It’s both a gutsy and commendable move for a music festival in a regional town to pivot its flagship event to an all-female program for International Women’s Day, especially in the currently-wobbly world of Australian festivals. The risk of losing ticket sales from audiences who only want the big names or protest the idea entirely is something most Australian orchestras avoid. 

Orange Chamber Music Festival’s Opus.Her with Andrea Lam, Alexandra Osborne and Elina Faskhi. Photo © Peter Hislop

In 2025, the Orange Chamber Music Festival is five – still young, in festival years – and has shown dedication towards Australian and female-composed works across a good deal of its programs.

The headlining act of the program was So Much Myself: Piano Portraits, a work developed by pianist Sonya Lifschitz and composer Robert Davidson. A live performance and video that accompanies speech from and about pioneering women including  Nina Simone, Patti Smith, Julia Gillard (with her famous misogyny speech) and Ethyl Smith.

Performed in a condensed version, So Much Myself was cleverly broken up by performances of works by 19th...