The Orange Chamber Music Festival’s Cultured is a day-long program of free events hosted in and around the city’s Cultural Precinct, the beating artistic heart of the regional city where the Orange City Library, Orange Civic Theatre and Orange Regional Art Gallery are all situated. It’s a celebration of the local community and an adventure through its home town; unearthing clues about its community and culture at each stop on the map.

The first event in 2025’s Cultured program was a world premiere program by harpist-composer Paul Nicolaou. Elemental Resonance, hosted in the Library, is an immersive, relaxed performance for audiences of all ages that offers a musical exploration of the four elements – earth, air, fire and water.

Paul Nicolaou performing at the Orange Chamber Music Festival. Photo © Peter Hislop

With his harp lined with lights that changed to evoke each element, Nicolaou packed a varied program, from Handel’s Air in A minor (apt), Australian works by Tristan Coelho and Nigel Westlake and a track from Legend of Zelda: Twilight...