Providence-based new music and multimedia consort Ensemble / Parallax brought its avant-garde flavor to Eastern Connecticut State University last week as part of the school’s “University Hour” series. Conducted by Peyman Farzinpour, the award-winning instrumental group performed on Oct. 18 in the concert hall of the Fine Arts Instructional Center, with five musicians in attendance — Orlando Cela (flute), Lisa Goddard (violin), Yoko Hagino (piano), Kevin Price (clarinet) and Nara Shahbazyan (cello).

The ensemble opened with Arnold Schoenberg’s “The Chamber Symphony No. 1,” a piece that quickly picks up pace and showcases a scattered collection of sounds. Making its premier in 1907, the composition highlights “the point at which harmony begins to break down,” according to Farzinpour. It set the stage for 12-tone and atonal pieces in years to come, known for its intricate and specific essence.

This proved to be the perfect gateway into Ensemble / Parallax’s feature performance, a rendition of Enno Poppe’s “Gelöschte Lieder.” Before playing, Farzinpour and each musician discussed some of the piece’s defining elements and how its varying components work as a whole. Inherently complex, it experiments with different pitches and tones. “It pushes the envelope in terms of what Poppe’s asked the musicians to do,” Farzinpour said.

To better show the contrasting instrumental parts that make up the entire piece, the group addressed sections individually before coming together for the final product. Shahbazyan, for instance, touched on the particular hand positioning needed to play her part, which was written in treble clef, a relatively uncommon occurrence for cello. Continually, Hagino commented that while she does not have any special piano techniques, she has to mindfully keep rhythm with the rest of the ensemble, despite having what seems like such an isolated part.

Farzinpour led into “Gelöschte Lieder” by telling the audience, “Some of you might be thinking, ‘What melody? What are you talking about?’” but nonetheless assured them that, complete with its tempo and volume changes, lulls and clutters and scattered instrumental bits, it serves as a noteworthy constituent of musical history. Consequently, the piece has become an integral part of Ensemble / Parallax’s mission to create a platform for living composers and visual artists, specifically to be heard and seen in collaboration with one another.