Celebrating its 20th edition this year, the Woodend Winter Arts Festival (WWAF) is Australia’s longest-running of its kind. To mark the occasion, its 2025 festival presents four days of chamber music, talks, literary events and theatre performances from 6–9 June.

The Woodend Winter Arts Festival. Photo supplied

This year, the festival welcomes a string of international acts across the program. Italian violinist Davide Monti and Irish harpist Maria Christina Cleary, AKA Aparla, grace the opening night celebrations on 6 June with Musical Bridges: Italy and Ireland, which finds points of connection between their disparate heritages with music from Byrd, Handel, Varacini, O’Carolan and more. That’s followed by a collaboration between the Mat Jodrell Quartet and guitarist Chris Johnstone with an evening of jazz standards and original works from Jodrell’s own catalogue.

Moroccan-born, Portland-based vocalist Lamiae Naki and her ensemble Seffarine also perform an exclusive show in Woodend on their world tour on 7 June, bringing the sounds and culture of the Straits of Gibraltar to St Ambrose  Hall.

On the same day, Trio Anima Mundi...