Announcing its third annual festival, Blackheath Chamber Music Festival has unveiled its 2023 program.

Engaging principal performers from the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, the Orava Quartet, and Simon Tedsechi and John Bell, the festival gathers prestigious Australian talents for compelling collaborations in the heart of the Blue Mountains, across the weekend of 21-23 April. 

Orava Quartet at the 2022 Blackheath Chamber Music Festival. Photo © Keith Saunders.

Opening the Festival on 21 April, Taikoz co-founder Riley Lee, the first non-Japanese musician to achieve the Grand Master rank of the shakuhachi, joins with Satsuki Odamura, master of both the koto and shamisen. Together, they perform a collection of Japanese works, both 20th century and traditional, as well as a solo arrangement of Hildegard of Bingen’s Four Antiphons.

Pianist Simon Tedeschi forges an exciting and unique collaboration with dramatic titan John Bell for the festival’s second performance. Bell unravels the personal life of Mozart as he narrates the...