Albury Chamber Music Festival | 2025
November 7 to 9, 2025, Albury, NSW
That ‘festival feeling’, in my opinion, starts well in advance of the event itself. So much goes into planning and coordinating travel, booking accommodation, seeking out tips from seasoned festival goers, and then there is the much-anticipated release of the program. And the program for this year’s Albury Chamber Music Festival looked very good indeed!
Having booked early in the year, it was finally time for me to pack by suitcase and let the adventure begin…
A full Dance Card
The music, feasting, and fun took place in some of Albury’s finest venues: Adamshurst, a stately home from the 1880’s with a lavish ballroom; the Regent Cinemas, a historic and beautifully preserved picture palace; The Albury Club, a local institution; and the light and bright St Matthew’s Church.
Upon arrival, Festival goers were issued a passport with details of the program. All the concerts were named after dances (The March, Jig, Polka etc), making up your Festival Dance Card, which was subsequently stamped at each venue on attendance. A cute idea; who doesn’t love a full dance card?
Friday Day 1: The March, The Quadrille, The Jig
The Festival got underway with ‘The March’ a packed church with local and visiting musicians forming an orchestra complete with an extensive percussion section, who were joined by Lux Alba Chamber Choir, theatre performers, and choristers of all ages from the choirs of The Scots School and Trinity Anglican College, for an outstanding performance of ‘The Armed Man – A Mass for Peace’ by Karl Jenkins.
The work was dedicated to the victims of the Kosovo conflict and written in the late 1990’s for the move of the Armouries Museum in the UK and while the composer follows the structure of the mass, there are addition movements based on texts that include poems by Kipling, Tennyson and Sankichi Toge.
The performance was conducted nobly by Mario Dobernig with the addition of excellent choreography and artistic direction. The choristers marched solemnly into the church to music reminiscent of the Scottish military fife and would periodically march on the spot as required during the performance.
The performers – both actors and dancers – played out the narrative arc of the work in the central aisle of the church. The performers played the various characters including the solider, the woman and boy, the boy with a sword, and the wise woman who takes the sword from the boy. It was very moving and theatrical, and ended with the distribution of coloured ribbons, which we waved in time to the rhythm of ‘Better is peace’ at the end of the work.
Soloists Sally-Anne Russell, Timothy Reynolds and Christopher Allan were stunning, and the masses of young singers who joined in at the end made it all so exciting and added to the atmosphere of hope and peace. An experience I am sure the young choristers also remember and treasure forever.
The Gala Dinner (‘The Quadrille’) was held at The Albury Club, entered via the rose garden at the rear of the club. Everyone looked very smart in black tie and bling, and it was the sort of evening where everyone gets chatting. My delightful dinner companions included an antique car collector and his very elegant wife, the fabulous CEO of Murray Arts (an important local arts organisation), two lovely, retired academics, and my friend Sandra, a renowned garden designer. The company was first class.
We enjoyed music, songs and dance games, and even the premier of a new avant-garde work by Brett Anthony Jones (who was also present at the dinner) which was played entirely with cutlery on bottles of wine. It was a hoot.
After all that merriment, the party retired to the candlelight serenity of St Matthew’s Church for a concert of songs by Lady Shaula and her Celtic Harp, who sang old and new songs English and Celtic.
Saturday Day 2: The Bourrée, The Pirouette, The Mazurka, The Progressive
If your morning coffee isn’t quite working the way it used to, I’d heartily recommend a concert of Clérambault, Bach and Vierne as a great way to start the day. An early downpour had washed the city clean, and for the second time, I enjoyed a morning stroll around Albury’s parks and even stumbled on a colony of nesting ibises. Heaven!
At 9 am, the weekend’s festivities started with a concert by organist and performance practice specialist David Macfarlane on the Letourneau pipe organ at St Matthew’s Church (The Bourrée).
The concert started with a suite from the early Baroque which allowed David to demonstrate the broad variety of sounds available to the instrument, which was imbued (in David’s words) with a ‘French accent’ thanks to stops that include the Nazard and Basse de Cromorne, as well as many other reed and flute sounds.
Bach’s Passacaglia in C minor was a knockout and we got a hint of the full power of the organ towards the end of the piece when David pulled out the 32’ Bombarde, which was also used to great effect in Vierne’s Symphonie No. 3, causing our seats to tremble and shake!
The second event of the day was an interview with living legend and Suprema Ballerina Jessie Vonk (The Pirouette), who, in her 80’s, can still do the splits and was very happy to demonstrate. Being a prima ballerina was just one aspect of Jessie’s career, as she is now a celebrated sculpture artist.
You couldn’t help but admire the joyful spirit of such a multifaceted and talented artist who continues to give so much of herself in everything she does. The event was held in the elegant surrounds of the well preserved ‘picture palace’, the Regent Cinemas Albury.
One of the highlights of the festival was an all-Chopin recital by Joshua Tan (‘The Mazurka’), who is an award-winning young pianist of the highest calibre and in addition studying to be a Doctor of Medicine.
Works included Etudes Op. 25 No 4 in A minor, Op. 10 No. 10 in A flat Major, the Andante Spianto et Grand polonaise in E flat major Op. 22, and the Nocturne in E flat major Op. 55 No 2, and, if you weren’t already impressed, the Sonata in B minor, Op. 58, all played from memory.
Music just poured from the piano and we were in raptures as Joshua demonstrated his award-winning technical mastery over the instrument and the music, balancing the urgent seriousness of some passages with Chopin’s extravagant flourishes.
The performance was sponsored by the Cope-Williams Arts Foundation, and it was lovely to see Joshua popping up in different roles over the festival – notably at Sunday morning’s Festival Service, as an accompanist and chatting and getting to know other festival goers.
The ballroom of Adamshurst for ‘The Progressive’, concert number seven, is located in the 1880 mansion of businessman George Adams, now owned by the offstage star of the Festival, the ‘Prince of Albury’ Fr Peter MacLeod-Miller, a much loved-identity local identity who is also President of the Albury Chamber Music Festival.
It was in this luxurious setting that we heard The Radish and the Shoe in the presence of the composer, Andrew Perkins. A funny and philosophical tale by writer Louise Jalbert which is essentially about coping with life’s shocks and surprises, the performance featured Sara Brodie as the shoe and the narrator, and Rod Lara as the plump radish. Both were engaging performers who had the audience in the palm of their hands, under the baton of Mario Dobernig.
Next up, Timothy Reynolds serenaded us with gems from Australian composers Frederick Septimus Kelly and Ivor Gurney, accompanied by Joshua Han. Perfect music for an old-fashioned grand ballroom in an old-fashioned mansion.
Alyse Faith followed with two lovely works for solo flute, one by Ross Edwards and the other by Elena Kats-Chernin, before the great Mr John Bolton-Work AM (himself an octogenarian) led us in Coo-ee, that delightful Australian call and response song.
Sunday Day 3: The Polka, The Waltz, The Little Cupcake and The Kangaroo Hop
Sunday morning’s packed-out Festival Service at St Matthew’s was presided over by the Reverand Fr Peter Macleod-Miller and had a focus on Remembrance, being the closest Sunday to 11/11 we observed one minute of silence during mass.
It was uplifting occasion with great hymns and the world premiers of two new works: The Breath of Love by Ciara Ferguson, which was a tender and beautiful work that wonderfully constructed and performed – Ciara sang soprano and also in the closing concert and is a talent worth watching out for – and I Lift Up My Eyes by Lily Flynn, again a great new work by a young Australian composer.
The choir were excellent with David Macfarlane on organ, and it was great fun to join in with traditional hymns such as Abide With Me and Guide Me, O Thou Great Redeemer as the choir and descants from the sopranos and young choristers soared above.
A notable attendee happened to be a very zen and pure white Alpaca. Yes, a gorgeous animal that had met King Charles. It was lovely as well as a touching reminder of our place in the world. Joshua Han played another solo work, and there was a sense of joy and gratitude for the gift of music.
We were then back at the ballroom at Adamshurst for a series of chamber works including Mahler’s Songs of a Wayfarer with Sally Anne-Russell, who sparkled even in the sad songs, and Mahler’s only chamber work, the Piano Quartet in A minor. There were also lovely works for cello, violin and string duo by Ross Edwards, Stuart Greenbaum, and the Pieces for violin and cello Op. 39 by Reinhold Glière.
The concert was immediately followed by The Little Cupcake, a garden party with a selection of sweet treats and Linton’s famous sausage rolls. The Moodemere String Quartet played situated in a corner of the front rose garden Yes, it was every bit as decadent as it sounds, I promise you.
The final concert of the festival was The Kangaroo Hop, a very relaxed jazz concert with renown musicians led by Mark Ferguson, Head of Jazz at the Elder Conservatorium. The program featured a number of new compositions by Mark, which were tasteful and tuneful.
I was blown away an arrangement of ‘Girls in our town’ which was made famous in 1976 by Margaret RoadKnight and sung by mother and daughter duo, Susan Ferguson and Ciara Ferguson (the composer mentioned earlier). The harmonies were exquisite and Tasha Stevens on bass, who is another rising star to watch out for in the jazz music scene.
The wrap-up
Over the three days, our group also took time to explore the Botanic Gardens, ate at cafes and restaurants including a lovely café spot on the banks of the Murray, and toured the Murray Arts Museum Albury (MAMA).
Artist Directors Sally-Anne Russell and Mario Dobernig had curated a balanced, interesting and interactive festival program that engaged world class musicians and artists from near and far. Albury Chamber Music Festival Leadership Fr Peter MacLeod-Miller and Victoria Chick and committee, and all the volunteers involved with the running of the Festival made us feel welcome and integral to Festival experience.
As I look back at the weekend and think of all the things we did together, the new friends I made, and conversations we shared, there was much laughter and merriment as well as moments of awe and admiration for all the performers, new compositions, and extraordinary talent that had been assembled for us.
My top tip: book for the 2026 Festival now, before it sells out and before the dreaded FOMO sets in!
