Through virtual means, the 30^th anniversary of the festival will showcase a range of Melbourne-based musicians complimented by south-west artists.

With the theme of 'Reflection' the festival's artistic directors Monica Curro and Stefan Cassomenos have looked through the archives and selected some previously performed concerts to be given a new lease on life.

"We've gone back through the history of the festival for inspiration," Ms Curro said. "We're repeating the closing concert of the first festival in 1990 for our festival.

"I've curated every piece of art with each of the concerts. There's something about the colours of the narrative that coincides with the music. They're not just pretty pictures, they're intrinsically linked to the sounds."

Koroit photographer Berit Hampel will have her moody Tower Hill photo composites displayed throughout the baroque trio Wattleseed Ensemble's performance.

"Every time I drive home from work, Tower Hill always looks brilliant, but sometimes you just have to stop," Hampel said.

"I started photographing seriously about eight years ago and this is my first time being a part of anything like this.

"The moodiness of my images appears in the music. I love medieval things anyway and lots of my composites reflect that time. I think the music and my work are very suited."

Katie Yap makes up one-third of Wattleseed Ensemble who will make its performance debut on the Monday night of the festival.

"We studied at the Australian National Academy of Music together. We're all from different places and formed this nice relationship while studying," she said.

"We haven't played together until now but I thought about it for a long time, and this is an assemble of the dream team for me.

"We are a little bit different from the standard classical group. We're all playing baroque instruments which are very organic with a natural, hush sound. We brace the imperfections of the older instruments with their gut strings. It's a beautiful way to speak through music.

"The arts all compliment each other, and music and visual arts are a way to add to spoken words.

The Spring Music Festival opens on Saturday at 5pm with members of the Australian World Orchestra performing Franz Schubert's Trout Quintet and Elena Kats-Chernin's The Sunshine Journal.

Warrnambool artist Rachel Peters' bright abstract landscapes will compliment the performance.

"I was really rapt and quite surprised to get the phone call to be apart of it. Lots of art has dried up over COVID and this is a creative way to be included," Peters said.

"The pieces of music are sunny, bright and celebratory. I listened to the six movements to show the directors my work and picked what matched.

"I have a different piece reflected in each of Schubert's movements. There's an overhead of the Great Ocean Road, a Hopkin's River abstract, some are just acrylic works but the majority are acrylic collages with paper, plastics, metal and even maps embedded into them."

Port Fairy mixed media artist Heather Wood will have her acrylic paintings exhibited alongside Spring Music Festival favourite Songmakers Australia.

"I've had a couple of exhibitions in Melbourne but nothing like this. I am thrilled to be involved, I think it's such a great idea," she said.

"Port Fairy is a unique place and Monica really wanted to show the town, feel the vibe and the sea air.

"I sent in my work that show the beaches, Yambuk sand dunes, the seagulls, a range of things that Port Fairy is known for and that's what will be reflected behind the concert.

"I've got tickets to the festival and I'm going to watch all of it. It's a fabulous idea, especially since we haven't had the joy of being able to go to concerts."

Colleen Guiney's intuitive artworks have been teamed with one of the festival's most anticipated debut performances from Then This.

With over 30 years of experience each, this is the first time distinguished jazz performers Niko Schuble, Mirko Guerrini, Tony Hicks and Stephen Magnusson will be performing together.

Guiney said there was more than just similar feelings evoked from her art and the music that tied the concert pieces together.

"My artwork goes between abstract and landscape; they're all intuitive and not planned as landscapes," she said. "I've read about the musicians and I found it really fascinating they live in that ad-lib way as I do with my painting."

An artist for all her life, Guiney is excited to venture into the performance realm.

"I love the idea of it, I love listening to music while I paint and I really immerse myself in that music," she said. "I listen to the same music and same artists over and over so I understand how the different art forms can relate.

"Where I live greatly impacts what I paint subconsciously. The landscapes of my surrounds just keep appearing in my artwork.

"It's exciting that something can go ahead and keep our festival at the forefront so it will run again."

Portland artist Carmel Wallace creates prints and sculptures and her water colour-based monotypes showcasing the landscapes surrounding her home will be projected throughout the Sutherland Trio's performance.

"I've listened to some of the music and I find the concert quite exciting because it's another way of thinking about my work," she said.

"When I look at my work and listen to the music, it enriches my reading of it and it really gave me another insight into my own work.

"When I was creating the monotypes it was really a way to interpret the landscape here. I live in Portland and I'll often walk along the cliffs and look down to the tides and I wanted to evoke that visually.

"I think this is really exciting to have the combination of artworks and music so complimentary. It is a real honour to have my work shown at the same time as this amazing music."

The Port Fairy Spring Music Festival begins on Saturday and runs until December 4. Tickets are still available via portfairyspringfest.com.au

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