Australian Festival of Chamber Music, Townsville Civic Theatre
July 27 and 28, 2018

Now 28 years old, the Australian Festival of Chamber Music in Townsville has once again hit the ground running. A new artistic director is in place – British pianist Kathryn Stott, taking over from Piers Lane, who ran the event for 11 years – and while she has kept the essential core of the festival’s concept, some new ideas are bringing inspiring extra dimensions aboard, stretching the boundaries of ‘chamber music’ in every direction. AFCM contains music for everything from solo violin to marimba and the Chinese sheng, from Bach to world premieres, from Lieder to tango, brought together in fresh, exciting programmes full of contrast and elan. This year’s theme is ‘Connections’ – and from the two opening evenings it was clear that this idea gives massive scope for exploratory wonders.

Australian Festival of Chamber Music, AFCMKaren Gomyo, Grace Clifford, Katya Apekisheva, Lars Anders Tomter, Tine Thing Helseth, Kees Boersma and István Várdai at the Australian Festival of Chamber Music. Photo © Andrew Rankin

Friday evening introduced as many as 24 of the festival’s musicians in an...