Every January for the past couple of decades, the Peninsula Summer Music Festival has transformed Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula into a sun-drenched stage for first-order classical music, adventurous new works and cross-genre collaborations. 

In 2026, that spirit deepens. Across 18 events in nine days, from 3 to 11 January, co-Artistic Directors Melissa Doecke and Ben Opie have cultivated a festival that has deep roots into the Country it stands on.

Ben Opie and Melissa Doecke. Photo © Agatha Yim

At the heart of the program is a significant world premiere: Noongar composer Aaron Wyatt’s Every Plant Has Its Own Dreaming, a new commission inspired by five plant species native to the Peninsula: murnong, lomandra, chocolate lily, garawang and karkalla. Developed in partnership with the Willum Warrain Aboriginal Association, it will be premiered by Ensemble Offspring in an evening performance at the Peninsula Hot Springs Amphitheatre on 9 January. 

For Opie, this commissioning project encapsulates the festival’s purpose.

“It’s a project that we’ve been working on for quite a few years, developing our relationship with the community at Willum Warrain,” he tells Limelight. “It embodies the way we like to practise our craft as curators and performers. We’ve been really thinking about connections – to the Peninsula itself, between performers and to our audiences.” 

Ensemble Offspring. Photo © Tess Atutahi

Ensemble Offspring, led by percussionist Claire Edwardes, is an ideal collaborator in that mission. “I can already see that it’s going to be a beautiful piece of music that will hopefully have a very long life after the festival,” Opie says. “That performance is really going to be something to treasure.” 

Ensemble Offspring also features in Nature Stories (7 January at Main Ridge Estate), which showcases the soundscapes of our natural environment with works by Kate Moore, Ella Macens and Yuin composer Brenda Gifford.

Opera Gala performers David Greco, Myriam Arbouz and Jacob Lawrence. Portraits supplied

Connection to Country is one strand of the program, another is its welcome to international and interstate performers. The festival opens with an Opera Gala on 3 January at Flinders Civic Hall featuring French soprano Myriam Arbouz, who joins tenor Jacob Lawrence and baritone David Greco for a program accompanied by a specially assembled PSMF Baroque Orchestra of musicians from Melbourne’s Ensemble 642 (including Baroque harpist Hannah Lane and Nicholas Pollock on theorbo, lutes and baroque guitar) with international guests. Monteverdi, Lully and Purcell anchor a program of lush vocal storytelling in a venue that feels thrillingly intimate. 

Opie says he relishes the excitement that comes with creating an ensemble of musicians, some of whom have never met before. It’s what makes a festival gig special. “There’s an energy that comes with it. In a few rehearsals, with incredible singers as well, the sound they can bring is amazing.” 

David Greco, Opie notes, returns on 6 January with British conductor-pianist Chad Kelly for Schumann: Dichterliebe at Moorooduc Estate – a spellbinding recital of art songs from the 19th-century’s greatest musical couple Robert and Clara Schumann alongside works by Kurt Weill for contrast.

Karin Schaupp. portrait © Glenn Hunt

Guitar virtuoso Karin Schaupp brings another highlight with two distinct recital atmospheres: indoors at Port Phillip Estate on 8 January, then under the stars at Peninsula Hot Springs on 10 January. Both programs mix Bach, Schubert and Tárrega with world premieres by Ross Edwards, Phil Moran and Tara Lynham. 

Delivering a soulful twist, Twilight Sessions at Montalto will be headlined by long-running Melbourne outfit The Bamboos on 5 January. Bringing funk, groove and Kylie Auldist’s powerhouse vocals, they open the festival’s doors to wider crossover audiences without losing musical credibility. “They are so brilliantly skilled,” says Opie.

The programming of internationally recognised Australian artists alongside rising stars is key to the Festival’s architecture. On 10 January, Australian Youth Orchestra Young Artist Theonie Wang performs Beethoven’s Kreutzer Sonata and Amy Beach’s Romance at St John’s Anglican Church in Flinders, followed by Cedar Collective’s exploration of Haydn, Caroline Shaw and Fanny Mendelssohn on 11 January.

Ensemble 642 closes the festival with Baroque by Candlelight that same evening, blending early masterworks with contemporary minimalism by John Cage and Mamoru Fujieda. 

According to Opie, Peninsula Summer Music Festival 2026 comes with musical surprises, but the welcoming atmosphere will be the same as ever. “The vibe is fairly relaxed,” he says. “Of course it’s serious classical music, but you get beautiful summery afternoons, outdoor concerts, wineries … you get to do something really special as well as hear something special.” 

Peninsula Summer Music Festival will be held on Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula, 3–11 January, 2026. For full program details and bookings, visit peninsulafestival.com.au