The Tasmanian Chamber Music Festival returns to Hobart from 22–25 October, with leading international soloists and Australian artists and ensembles playing a program spanning three centuries of chamber music.

Preceded by a Festival Prelude in historic Richmond the weekend before the main event, this year’s festival features pianist Piers Lane, pianist Aura Go, violinist Emily Sun, flautist Joshua Batty, tenor Kyle Steggall and cellist Li-Wei Qin, alongside Van Diemen’s Band and the Chroma, Xyris and Orava quartets.

Now in its seventh year, the festival has established a significant audience beyond Tasmania, with many patrons travelling from Melbourne and Sydney for four days of concerts and events that capitalise on Hobart’s distinctive cultural and architectural infrastructure.

Van Diemen’s Band. Photo © Albert Comper

The festival opens on Thursday 22 October at St George’s Church in Battery Point with Bach Concertos and Cantatas, performed by Van Diemen’s Band, led by artistic director and violinist Julia Fredersdorff, with tenor Kyle Steggall. The 75-minute program explores Bach’s vocal and instrumental writing, including excerpts from the Orchestral Suite in B minor, arias from Cantatas BWV 62 and BWV 5, and the complete Ich armer Mensch, ich Sündenknecht, BWV 5.

On 23 October, the festival moves to the Ian Potter Recital Hall at the Hedberg Performing Arts Centre for two concerts. At 2pm, flautist Joshua Batty and pianist Aura Go present French Flute meets Argentinian Tango, a program connecting French repertoire with music from Latin America. The program includes Debussy’s Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune, Messiaen’s Merle noir, Poulenc’s Flute Sonata, three piano pieces by Lili Boulanger, works by Carlos Guastavino and Piazzolla’s Café 1930.

Piers Lane. Photo supplied

At 7pm, Piers Lane returns to the festival for a 90-minute solo recital, opening with Bach’s Toccata in C minor, followed by Debussy’s Suite Bergamasque, Chopin’s Mazurka in C-sharp minor and Ballade No. 1. After the interval, Lane turns to Schubert, performing Impromptu No. 3 and the Piano Sonata No. 17 in D, D850. The concert is dedicated to the memory of the late Joscelyne Baroness van Boetzelaer.

The Saturday schedule begins at 11am at the Hedberg, where returning festival artists Li-Wei Qin and Aura Go perform a program ranging from Bach to Britten. The 65-minute concert pairs Bach’s Cello Suite No. 6 in D major with Schumann’s Fantasy Pieces and Britten’s Cello Sonata in C major.

Emily Sun. Photo © Benjamin Ealovega

At 2pm, violinist Emily Sun makes her festival debut alongside Piers Lane in Le Violon à la française. The 75-minute all-French program includes sonatas by Debussy, Poulenc and César Franck, as well as the Australian debut of Si je te quitte, nous nous souviendrons by young French composer Camille Pépin.

Saturday evening moves back to St George’s Church, beginning with drinks and canapés in the church garden at 5.30pm before the 7pm concert. The Chroma Quartet – Harry Bennetts and Victoria Bihun (violins), Elizabeth Woolnough (viola) and Eliza Sdraulig (cello) – makes its festival debut, joined by Joshua Batty for a performance of Prokofiev’s Flute Sonatain an arrangement for flute and string quartet by Lee Bradshaw. The program concludes with Beethoven’s String Quartet in A minor, Op. 132.

Chroma Quartet. Photo supplied

The festival concludes on Sunday October 25 at 10.30am at the Hedberg with a piano-trio program bringing together Emily Sun, Li-Wei Qin and Piers Lane. The three musicians perform Schubert’s Notturno in E-flat, Smetana’s Piano Trio in G minor and Ravel’s Piano Trio in A minor.

The festival finale continues at 12.30pm with a lunch at the Royal Tasmanian Botanic Gardens, where audiences can gather for a three-course meal and Tasmanian wines under a marquee in the lower gardens.

For complete program and ticketing information, visit the Tasmanian Chamber Music Festival website.