The Church (Phoenix Central Park)

The Church (Phoenix Central Park) is a 60-ticket performance room in Alexandria, inner Sydney, inside an 1891 Victorian Gothic former ecclesiastical church. Its gabled porch and vaulted timber ceiling set it apart from a standard black-box recital space. The room also serves as Phoenix Central Park’s invitation-led base for musicians’ rehearsals and work development, giving the public program the feel of a listening room connected directly to artists’ process.

A church repurposed for new work

The building began in 1891 as a Victorian Gothic church. Judith Neilson, director of White Rabbit Gallery, acquired it several years before 2021; Phoenix subsequently repurposed the space for rehearsal, recording and small public presentations. Its first prominent concert identity arrived in June 2021 with Sydney Chamber Opera’s In Song: eight programs for solo voice and piano, each limited to 60 ticket holders, in a room praised by the company’s artistic director for its acoustic qualities. In 2022, Mostly Opera trialled The Church as a new Phoenix-administered venue for a masterclass. That artist-development function remains central. A vivid recent example came in January 2026, when saxophonist Phillip Johnston’s Puffs of Smoke paired live alto-sax improvisation, loops and samples with early Australian silent films.

The listening conditions

Phoenix programs classical and chamber work alongside jazz, folk and indie-leaning small ensembles, with current listings including opera artists, piano-and-strings collaborations, jazz players and Stiff Gins. Public shows are free, with a separate random ballot for each performance and up to two tickets available per successful entry. Capacity stays deliberately tight. Expect the vaulted-timber-ceiling church hall, close proximity to performers and an attentive audience; this is a room suited to detail, dynamics and conversation between musicians.