Kicking off the second day of the Canberra International Music Festival 2026, Ensemble Liaison presents a program of ‘street songs’ – themes with popular appeal that people may have hummed while going about their business in 1790s Vienna or 1990s Melbourne.

The festival’s Artistic Director, Eugene Ughetti, now in his second year curating a five-day program, explains that not all classical musicians can ‘groove’: bring articulation, rhythm, phrasing and character together into one soulful experience that uplifts an audience.

And as the audience is lifted to a completely sincere standing ovation by the concert’s end, Ensemble Liaison and their collaborators Lina Tur Bonet (violin) and James Crabb (classical accordion) surely ace the ‘groove test’.

Lina Tur Bonet, Svetlana Bogosavljević, Timothy Young, James Crabb and David Griffiths. Photo © Dalice Trost

Beethoven’s Trio in B-flat major for clarinet (David Griffiths), cello (Svetlana Bogosavljević) and piano (Timothy Young) is deliberately contrasting, offering myriad ways for the ensemble to demonstrate their abilities in rendering texture, tone, emotion and humour.

Right from the start, the conversation between Griffiths and Bogosavljević is animated and sustained, carrying an energy and optimism that is infectious. The tempo is spirited, and the phrasing expert and organic; Griffiths is a puckish foil to Bogosavljević’s assertiveness and Young’s quiet confidence. Through the subtle adoption of a theme from a popular opera of the time by Joseph Weigl, the variations brings out each instrument in turn, before a finale beginning with waterfall phrasing between the three instruments in an easy but precise relay.

Lina Tur Bonet and Svetlana Bogosavljević. Photo © Dalice Trost

To press home the point that a good tune is ageless, an arrangement by Nat Bartsch of Kate Ceberano’s 1989 hit Bedroom Eyes only becomes recognisable half a minute in. To give the song as many character changes as possible, each verse conveys a different style – from a rhythmic sea shanty to a virtuosic Gershwin-style glissando on the clarinet, followed by triplet-punctuated improvisation which serves as an appetiser for the final piece in the program.

Manuel de Falla’s Six Popular Spanish Songs is a perfect choice, each piece contrasting markedly with the last – from the pretty and delicate Nana, to the percussive Polo, to the ebullient country-fair mood of Canción, to the rapid-relay form in Jota. Ensemble Liaison’s instinctive and natural ensemble playing – precise, matched, blended and with each player making way when needed – shows what happens when musicians play together for decades.

Svetlana Bogosavljević, Timothy Young and David Griffiths. Photo © Dalice Trost

George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, now 102 years old, is enjoying a Canberra renaissance, having featured in the Australian Chamber Orchestra’s program last August and the Canberra Symphony Orchestra’s May 2026 concert. Further adapting an arrangement for two pianos, Ensemble Liaison – joined by Tur Bonet and Crabb – carries off an extraordinary feat.

For a quintet to convincingly express one of the grandest, body-shaking pieces of 20th-century orchestral music with such mastery simply has to be seen to be believed. While Griffiths’ clarinet still takes the lead, the demands on the piano – performing its own part and that of half an orchestra – are Rachmaninoff-like in scale, making Timothy Young the hero of the day.

The Canberra International Music Festival continues until 3 May.