2027 Featured Artists

Firebrand pianist Ronan Apcar and trailblazing saxophonist Alice Morgan join forces in a program that celebrates joy and ebullience.

Spanning a vast spectrum of repertoire ranging from film music to ragtime to jazz, the pair highlight their virtuosity in a showcase of music full of rhythmic vitality and vivid musical colours.

ARIA award-winning guitarist Karin Schaupp, celebrated worldwide, brings a program spanning centuries and styles, from timeless works by Bach, Schubert and Tárrega to brilliant Australian works by Joe Chindamo, Richard Charlton, and brand new pieces written especially for Karin by Ross Edwards, Phil Moran and Tara Lynam. 

The music of the Metin Yilmaz Quartet unfurls like a breath from the mountains — carried by the mystical voice of the Bilûr/Kaval, the ancient flute of Metin’s homeland.

Featuring Metin Yilmaz on Bilûr/Kaval flute, along with Matt McMahon (piano/keyboard), Jodie Michael (drums), and Steve Elphick (double bass), the quartet shapes a sound that is both contemporary and timeless, blending Anatolian and Kurdish traditional music with jazz improvisation, reflecting a fusion of cultural heritage and contemporary expression.

The Fantastical Life of Daniel Solander is a vibrant and captivating musical journey that glimpses Cook’s 1770 voyage through some uncommon perspectives – those of Swedish botanist Dr Daniel Solander, the ship's quirky scientific advisor, and the continent’s First Nations peoples.

This performance includes an optional opportunity for a local volunteer to join as actor/narrator.

A cello and piano recital built around sonatas by two powerhouse German romantic composers, Johannes Brahms and Richard Strauss.

A program that interweaves Philip Glass’s sublime Metamorphosis with Nocturnes by Chopin and Scriabin, Tchaikovsky’s luminous White Nights, and George Crumb’s ethereal Dream Images. Moving between lush Romantic lyricism and Glass's characteristically hypnotic minimalism, the program traces a reflective arc through night, dreams, and transformation.  

Instrumental music can express emotion with a power beyond words. Famous arrangements of Danish folksongs connect us to a simpler time, and the honest joy of music by a friendly fireside, or the echoes of a northern forest. At the heart of this program is one of the most devastating works in the repertoire, Shostakovich's Eighth Quartet, dedicated to the victims of fascism and war; the composer is said to have cried when he first heard it. 

The hypnotic folk rhythms of Kilar's Orawa lift us back to life and bring this moving concert to an electrifying close.

Hayes Collective offers a program for flute, cello, and piano spanning three centuries of virtuoso offerings, reimagined for this unique combination.