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

The primal force of the human voice meets the vast machinery of the digital age in a Canberra International Music Festival exclusive, as the six virtuosic singers of Luminescence step into a radically new sound world. This is ensemble singing amplified, rewired, and supercharged.

Developed in collaboration with GRAMMY-award winning producer/composer William Brittelle, Luminescence and the Machine probes the porous boundary between the human and bionic. Ground-breaking electronic architecture enables each singer to digitally manipulate their own voice in real-time and triggers a complex web of reflexive, inter-dependent effects, unleashing entirely new sonic possibilities.

Witness the world premiere of this audacious new music project, where technology and humanity hum in dangerous, dazzling harmony.