Canberra International Music Festival

Order a copy of the book "Roland Peelman" by Antony Jeffrey and Anthony Browell

You can support the Canberra International Music Festival by becoming a member of Canberra International Music Festival LTD, the not-for-profit organisation that delivers 10 days of world class music at its annual festival.

To purchase a copy of the 2022 Festival Program, book here and you will receive an email with a link to download from Dropbox.

Concert 22 - Always ready to lend a hand, Beethoven’s friends sought to bring him new audiences by transcribing his pieces. In Hummel’s case, he should not have bothered. But the result became a delightfully frolicking ride into the Austrian fields led by Skye’s McIntosh’s happy band, the Australian Haydn Ensemble. A final Polish salute precedes the frivolity of Saint-Saëns’ ever-popular animal fantasy, when a parade of Festival artists join Jonathan Biggins for a zany finish.

Concert 21 - One of the boldest bursts of raw painterly energy ever committed to canvas holds pride of place in our National Gallery. Hear how American modernism found a lasting presence in the new city of Canberra.

Concert 20 - A Sunday morning treat for the travel-weary or the travel-hungry. Liszt responded to the thrills of his early concert travels with extraordinarily evocative music bundled in no less than three books of ‘Years of Pilgrimage’. Our New Zealand baritone James Ioelu returns for Vaughan-Williams’s beloved Songs of Travel before Krupinsky resumes his place at the piano for Ravel’s epic Viennese dance.

Concert 18 - The 360 km route from Mount Kosciuszko down to Twofold Bay near Eden crosses some of the nation’s wildest, most remarkable landscapes. From the highest part of this continent to the ocean, the Bundian Way is a track as much as a meeting place, a path to reconciliation. Featuring author John Blay reading from the book that captures the track, this signature multi-media event involves new work by Kate Neal, Brenda Gifford, Damian Barbeler and Eric Avery.

Concert 19 - The world’s richest singing traditions somehow emerged around the outer edges of our planet. Between the vocal wonders of Northern Lights and the ancient sounds of the Southern continent, mysterious pathways can be drawn and redrawn. Some of Canberra’s most prominent vocal groups join forces in a choral event reaching across the globe in song.

Concert 17 - Bowerbird Collective’s new project takes us inside one of the world’s most extraordinary species groups: migratory shorebirds. As an immersive musical experience flying across the East Asian-Australasian Flyway, Life of Land’s Edge draws on science, traditional Indigenous knowledge and music itself. Colourful visual footage and narration set the framework for this most innovative duo of musicians basking in the magic of bird migration.

A series of five breakfasts at iconic Canberra institutions. Breakfast served between 8.30 and 9am, performance 9-9.25am, followed by ‘talk of the town’ 9.30-10.15am.

Concert 16 - From the green pastures of rural England to the literary salons of Edith Sitwell. Housman’s Shropshire Lad finds its voice in Andrew Goodwin’s mellifluous tenor after Kristian Winther plays the unforgettable lark into being. Superb poetry in music gives way to sheer madcap eccentricity in Walton’s Façade embodied by the master of silly: Jonathan Biggins.

Concert 15 - Canberra’s newest urban transformation has taken place in the industrial estate of Fyshwick, along Dairy Road. An ecologically sound rebuilding process has enabled anything from brewers to yogis, from rock climbing to art galleries and much more. The event is a first for the festival, creating small unexpected musical follies for the unsuspecting Festival patron.

Concert 14 - Since 2014 about 2000 letters have been written to asylum seekers on Nauru, expressing sympathy and offering support. All the letters were returned to sender, unopened. In US, a single letter by Samuel Melville written in Attica prison at the height of the civil rights movement provided the basis for Rzewski’s classic cult piece from 1971.

Concert 13 - Be it the crow or cuckoo or curlew, birds have always fascinated and enchanted us. Captivating their song became a driving force for the French master Olivier Messiaen, who transcribed their song on his travels and included their multi-voiced warbling in his works. Hollis Taylor’s observations of the Pied Butcher Bird in Australia triggered an entirely new oeuvre of human-avian interaction. A concert by birds, their human followers and divine devotees.

Concert 12 - Poland’s proudest dance form, the Polonaise, found its definitive expression in the hands of Chopin. An equally distinctive voice emerged one hundred years later in the works of the prodigiously gifted Grażyna Bacewicz. Her first piano quintet is one of Poland’s greatest pieces of chamber music. Poland’s rising star Lucas Krupinski locks hands with the boys of the Orava String Quartet, aptly named for their family’s Polish origins.

Festival Extra - FREE - Silent group walk. You walk until you hear: yourself, others, the community, the place, the environment, stories, imagination, body, and movement. Acoustic ecology guided by Kelly Corner. Meet at the chapel at the Australian Centre for Christianity and Culture. Please book a free ticket to register.

Concert 11 - Stories of bravery and sacrifice connect the two vastly different experiences at NFSA. Martin Wesley-Smith’s audio-visual works, inspired by the people and experiences of East-Timor through the 80s and 90s represent one of the finest examples of audio-visual art in the world. In the Theatrette, Alice Giles recounts her voyage to Antarctica - with a harp!

Concert 10 - This concert features four musical realms. Spain’s medieval cantigas, earthy and seductive still today, contrast with the sumptuous polyphony of Portugal’s Golden Age. Steve Reich’s New York eighties vibe provides the perfect foil for Shostakovich’s sixth quartet, a masterpiece of Soviet optimism post-Stalin.

This year’s Festival trip takes us to the acclaimed Lake George Winery for wine-tasting, lunch and two musical performances. Not only a taste of the beautiful countryside outside Canberra, but also a chance to relax and recover from the Festival’s exertions with the best things life has to offer - music included. Included bus transport - Departure 10.30am from Canberra's Inner South (address will be advised to those booked). Return time approximately 4.00pm.

Concert 9 - Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Bartok, so why not Beach? The late romantic glow of her very Brahmsian Piano Quintet from 1907 is an impressive statement by a woman who commanded respect in her days, yet suffered oblivion soon after. This classic program also revives Brahms’ most popular pages amidst Bach’s homage to sheep, Beethoven’s homage to Waldstein, and Bartok’s most grippingly taut string quartet.

Concert 8 - The festival’s most intimate experience in Canberra’s most acclaimed modern precinct. Small audience groups follow a musical trail across the many nooks and crannies of New Acton. Performance trails start at 11am and then every 15 minutes.

Concert 5 - Above Giurgola’s building a central flagpole has become Canberra’s dominant landmark. Beneath that pole hover a number of beautiful spaces that provide the setting for this musical encounter between ancient cultures and modern voices. First Nations artists Horomona Horo and Eric Avery reach out musically from both sides of the Tasman – inside the House that is ours. Musical program and morning tea.

Concert 7 - Horomona Horo, one of the gentle giants of Māori music on the international stage. Together with the New Zealand String Quartet, making their welcome return to Canberra, Horomona engages in a delicate dance of purpose and gesture that is the story of music in the land of the long white cloud. This evocative program, featuring New Zealand’s musical heavyweights, uniquely combines string quartet culture at its best with the ancient sounds of the Māori instruments.

Concert 6 - Passed down secretly by generations of women in Afghanistan, landays are the folk poems and songs collected by Eliza Griswold in her book 'I am the Beggar of the World'. Enter Gemma Peacocke, who used these poems as the starting point for a major new work. Waves and Lines, in words, song and image, celebrates the power and resilience of women with nothing to lose. Music followed by a panel discussion.

Concert 2 - “Let there be light!” - the thunderous joy of Haydn’s greatest oratorio opens the festival. Cast with the finest voices from Australia and New Zealand, this Creation is in the hands of our best period specialists: The Australian Haydn Ensemble, celebrating its tenth anniversary. Haydn’s Creation is a tribute to humanity’s creative vision as well as the wonders of nature. Two performances, directed by the festival’s own maestro.

Concert 3 - The answer to Haydn’s Creation anno 2022 lies in this state-of-the-art production that delves into the furthest ranges of human consciousness and performance physicality. Based on the classic idea of ‘fugue’ as a musical construct and as a state of mind, composer Kate Neal and animator Sal Cooper have created a work to rival Escher’s dizzying tracks of thought and vision.

Concert 4 - A simple but harrowing song lies at the heart of Schubert’s most beloved string quartet, leaving its mark far beyond the modest confines of the 1826 premiere. Three short pieces from Haydn’s circle set the tone of this concert on a beautifully crafted Viennese fortepiano from the ANU collection.

Festival Extra - Free lunchtime concert at the ANU Drill Hall Gallery. Please book a free ticket to register.

Concert 1 - Canberra’s early history as a national centre for tree research lives on through its many parks and sites. Our National Botanic Gardens never fail to offer one of the most enjoyable and stimulating outdoor experiences of the festival. Start the festival with a magic walk through nature and through music.

Festival Extra - FREE - A silent group walk. You walk until you hear: yourself, others, the community, the place, the environment, stories, imagination, body, and movement. Acoustic ecology guided by Kelly Corner. Meet outside Harry Hartog bookshop at Kambri. Please book a free ticket to register.