The ninth SEMF has been a long time coming. May 2019 was the last time cast, crew and festival faithful gathered together under the tin roof of the Sanguine Estate barrel room. Since then, the 2019 vintage has won medals for winemaker Mark Hunter and a place in James Halliday’s select list of five-star red wines, Chris Howlett (festival co-director with Howard Penny) has welcomed son number two, and son number one is old enough to be quoted in the pre-Welcome Concert speech: “Let’s play Howard’s music and have a dance party”.

Sanguine Estate Music Festival. Photo © Elizabeth Quinn

After a two-and-a-half-year hiatus, these musicians were indeed ready to party. In addition to the perennial favourites – cellists Howlett, Penny and viola player Tobias Breider – this year’s lineup of first timers included Swedish violinist and conductor Mats Zetterqvist, violinist Tair Khisambeev, viola player Thomas Chawner, pianists Andrea Lam and Edward Neeman, flautist Joshua Batty and tenor Andrew Goodwin. With newbies of this calibre, festivalgoers knew they were in for a rollicking reawakening from hibernation.

Friday’s welcome concert opened with CPE Bach’s Trio in F Major, originally written for harpsichord...