In his final year as Artistic Director, Roland Peelman has chosen to open the festival with William Barton, Persian tar player Hamed Sadeghi and Belgian jazz pianist Bram De Looze, as well as Lior and Nigel Westlake’s Compassion. Guitar virtuoso Pavel Ralev, violist Florian Peelman, France’s Trio Karénine and Dudok Quartet Amsterdam all make an appearance, as do Bach Akademie Australia and Luminescence Chamber Singers, in what promises to be an exciting week in the nation’s capital.

Limelight Editor’s Choice

The Festival and its mulanggari banner come to a close with a celebration of the oldest living culture on earth.

For more than twenty years, the Stiff Gins have sung in language about Indigenous culture and women’s empowerment. Now, in a unique Festival collaboration, Kaleena and Nardi join forces with the Dudok Quartet Amsterdam to perform the Gin’s tender songs like you’ve never heard them before – arranged by jazz legend Jonathan Zwartz. Three percussionists bring Holly Harrison’s new trio to life, while William Barton and Véronique Serret summon a final moment of magic alongside works by Nardi Simpson and Yuin composer Brenda Gifford.

As the curtain falls on Roland’s decade-long tenure at the helm of the Festival, some of his closest musical collaborators join forces to mark the end of an era and to set the tone for the future.