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

Schubert & Syrah invites you into a rare multisensory encounter where sound and taste illuminate one another. Guided by virtuoso pianist and wine aficionado Kristian Chong, this intimate experience places Schubert’s final piano sonata at the heart of a curated journey through some of Australia’s most characterful wines.

Each movement of the monumental Sonata in B-flat major D960 is paired with wine not for novelty, but for its resonance with the work’s character, emotional landscape and architectural beauty.

Schubert’s Sonata in B-flat major D960 embodies his late-style mastery. Melodies breathe with organic ease, harmonies unfurl slowly like scent in the air and the sonata’s spacious design feels both grounded and otherworldly. The first movement’s long, singing lines and its famous low trill evoke a sense of earth, mineral depth and quiet luminosity, mirrored in wines that present purity, structure and fragrant balance.