The Festival is the first of its kind at the Coffs Harbour Regional Conservatorium (CHRC) and is a 3-day celebration of performing arts, culture, community and collaboration.

Beginning on Friday 8 April, the festival opens with a world premiere of local Gumbaynggirr man Manduway Dutton’s commissioned work, alongside the Australian String Quartet (ASQ). Following this will be a spectacular performance of Beethoven and Tchaikovsky string quartets.

Saturday 9 April sees Academy students work alongside festival musicians and ASQ with educational workshops and masterclasses, leading up to the combined concert at 2pm that features music by Bloch, Elgar, Mozart and Mendelssohn.

After a relaxing afternoon, the Saturday evening concert offers a program that features another world premiere, this time celebrating the incredible talent of local violist and composer, Felix Hughes Chivers, and his String Quartet. Sitting either side of the premiere in the program are two diamonds of the chamber music repertoire by Schubert. The dramatic Death and the Maiden String Quartet and the stunningly beautiful Quintet in C Major.

Sunday 10 April brings the Festival to a close with the final concert beginning at 3pm. The program takes listeners on a journey through dramatically different landscapes, beginning with Haydn’s ‘Hunt’ Quartet, the devastatingly beautiful Brahms Clarinet Quintet, and finishing with 13 musicians on stage performing Aaron Copland’s Appalachian Spring.