Program Overview Canberra International Music Festival 2025
Come and celebrate our exquisite mix of wild and unchartered alongside deeply soothing and elegant music performances.
This year’s festival celebrates the artistry of Finnish and Australian talents with a daring lineup that spans continents and genres. Featuring world-renowned performers like Paavali Jumppanen, Satu Vänskä, Erkki Veltheim, and Timo-Veikko “Tipi” Valve, our program is filled with powerful compositions by Saariaho and Sibelius, works inspired by Sámi poetry leading to a stirring massed-participatory Finlandia finale—a journey through Finnish identity and contemporary reflections on Finnish and Australian heritage.
Prepare to be captivated by the rich, evocative music and storytelling of Indigenous elder and yidaki/didgeridoo master Mark Atkins in Mungangga Garlagula. Mark’s presence as a long-term collaborator with Philip Glass calls towards another Festival highlight, Eight Pipers for Glass; performed by a French ensemble of pipers led by master Erwan Keravec, an explosive Australian premiere blending Breton tradition with the crème de la crème in American minimalism.
Our festival brings you exceptional concerts across Canberra’s most iconic venues: the acoustic prowess of Snow Concert Hall, the historic charm of Albert Hall, the award-winning LESS Pavilion, and the art deco ambiance of the National Film and Sound Archive.
An Opening Night spectacular sees the Melbourne Chamber Orchestra, joined by the Flinders and Ellery Quartets, performing masterpieces like Vaughan Williams’ Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis and Beethoven’s Egmont Overture, alongside the world premiere of Richard Mills’ violin concerto featuring Sophie Rowell.
As ensemble-in-residence, the Flinders Quartet will showcase their versatility across festival-long appearances in rich repertoire offerings, while two intense concerts at the High Court explore the cultural depth and resilience of post-Soviet states.
Two heavyweight piano soloists Konstantin Shamray and Paavali Jumpannen, appear back-to-back in Double Klavier, in a program of milestone classics for the instrument plus a new work by composer-in-residence Olivia Davies for piano with four hands.
Dive into immersive experiences with Five Short Blasts on Lake Burley Griffin, a sensory journey on a flotilla of five electric boats with soundscapes and stories on water, including the national carillon and antiphonal brass.
MOSSO: Music in Motion is a bold day-long event that transforms the National Film and Sound Archive with live ensembles, moving images, and spatial soundscapes in a rolling program of new Australian work by national virtuosi. Works by Kate Neal and Robin Fox and star performers such as Sonia Lifshitz, Sally Walker and Rubiks Collective.
Festival premieres include a massed choral piece by Nicole Smede written in her ancestral language Gathang, Damian Barbeler, Jane Sheldon, Claire Higgins, Bryony Marks, Lyle Chan and Chris Sainsbury.
In a festival of unique moments, experience Schubert Lieder at twilight by the Australian Haydn Ensemble and baritone David Greco, Shock Lines a genre-bending collaborative project of glass music, glass art and glass making or the site-responsive SONNEURS project at Dairy Road.
Join us for an unforgettable, and distinctly Canberran, five-day musical odyssey!