.png)
Welcome to the 2026 Festival!
FRIDAY
​
Friday 14 August, 2026 - 7pm
Shambala Estate - Galaxy Ballroom​
​
To open the festival, a diverse family of musicians come together. Community members, high school students, professionals, emerging artists. Tamborine Mountain Orchestra anchors the evening, a local ensemble at the heart of this community. SXS Next Gen soloists step forward, offering glimpses of the next wave of artistic voices. A new work by composer Monash Lal has been written especially for this meeting of players.
​
​
​
SATURDAY
​
Saturday 15 August, 2026 - 9.30am
Shambala Estate - The Chapel
Community Event
Music starts with small things: a breath, a tap, a wobble, a burst of sound. In this interactive show for young and family audiences, instruments come out to play. They hum and buzz, boom and sing, sometimes all at once. Bring your ears, your imagination, and a sense of adventure.
​
Saturday 15 August, 2025 - 11am
Shambala Estate - Galaxy Ballroom
Mainstage Concert
​
Sara Macliver joins the “exquisite and exhilarating” Lyrebird Trio for music of bright morning energy. Songs without Words by Felix Mendelssohn and Anne Cawrse evoke lieder without words, while Fanny Mendelssohn’s Piano Trio in D minor finds drama.
​
PRE-CONCERT TALK - REFLECTIONS
Saturday 15 August, 2026 - 1.15pm
Shambala Estate - The Chapel
This is a free non-ticketed event - limited seating, come early to avoid disappointment.
Festival Artistic Director Tim Munro joins headline artists in a journey behind the curtain. Audiences hear the stories, thoughts and reflections of these great artists.
​
Saturday 15 August, 2025 - 2pm
Shambala Estate - Galaxy Ballroom
Mainstage Concert
​
Musical friendship in early-20th-century Paris. Music by Ravel, Lili and Nadia Boulanger, and Debussy moves from folksong to woodwind poetry. Soprano Sara Macliver brings her “thrilling and mesmerising” voice to the program, joined by the “brilliant” pianist Aura Go.
​
Saturday 15 August, 2026 - 3.30pm
Various Locations, Shambala Estate​
Special event - Meet at The Chapel, Shambala Estate
​
You won’t know the performer. You won’t know the location. With your ticket in hand, you will be led to a secret corner of the property, where musicians wait to perform intimate concerts for a handful of people. A violin under the gazebo. A cello in a quiet room. A song floating out across the grounds. Each one an entirely unique experience. Live music at its best.
​
Sunday 15 August, 2026 - 4.30pm
Shambala Estate - Galaxy Ballroom
Mainstage Concert
​
A single musical line unfolds. In the hands of Timo-Veikko Valve, the cello becomes storyteller and singer. This program traces the idea of variation across centuries, with music by JS Bach, Giuseppe Colombi and Jean Sibelius that is shaped by repetition and memory.
​
Sunday 15 August, 2026 - 7pm
Venue tbc
Community Event
​
​
​
SUNDAY
​
Sunday 16 August, 2026 - 10am
Shambala Estate - The Chapel
Community Event
Lie down, sit, or stand. However your body wants to listen. Local sound healers Emma and Andrew Heading-Knight lead a relaxing, rejuvenating morning session featuring several festival musicians, who create chamber music from within the moment: instruments responding to breath, stillness and vibration. There is no stage, only sound moving through the space. Be immersed.
​
PRE-CONCERT TALK - TIPI AND AURA
Sunday 16 August, 2026 - 11.15am
Shambala Estate - The Chapel
This is a free non-ticketed event - limited seating, come early to avoid disappointment.
Festival Artistic Director Tim Munro joins headline artists in a journey behind the curtain. Audiences hear the stories, thoughts and reflections of these great artists.
​
Sunday 16 August, 2026 - 12pm
Shambala Estate - Galaxy Ballroom
Mainstage Concert
​
Aura Go and Timo-Veikko Valve love playing Beethoven together, bringing “extraordinary life and colour” (Limelight) to his cello sonatas. Here they assemble a “new” Beethoven sonata from favourite movements, framed by miniatures from Helvi Leiviskä, Anton Webern and Lisa Illean’s ever-weaver.
​
Sunday 16 August, 2026 - 3pm
Shambala Estate - Galaxy Ballroom
Mainstage Concert
​
The festival ends in celebration. Ravel’s Three Mallarmé Songs brings together Sara Macliver and festival artists. Duos by Derek Bermel and Jessie Montgomery add energy, before Mozart’s radiant Exsultate, jubilate sends everyone out singing.
​
Official Festival Photographer: Stephen Henry Photography
