Corby and Ash Grunwald, where he weaves his powerful vocals and playing in the style of Tibetan nomads.
As often in the ways of musical collaborations Trinh has yet to meet Choegyal, but is confident that they can find common ground to explore.
“I think it will go beautifully in the sense that Tenzin and I have been exchanging poetry over the past couple of weeks, and he has been telling me a lot about his background, especially the Tibetan Book of the Dead and the concept of Bardo,” Trinh said.
Bardo is the state between one’s death and the next birth that lasts for 49 days, and where one experiences a variety of phenomena.
“Both of us are different in a musical sense in that Tenzin’s voice is so loud and commanding, whereas mine is so airy, and I think that the two of us coming together will be interesting with that stark difference,” Trinh said.
“A lot of the performances I do are usually out of the area in places like the inner west, and even though I have been living in the Bankstown area since I was born, this is the first time that my family will be able to come.”
Along with his performance with Wytchings for Between Two Realms on Saturday 17 January, Cheogyal will also be performing Whispering Sky (Friday 16 January) and conducting a workshop with Tenzin Kunsang (Sunday 18 January).
Whispering Sky: Tenzin Choegyal with Tenzin Kunsang
Bankstown Arts Centre, 5 Olympic Parade, Bankstown
Performance: Friday 16 January 2026 – 7.30pm
Bookings: www.sydneyfestival.org.au
Between Two Realms: Tenzin Choegyal with Wytchings
Bankstown Arts Centre, 5 Olympic Parade, Bankstown
Performance: Saturday 17 January 2026 – 7.30pm
Bookings: www.sydneyfestival.org.au
Stories and Songs: Musician’s Workshop with Tenzin Choeygal and guest artist Tenzin Kunsang
Bankstown Arts Centre, 5 Olympic Parade, Bankstown
Performance: Sunday 18 January 2026 – 2.00pm
Bookings: www.sydneyfestival.org.au
For more information, visit: www.bankstownartscentre.com.au for details.
Image: Wytchings (supplied)
Words: John Moyle