Artistic Director Eugene Ughetti’s 2026 program is deeply rooted in place, from site-specific bell works at Parliament House and the National Carillon to chamber and choral premieres.

Anna-Louise Cole sings Wagner Lieder and Strauss’s Four Last Songs, the Australian String Quartet surveys British music from Purcell to Britten and Rebecca Clarke, and Switzerland’s Ensemble Contrechamps delivers a meditative performance of Jürg Frey’s Récit des sensations fragiles at Snow Concert Hall. Luminescence Chamber Singers unveils a program built around a bespoke vocal-processing system, while The Rite of Spring closes the festival in Stravinsky’s own arrangement for two pianos and percussion

Limelight Editor’s Choice

Bell Plains transforms the National Carillon into the beating heart of a rich musical landscape, bringing Australia’s largest instrument into conversation with guitar, saxophone, marimba, the Federation Handbells and evocative ambient soundscapes. This special anniversary program celebrates Canberra as place, spirit and community through music that is deeply rooted in the contours, histories and textures of the land.

Sally Whitwell’s Snaking maps the sinuous path of the Murrumbidgee River, its currents flowing beneath Lake Burley Griffin in shimmering waves of colour. Dulcie Holland’s impressionist jewel The Lake glows anew in a radiant transcription for carillon, marimba and alto saxophone, amplifying the work’s luminous climaxes with striking clarity. Peggy Polias’s Montageevokes the ‘rising hills encircling the town, lush and green,’ its melodic fragments drifting between instruments before dissolving in a peaceful, wave-like coda.