Fri. Feb. 3

"In vain sounds like no piece you ever heard before," says Michel Galante, conductor for the Argento Chamber Ensemble, marveling as he introduces the 66-minute piece by Austrian composer Georg Freidrick Haas (in photo), a work he did 2000-2002. "When I first heard it in Vienna, I was shocked by the whole thing. .... this whole reainbow of sounds. you have the impression you're hearing electronic music and it's all done by acoustic instruments. you don't know where the sounds come from."

Here's what you'll hear at its Boston premiere at the Institute of Contemporary Art Friday Feb.3: Sound Icon, a 24-member chamber orchestra led by conductor Jeffrey Means, will play what's been called "an all-encompassing sensory experience, a masterwork for light and sound." For these rock ears, it sounds very Eno-esque, microtonal, a luminous sonic landscape of light and darkness. The idea? To expand the parameters of how listeners hear, see, and experience music, often while in total darkness. The work is monolithic yet intricate, with music that grows and re-circulates, gradually acquiring ­­new meaning in which light and dark become like sound and silence. Complete darkness falls during the most violent music, and the lack of any visual cues forces the listener to find new ways of coming to terms with the experience and the musicians to find ways of performing while blind. Haas explains, “We do not have any night in our modern life, but I think our body and our souls desire night, and I give this in my art. If we close our eyes, of course our ears are more sensitive." It's been on my earbuds for a while now and it's taken me to some beautiful, if, yes, dark places.

Take it in at http://youtu.be/9PtJH63D0YY

Sound Icon is a Boston-based, sinfonietta-sized ensemble dedicated to performing groundbreaking works of contemporary music that are not often heard in Boston. Their mission is to perform works that have redefined our understanding of music. Well-known ensembles abroad, such as the Ensemble Modern, Ensemble InterContemporain, the London Sinfonietta and others have been trailblazers for this instrumental grouping, which offers the colors of a full orchestra together with the precision and flexibility of a chamber ensemble. Sound Icon brings this sound, so integral to many contemporary masterworks, to audiences in Boston and elsewhere through concerts and academic residencies. Sound Icon is committed to groundbreaking repertoire that requires the color and precision of a sinfonietta-sized ensemble. Each Sound Icon concert will features one landmark work that is not often heard live in the United States. Sound Icon attempts to engage audiences in a dialogue about what progressive music really is - music that redefines rules, experiences and boundaries.

Tickets: $18. Takes place in the Barbara Lee Family Foundation Theater3.

100 Northern Ave., 617-478-3100  www.icaboston.org