Canberra International Music Festival Launches 2023 Program

The Canberra International Music Festival has announced its Festival program for 2023. From Friday April 28 to Sunday May 7, ten glorious days of music making will set Canberra alight in a program of 28 concerts featuring around 150 international and Australian musicians.

At a time of year when Canberra dons its most attractive autumn colours, the annual Festival offers a colourful, broad and diverse selection of music in Canberra's many sites and locations, centered around the central buzz of the historic Fitters' Workshop in Kingston.

Three superlative string quartets from Britain, France and Australia lead a stellar line-up of artists engaged with the world as we see it, be it Ukraine or West Africa or our own backyard.

The Brodsky Quartet returns to Canberra, sharing the stage with didgeridoo legend William Barton on Sunday April 30. The program features Bach, Barton and Schubert as well as the world premiere of Eden Ablaze, written for them by Andrew Ford during the bushfires in late 2019. On April 29 the Brodsky Quartet will treat us to a 50 year Anniversary selection, confirming their status as one of the world's finest.

Following the success of The Creation in 2022, CIMF's Opening night Gala at Fitters' will bring back the Australian Haydn Ensemble in a symphonic program of Haydn and Mozart. The Mozarts, the Haydns & the Bear is a classic program about "families, friends & musical ties that bind" and will include tenor Andrew Goodwin and soprano Chloe Lankshear as soloists.

As always, First Nations artists take pride of place in the Festival. Djilama Yilaga Choir makes its festival debut alongside William Barton and Marlene Cummins, Australia's answer to Besse Smith. In Marloo's Blues, Marlene tells her story as a singer and activist at the NGA on Sunday April 30.

The very stylish French string quartet Quatuor Van Kuijk also returns to the Festival in work by Mendelssohn, Fauré and Schubert. A special focus on Ukraine features the acclaimed pianist Alexander Gavrylyuk in an exclusive solo recital (Wednesday May 3). Andrew Goodwin singing Silvestrov's Silent Songs sung by candlelight (A Candle for Ukraine on Saturday May 6) and Sonya Lifschitz in a new multi-media performance in the National Gallery (Sunday May 7).

The popular breakfast series returns as French For Breakfast in 2023 (May 1 to 6). Bon appétit! And for the lovers of food and wine: Taste of the Country will be held at Contentious Character on May 2, with Quatuor Van Kuijk entertaining, as well as Katie Yap on viola striking the fiddle.

Verity Lane Market will host a variety of daytime events, from Classic Hour to Viola Solitaire to two late night Saturday evenings showcasing local BIPOC artists. The Australian for Christianity and Culture will host a re-enactment of a concert given in Hay on April 6 1941: the recently re-discovered Dunera Mass.

The ANU School of Music and the Festival join forces for the 100th Anniversary of György Ligeti on Monday May 1.

New work is in abundance at the festival, including a new dance collaboration between Australian Dance Party and CIMF, earmarked at the National Arboretum as part of Ausdance ACT's Australian Dance Week. Children and young musicians are an intrinsic part of the 2023 Festival. This includes Britten's Children's Crusade on Thursday May 4 as one of the headline acts. Performed by Luminescence Children's Choir led by AJ America, Britten's pacifist manifesto is a stark reminder of the impact of war on our children.

THE CHILD WITHIN 'listening to a new world' is the festival's theme for 2023. "Celebrating the enchanted forest of our children's imagination" says CIMF Artistic Director Roland Peelman. "Through the magic of music, it seeks to find the child inside all of us."

International Artists 2023 CIMF: Brodsky Quartet (UK) In connection with other presenters and Quatuor Van Kuijk (FR) with support from French Government.

Australian Artists 2023 CIMF: Aunty Marlene Cummins (and band), Guguyelandji and Woppaburra Djinama Yilaga choir, Yuin - South Coast William Barton, Kalkadunga, Australian Haydn Ensemble, Alma Moody Quartet Andrew Goodwin - tenor, Chloe Lankshear - soprano, Oliver Shermacher, clarinet Sally Walker, flute, Alexander Gavrylyuk, piano, Sonya Lifschitz, piano, Eduard and Stephanie Neeman, piano, Donald Nicolson, harpsichord/keyboards, Katie Yap, viola, James Wannan, viola, Flora and Theo Carbo, Luminescence Chamber Singers, Luminescence Children's Choir and Woden Valley Youth Choir.

Premiere works 2023 CIMF: 2023 Canberra International Music Festival - Andrew Ford: Eden Ablaze (Quartet nr 7) plus In My Solitude (first concert performance), Elliott Gyger: Solitaire, solo viola piece premiered by James Wannan, Katie Yap/D. Nicholson: Black Cockatoos, Flora and Theo Carbo: new work. (in Sibling Revelry) Dan Walker: new work for dance in Arboretum,

Canberra International Music Festival runs from Friday, 28 April to Sunday, 7 May 2023. Tickets on sale Friday 18 November 2022. To see the full program visit: cimf.org.au