The UKARIA Cultural Centre is making an immense contribution to the creation and presentation of music in Australia. Over the decade since its establishment by philanthropist Ulrike Klein, it has become an essential element in Adelaide’s musical ecosystem, programming dozens of concerts each year, including guest-curated programs central to the Adelaide Festival.

UKARIA Cultural Centre. Photo supplied

Thirty-five kilometres from bustling Adelaide, the calming view of the garden and the Adelaide Hills places the audience into a receptive state of sensory awareness.

To reach the auditorium, audience members pass through a magnificent native garden. Klein, who migrated to Australia from Germany in 1983 and established skincare products firm Jurlique using natural products, says, “It is my commitment to honour the Peramangk heritage of this place, to give nature back to nature and return the land to its original state of vegetation.”

The architecturally designed, timber-lined 220-seat concert hall was purpose-built for chamber music, with raked seating to enable ideal views of the performers and of the glorious landscape through the nine by four-metre glass wall behind the stage. The acoustics are excellent, and the audience is up close, listening...