Melbourne-based Cedar Quartet has been named the Australian Festival of Chamber Music’s (AFCM) 2027 Fellowship Ensemble, marking the next step in the group’s development through the festival’s emerging artist program.

Violinists Sara Barbagallo and Jessica Leigh, violist Edmund Mantelli and cellist Sarah Wang will return to Cairns-Gimuy in 2027 after participating in AFCM’s Pathways Program this year. As Fellowship Ensemble, they will perform on the festival’s main stage, work with internationally acclaimed musicians and share the 2027 program with ensemble-in-residence VOCES8.

AFCM Artistic Director Jack Liebeck said the quartet’s close musical communication had impressed him when he heard them perform in 2026.

“That is who the Fellowship is for,” he said. “Bring a young ensemble back to Cairns, put them among extraordinary colleagues and an audience that is really listening, and you hear them grow.”

Cedar Quartet: Sara Barbagello, Sarah Wang, Edmund Mantelli and Jessica Lee. Photo supplied

Formed in 2025, Cedar Quartet’s repertoire spans classical and Romantic works, contemporary music and cross-genre collaborations. The four musicians have performed with ensembles including the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Australian World Orchestra, Orchestra Victoria and Australian Youth Orchestra.

“We officially came together in 2025 after years of crossing paths,” Leigh said, describing how the musicians connected through their conservatorium studies, mutual friends and Australian Youth Orchestra programs.

The Fellowship will extend beyond the concert hall, with the quartet scheduled to perform for hundreds of school students and present free concerts in regional communities.

Cedar Quartet is the fourth ensemble to progress from Pathways to the Fellowship, following Sydney’s Orpheus Quintet, the 2026 Fellowship Ensemble, and Victorian groups Kingussie Trio and Andromeda Sax.

During its Fellowship year, Orpheus Quintet premiered and recorded Along the Pacific Flyway, a work by Australian composer Sam Wu commissioned through AFCM’s Emerging Composers Initiative. Inspired by the migration of the bar-tailed godwit, the piece was performed at the festival and taken on its regional tour.

AFCM’s year-round Pathways Program provides emerging Australian ensembles with mentorship, performance opportunities and support for regional touring, with assistance from the Ian Potter Foundation.

The Australian Festival of Chamber Music (AFCM) 2027 will take place from 23-31 July in Cairns-Gimuy, Queensland