The Canberra International Music Festival is one of Australia's leading music festivals featuring leading Australian and international artists coming together in varied performances of old and new works.

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THURSDAY APRIL 30 2026 - 5pm
 

WAGNER LIEDER

ANNA -LOUISE COLE (soprano)

KRISTIAN CHONG (piano)

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Experience the intensity of Wagner’s most intimate and powerful music. This singular recital offers a rare invitation into Richard Wagner’s inner world, bringing dramatic soprano Anna-Louise Cole and acclaimed pianist Kristian Chong together for some of his most evocative music for voice and piano.

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In this recital Cole brings that artistry to Wagner’s deeply personal Wesendonck-Lieder, a cycle that foreshadows the groundbreaking harmonic world of Tristan und Isolde. Chong performs Carl Tausig’s striking solo transcription of the Prelude to Tristan und Isolde, revealing the opera’s volcanic emotional landscape in concentrated form.  Cole returns for Isolde’s final scene, Isoldens Liebestod, one of the most transcendent farewells in the operatic canon. The program also features Liszt’s radiant transcription of the Evening Star aria from Tannhäuser and the glowing love music Ewig war ich, ewig bin ich from Siegfried. This is a rare chance to experience Wagner’s most intimate and soul-stirring music at close range, performed by two outstanding artists at the height of their powers.

WAGNER - Wesendonck-Lieder
WAGNER - TAUSIG - Prelude to Tristan und Isolde, arranged for solo piano
WAGNER  - Isoldens Liebestod from Tristan und Isolde (Mild und leise, wie er lächelt)
WAGNER - LISZT - O du mein holder Abendstern (Evening Star) from Tannhäuser, arranged for solo piano
WAGNER - Ewig war ich, ewig bin ich from Siegfried (Act III)

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WESLEY MUSIC CENTRE, CANBERRA, AUSTRALIA ​
 

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FRIDAY MAY 1 2026 - 530pm
 

SCHUBERT and SYRAH
KRISTIAN CHONG (piano)
 

SCHUBERT - Sonata in B flat Major D960

Guided by virtuoso pianist and wine aficionado Kristian Chong, this intimate experience places Schubert’s final piano sonata at the heart of a curated journey through some of Australia’s most characterful wines.

Each movement of the monumental Sonata in B-flat major D960 is paired with wine not for novelty, but for its resonance with the work’s character, emotional landscape and architectural beauty.
 

Schubert’s score, Chong’s interpretation and the expressive qualities of the wines work together to deepen an experience that feels elegant, exploratory and deeply human. A concert of heightened sensory connection. Kristian combines his passion for music and wine together to guide you through your own highly personal, multi-sensory journey.  

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Featuring Cullen, Clonakilla, Chalmbers wineries 

 

 GANDEL HALL, NATIONAL GALLERY OF AUSTRALIA, CANBERRA 

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SATURDAY MAY 2 2026, 730pm

 TISSAGES DU TEMPS

ENSEMBLE CONTRECHAMPS (Switzerland)
LYREBIRD BRASS

KRISTIAN CHONG (piano)

TIMOTHY YOUNG (piano)

 

Marc-Antoine CHARPENTIER - Te Deum Prélude in D Major for brass quintet
François COUPERIN (arr. Bernard Hughes) - Les Barricades Mystérieuses for brass quintet
Jean-Philippe RAMEAU (arr. Steven Verhlest) - Dardanus Suite for brass quintet

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Maurice RAVEL (arr. Gryzanov) Daphnis et Chloé Suite No.2 for two pianos

Gerard GRISEY Vortex Temporum for mixed chamber ensemble

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Weavings of time – a journey through high French Baroque, Impressionism and Spectralism

Tissages du Temps traces more than three centuries of French musical innovation, showing how each generation transcended the language of the one before while remaining deeply connected to its legacy.

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The program opens with music from France’s early masters, heard here through the vibrant sonorities of Lyrebird Brass, Australia’s trailblazing brass ensemble. From this world of elegance and ornament, we move to the shimmering landscape of French impressionism with Maurice Ravel’s intoxicating Daphnis et Chloé, performed in a sumptuous two-piano realisation by Kristian Chong and Timothy Young. Together they conjure the work’s sensuous harmonies, expansive vistas and mythic lyricism, illuminating the colours and gestures that would inspire a seismic shift in French composition

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SNOW CONCERT HALL, CANBERRA, AUSTRALIA

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SUNDAY MAY 3 2026, 630pm

PIANOS AND PERCUSION - FESTIVAL FINALE
 

KRISTIAN CHONG (piano)

TIMOTHY YOUNG (piano)

EUGENE UGHETTI (percussion)

KAYLIE MELVILLE (percussion)

VERONICA BAILEY (percussion)

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RACHMANINOFF -  Symphonic Dances (1940), original version for two pianos

Fiona HILL -  new work (2026) for two pianos & percussion (Festival commission)
Igor STRAVINSKY - The Rite of Spring (1913), version for pianos & percussion
 

This Finale unites towering 20th century works and an exciting Festival commission to reveal the two-piano-plus-percussion ensemble at its most visceral and expressive. Rachmaninov’s Symphonic Dances (1940), heard here in its original two-piano form, is his final musical statement – an autumnal work of rhythmic vigour, lush harmonies, and haunting reflection, culminating in a triumphant transformation of an Orthodox chant.

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Festival composer-in-residence Fiona Hill approaches the form with a new work that stretches percussion instrumentally and performatively, generating exciting new sonic and dramaturgical languages. Her finely-honed command of timbre, combined with extensive training as a concert pianist, places her in a formidable position to engage with – and challenge – the surrounding 20th century heavyweight pieces.
 

Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring (1913), arguably the most important work of the century, will be heard here in its two-piano version, stripped away by Stravinsky himself from its orchestrational colour to foreground the raw, percussive heart of this revolutionary ballet. Its premiere caused a riot, and its primal rhythms and tonal sounds still stun some hundred years later. Together, they form a concert of elemental energy and vivid contrast, where rhythm is the driving force and the fusion of pianos and percussion unlocks new dimensions of sound.   

SNOW CONCERT HALL, CANBERRA, AUSTRALIA

SOPHIE ROWELL (violin)
KRISTIAN CHONG (piano)

Kristian returns with leading violinist Sophie Rowell for a program featuring four canonic duo Sonatas by Brahms, Mozart, Beethoven and Ravel. The exquisite gracefulness of Mozart's G major Sonata is paired with Brahms elegant and yet passionate 2nd Sonata, with Beethoven's highly dramatic and epic C minor Sonata alongside Ravel's charming 'Blues' Sonata, nicknamed due to its heavy blues influenced 2nd movement. 

MOZART - Sonata for Piano and Violin in G K301

BRAHMS - Sonata for Violin and Piano in A Op.100

BEETHOVEN - Sonata for Piano and Violin Op.30 no. 1 in C minor 

RAVEL - Sonata for Violin and Piano No.2 in G

The CONCOURSE, SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA

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​​CAMERON ROBERTS (piano)
KRISTIAN CHONG (piano)
 

SCHUBERT - 3 Klavierstucke D946
SCHUBERT - Fantasie in F minor for 4 hands D940
SCHUBERT- Sonata in B flat major D960

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Australian pianist Cameron Roberts is based in London where he has a career as a pianist, pedagogue and author amongst other endeavours. His discography includes Bach's Goldberg Variation, his own transcriptions and chamber music recordings with artists such as flautist Jacques Zoon. An all Schubert program - Cameron performs Schubert's late Klavierstücke, alongside old colleague and friend Kristian in the Fantasie for 4 hands, with Kristian playing the last sonata. 

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NIGHTINGALE GALLERY, ARMIDALE, MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA 

 

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