Image: Highlights of the Governor’s Gala Concert: Heavenly Serenade – photo by Through The Looking Glass Studio.
Now in its 34th year, this 9-day Festival of Chamber Music situated in tropical Townsville on the cusp of the Barrier Reef is a stunning example of cultural tourism.
Last year, the Festival drew 22,106 Queenslander, Interstate and overseas visitors to this tropical region. In 2024, independent research from Tourism and Events Queensland showed a boost to North Queensland’s economy by $20 million.
Remarkably, the Festival has cultivated loyal subscribers with a broad musical taste who give a contemporary piece the benefit of the doubt. Former artistic director, the London based pianist Piers Lane, once remarked how special it is to have an audience in a regional centre receptive to challenging, neglected and unusual music. This year’s Festival boasted six world premieres. Jack Liebeck’s curation is adventurous.
Always popular, the al fresco events included a Queens Gardens Concert with the Great Barrier Reef Orchestra conducted by Theodore Kuchar, the AFCM’s founding artistic director. Orpheus-Goolboddi Island is uninhabited and on the boat trip along the way patrons were thrilled to watch playful whales breach in a foaming sea.
Highlights of the Evening Concerts included the sensational Andromeda Sax Quartet’s thrilling version of Dvorak’s American String Quartet. Martinu’s La Revue de Cuisine was cinematically captured by clarinetist Lloyd van’s Hoff, bassoonist Tasman Compton, trumpeter Mark Smith, violinist Emily Sun and Olga Zado on piano.
Standards were especially high this year with 36 classy musicians drawn from Australia, America, The UK and Germany. The AFCM is arguably Australia’s most significant chamber music festival and it has inspired others across the country.
Locals are saddened and, in some cases angered by the festival’s shift to Cairns in 2026. The move most likely prompted by Townsville City Council’s decision not to fund a long promised new performing arts centre with bespoke and much-needed acoustics for classical music performance.
The Australian Festival of Chamber Music took place in Townville from 25 July – 2 August 2025. For more information, visit: www.afcm.com.au for details.
Read my whole article here, on Australian Arts Review.