Blackheath Chamber Music Festival (BCMF) has launched its 2027 season, the first under its new Artistic Director Lerida Delbridge.

Running across 16–18 April, the festival’s seventh edition celebrates the Blue Mountains’ vivid autumn with six concerts and 21 acclaimed musicians, bringing together returning favourites and new faces.

Highlights include two world premiere works, a celebration of Beethoven and a launch of a new program for emerging artists.

Lerida Delbridge. Photo © C Brewster

“Over the years that I have performed at the festival, I have always been struck by the natural beauty of Blackheath, the crisp mountain air and magnificent crimson colours in the midst of autumn,” said Delbridge.

“In my first year as Director, I have curated a program that amplifies the glory of the Season. Journey with the musicians of BCMF 2027 as together, we explore the transformative power of music; its irrefutable connection to nature, its ability to stir the soul and the inextricable links that bind all music together.”

This year’s BCMF opens with Alchemy: Strauss’s Metamorphosen, pianist Konstantin Shamray (a BCMF first-timer) and tenor Andrew Goodwin with songs by Schubert, and the Australian premiere of Golijov’s Ever Yours, inspired by the letters of Vincent Van Gogh.

Followed by Les Trois, a program of French music by Poulenc, Saint-Saëns and Françaix.

The centrepiece of this year’s third program, Spring, honours BCMF festival founder Catherine Harker, who stepped down as AD earlier this year. Harker Variations is a brand new commissioned work: a set of five variations from five composers Harker celebrated in past BCMF programs – Harry Sdraulig, Justin Williams, Ella Macens, Anne Cawrse and Lachlan Skipworth. Two sonatas from Beethoven, commemorating the 200th anniversary of his death, round out the event.

Susannah Lawergren, Susie Bishop, Jessica O’Donoghue, Geoffrey Webb, Philip Murray and Andrew O’Connor in the 2026 Blackheath Chamber Music Festival’s Mater Aestiva. Photo © Keith Saunders

Alongside works by Shaw and Tchaikovsky, Saturday’s Gala concert, Crimson Joy, features Britten’s Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings with soloists Goodwin and Sydney Symphony Orchestra Principal Horn Samuel Jacobs.

Goodwin will also team up with pianist Shamray in Homage for the world premiere of his brand new song cycle, next to Dohnányi’s Sextet and Beethoven’s Op. 111 Sonata.

The farewell performance, Seasons, features the SSO’s Associate Concertmaster Harry Bennetts as soloist for Vivaldi’s evergreen The Four Seasons, paired with Piazzolla’s own The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires.

2027 will also be the inaugural year of the festival’s Vanguard program in which five emerging performers receive mentorship from festival artists.

Gold Pass holders also get exclusive access to Sip & Listen, which pairs wine and food with performances, a live interview with Goodwin and a sneak peek at the 2028 festival at Blackheath’s The Kyah.

More about the 2027 Blackheath Chamber Music Festival can be found here.