Each year the response to the program has exceeded expectations and this year the range of performers boasts the broadest range yet.

As well as the festival’s official program, there will be free events, street theatre, master classes and special student ticket packages available. 

Festival board member Jennifer Whitehead said interest in this year’s festival, from October 12 to 14, had exceeded expectations so far. 

“We really investigate what the audience is after and what they really do enjoy,” she said.

“At the same time we maintain the integrity of the mission of the festival  to present top quality chamber music performers not seen in the area.”

Australian jazz legend Paul Grabowsky is booked to perform one of the most celebrated works in classical music — Bach’s Goldberg Variations. Powerful Australian songstress Deborah Conway will be joined by long-term partner and collaborator Willy Zygier in a pared-down, intimate setting. 

In a more theatrical performance, three singers will portray American poet Emily Dickinson at different stages of her life. 

Composers Eddie Perfect, Jane Hammond and Greg Mason have set poems and letters to music to create a one-hour introduction to opera. Celebrated Aussie comedian Tim Ferguson also returns.