Our 2026 Festival concerts
Four stunning concerts 0f chamber music over three days in the beautiful acoustic of the Martinborough Town Hall.
Dates and times:
Friday 25 September at 7.30pm
Saturday 26 September at 2pm
Saturday 26 September at 7.30pm
Sunday 27 September at 2pm preceded by Meet the composer at 1.15pm
Venue: Martinborough Town Hall, Texas Street, Martinborough
Tickets:
Season ticket for all 4 concerts: $280
Single concert tickets: $75
School students: $15 (limited availability)
Public bookings open on 1 July. If you subscribe to our mailing list and book in June you qualify for earlybird ticket discounts.
Programmes
Friday night 7.30pm
Our Festival musicians are introduced to the audience in this opening concert that ends with a famous and loved work by Beethoven, but not quite as you’d expect.
Liszt Hungarian Rhapsody No. 9 Carneval de Pest for piano trio
Farias Andean Suite for string quartet and guitar
Interval
Beethoven arr. Bradshaw Beethoven 747 (Symphony 7, Op. 92 in A Major) for string septet
Saturday afternoon 2.00pm
Along with a work by the 2026 Festival’s Guest Composer, 2 virtuoso works featuring our guitar and piano soloists will make this an engaging and memorable concert.
Victoria Kelly Songs Without Words (2006) for string quartet
Luigi Boccherini Guitar Quintet No. 4 in D Major, G 448 for guitar and string quartet and guitar
Interval
Louise Farrenc Piano Quintet No. 1, Op. 30 for string quartet and piano
Saturday night 7.30pm
This concert highlights virtuoso works for double bass, guitar and piano, finishing with a string octet which rivals Mendelssohn’s famous work for the same combination.
Tárrega Recuerdos de la Alhambra for guitar and cello
Bottesini Romanza Patética for double bass and piano
Liszt Après une lecture de Dante: Fantasia quasi Sonata, S.161/7 for piano
Interval
Enescu String Octet in C major, Op. 7 for 4 violins, 2 violas and 2 cellos
Sunday afternoon 2.00pm
The Festival finale presents works from Australia and Argentina, and concludes with one of the most famous Italian works in the repertoire, but given a new and exciting perspective by our 2026 Guest Composer .
Grandage Black Dogs for guitar and string quartet
Golijov Last Round (1996) for string nonet
Interval
Vivaldi/Kelly Four Seasons/Season Creep — World premiere
This concert is preceded at 1.15pm by Meet the composer.
Our 2026 artists
Find out who will be playing these wonderful programmes.
Listen to the music
We’ll curate a Spotify playlist of many of the works you’ll hear in the Festival. Come back soon to get a link to the list.