This year’s Port Fairy Spring Music Festival program examines visionary artists who are innovative and revolutionary, as outgoing director Anna Goldsworthy looks to the festival’s future.
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She said while young artists had always featured, this year’s festival, which begins on Friday, had a strong emphasis on young and emerging artists.
“The focus is visions, not just the visual but the visionary music that looks beyond space and time,” she said.
Two “exceptional” young Australian ensembles – the Arcadia Wind Quintet from Melbourne and the Orava String Quartet from Brisbane – will be highlights.
She said the Orava String Quartet was “a very polished string quartet”, while Arcadia Wind Quintet were Australian National Academy of Music graduates, they were “making waves as an ensemble in their own right”.
Inspiring children who Ms Goldsworthy said were the “future of music performance and music appreciation”, was a priority for organisers.
A free School’s Concert-Let’s Get Instrumental sees multi-instrumentalist Adam Page introduce school children to looping technology which the children will perform on Friday.
A free musical craft session on Saturday encourages children to make and play their own instruments and culminates in a concert.
“I think it’s a really critical element of the festival,” Ms Goldsworthy said.
An interesting session will be the intersection of music with visual media combined for the audience.
“We’re having a brilliant trio of musicians to improvise a sound track for a Buster Keaton silent film Sherlock Jr. It should be fun,” she said.
The opposite will occur with Melbourne-based ensemble anon. posing the question: what if film were created based on music? Anon. pairs with Saint-Saens Piano Trio No 2, in a “thought-provoking program of musical imagination”.
“It’s an interesting examination of how these two artforms intersect,” she said.
Ms Goldsworthy has enjoyed six years at the helm and welcomed incoming artistic director, composer, cellist, Iain Grandage, who she has known for many years, to the role.
“It’s been a really wonderful ride and I’ve enjoyed every second of it.
“It’s been my privilege to work with a wonderful board comprising members of the Port Fairy community and to engage with such a loyal and warm audience,” she said.
The festival opens on Friday and runs until Sunday. Tickets are available from the Reardon Theatre box office from Friday 1pm. For more information go to portfairyspringfest.com.au
