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

Spanish Baroque music thrives on contrast, flair and sensuality. It blends courtly sophistication with the earthy pulse of popular dance traditions, shaped by centuries of cultural interchange across the Iberian Peninsula. This alluring repertoire is both intimate and exuberant, refined in its counterpoint yet bold in its rhythmic stride. Ornamentation glints with Mediterranean colour and the music’s emotional immediacy is irresistible.

Few artists embody this spirit more vividly than Spanish violinist Lina Tur Bonet. Of Ibizan roots and born in Cartagena, she has built an international reputation for imaginative, fearless musicianship across Baroque, Classical and Romantic styles. Founder of Musica Alchemica and former concertmaster with leading European ensembles such as those directed by Jordi Savall, and Professor at the Weimar Musik University, she brings rediscovered repertory to life with uncommon vitality and elegance.

She is joined by Festival favourite Neal Peres Da Costa, one of Australia’s foremost historical keyboard specialists.