ON THE TERRACE to Mark 10th Anniversary with New Commission
The milestone edition will feature Hilary Kleinig's FROM DAWN TO DUSK and Jodie O'Regan's SING SANCTUS alongside 55 performances across multiple venues.
Chamber Music Adelaide will celebrate ten years of On the Terrace this November, with a milestone edition of the free annual festival featuring a major new commission, a world premiere, and performances by more than 100 musicians across the North Terrace cultural precinct.
On the Terrace 2026 takes place on Sunday 1 November, 11am–4pm, transforming the Art Gallery of South Australia, State Library of South Australia, South Australian Museum and Elder Hall into a day-long celebration of chamber music, including established artists, emerging artists, collaborations, and Elder Conservatorium students, free and open to all. Since its inception in 2016, On the Terrace has grown into a beloved annual event, drawing around 3,000 attendances annually.
To mark the tenth anniversary, Chamber Music Adelaide will present a new major commission. Composer Hilary Kleinig has created From Dawn to Dusk, a new work tracing a single day's journey from the Adelaide Hills to the sea, following the path of Karrawirra Parri (the River Torrens). The piece unfolds in three parts across the festival: standalone works for strings (From Dawn) and wind and percussion (To Dusk), performed earlier in the day, before the two ensembles unite with inclusive choir Poco Tutti for a finale at 3:40pm in the Art Gallery's Elder Wing.
Chamber Music Adelaide’s Director Elizabeth McCall said "Ten years ago, On the Terrace began with a simple idea: that chamber music belongs everywhere, not just in a concert hall. This year's program, and Hilary's commission in particular, feels like the truest expression of that idea yet - music that's still very much alive, moving through the day and through the city, gathering people and voices as it goes."
The festival also features a world premiere and new Australian work from acclaimed South Australian composer Jodie O'Regan: Sing Sanctus, the final movement of her large-scale work Leviathan, performed by renowned mezzo-soprano Sally-Anne Russell, emerging soprano Clara Cutri and Adelaide Baroque. The piece imagines a mother whale and calf swimming through waters affected by algal bloom off Encounter Bay, weaving in the words of South Australians living in coastal communities. Alongside it, composer Jack Overall presents Letters from Home, a new work for the intercultural Nexus Arts Orchestra, drawing on instruments including guzheng, santur, and erhu.
This year's 55 performances span an extraordinary range of artists and traditions, from Recitals Australia's emerging professional Fellows to Elder Conservatorium students presenting their own program, and from a new collaboration between CASM's emerging singer-songwriters and string quartet 4EPQ, to a dedicated family program.
Fittingly for a tenth anniversary, several of On the Terrace's founding ensembles return to mark the occasion, including Kegelstatt Ensemble, who will perform alongside mezzo-soprano Cheryl Pickering, the festival's original founder as Board Chair in 2016.
On the Terrace remains free to attend, with no bookings required for most performances.
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