Entirely free, the Orange Chamber Music Festival’s Cultured program is act of love for the local community.

Supported by Create NSW, Orange Credit Union, the Orange City Council and the Orange Regional Arts Foundation, Cultured is an all-day series of entirely free events throughout the city. Rather than just a one-way presentation, it’s an event that engages in a two-way conversation with the community it’s built for. Activating community hubs and drawing upon local talent, it caters for all – families, art-lovers, those new to, or familiar with, classical music and locals and visitors alike.

While The Song Company’s lush Superbloom opened my Saturday of the Orange Chamber Music Festival, the morning’s event was a tour through the history of the Orange Volunteer Fire Brigade, punctuated with a performance by the NSW Police Brass Band.

Based in the Central West, violinist Lisa Stewart is perhaps best-known to Limelight as a member of the Acacia Quartet. In a family-friendly Cultured event at the Orange Library, her work as a children’s book illustrator was spotlighted. Discussing her path through music and into the illustrating world, she also performed short works by Dvořák, Massanet and Mozart.