Artistic director Michael Sollis says the musical group has collaborated with Canberra writer Katie Taylor, author of The Dark Griffin ("that's a bit of a coincidence") to produce The Shearer That Could Have Been, a spooky experience encompassing story, songs and sounds set on Christmas Eve.

"It's about possession and spooky things," Sollis says.

And, as is usual for this ensemble, the choice of music is eclectic, ranging from classical to folk to rock.

"There's arrangements of bush dances macabre, Arvo Part, Erik Satie, Jeff Buckley and Bob Dylan," Sollis says.

There's also a piece by Sollis, So She Moaned, inspired by a dark night in the Amazon.

"In the program it's very scary music."

There will be twisted carols, the sounds of water spirits and voices from the afterlife as well as Australian premieres of electroacoustic works by emerging composers from Argentina and Greece.

The Griffyn Ensemble - with a current line-up of flute (Kiri Sollis, Michael's wife), violin (Chris Stone), harp (Laura Tanata), soprano (Susan Ellis) and plucked strings (Sollis) - has been performing for the past eight years. Sollis says the Fairy Tales season of four performances has gone well and has involved fruitful collaborations with dancers, musicians and visual artists.

The final performances for 2014 will also see the launch of The Griffyn Ensemble's 2015 season.

There will be four different concerts and all of the concerts will reflect the experiences and achievements of an Australian abroad - prime minister Gough Whitlam's historic visit to China, the 1893 New Australia colony in Paraguay, rugby league players going to fight in World War I - and one involving Sollis himself.

"I spent two weeks in the Arctic with astronomer Fred Watson working on a couple of pieces for next year's concert," Sollis says.

"The reason I went over there was that I had worked with Fred before on the Southern Sky project at Mount Stromlo with an Estonian composer looking at the stars in Australia.

"The idea was that I go to the northern lights. I was inspired by ideas of time and the way the sun doesn't move in the same way as here and stories of Snow White."

The Shearer That Could Have Been is at Yarralumla Woolshed, Cotter Road on Friday and Saturday at 7.30pm. Tickets $10-$40. Website: griffynensemble.com.