Free yourself at the 2025 Canberra International Music Festival

The Canberra International Music Festival will echo to the sounds of freedom next autumn under the banner of Liberté in a diverse program of works that will take audiences from the concert hall to national institutions, and even on to Lake Burley Griffin.

The 2025 Festival was launched last night (18 November) at the residence of the Italian ambassador in the presence of new artistic director Eugene Ughetti.

A little under a year ago, Mr Ughetti rattled off a wishlist to Region, and much of it has come to pass.

“I’m super excited about the program,” he told Region ahead of the launch. “I think it jumps forward to new and exciting places.”

That fits with the theme, which refers to open listening and freeing the audience from the concert hall, but also explores sovereignty with Indigenous music and takes a stance against military aggression in the world, such as the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The latter is represented by the presence of Finland – which has always lived in the shadow of Russia – through the symbolism of Sibelius’s Finlandia hymn and performances by world-class Finnish-Australian artists pianist Paavali Jumppanen, violinist Satu Vänskä and composer, arranger and violinist Erkki Veltheim.

“We end the festival with the Finlandia hymn, which is like the de facto national anthem, but it’s a highly political work, sort of marking out Finland’s autonomy from Russia,” Mr Ughetti said.

“I’m not trying to make a heavy-handed political statement, but I’m giving the audience the space to think about the politics of listening.”

Audiences will be able to listen many sounds in many interesting places – from the classical canon with the Melbourne Chamber Orchestra playing Vaughan Williams’ Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis and Beethoven’s Egmont Overture at the opening concert at the Snow Concert Hall to messing around on boats on the Lake to participating in a festival within a festival at the National Film and Sound Archive and music played on glass instruments at the Canberra Glassworks.

“I’ve taken a broad brushstroke approach to what liberty and freedom can mean,” Mr Ughetti said.

“But, you know, we’ve seen artists come under a lot of pressure when people are sort of suggesting that we shouldn’t be a political thing.

“Well, it can’t not be political and it’s up to us to not shy away from that but to actually embrace open listening.”

Part of the Indigenous program looks at reclaiming ancient, lost or nearly extinct languages. The legendary WA elder and didgeridoo master Mark Atkins will deliver the east coast premiere of his mesmerising theatrical journey, Mungangga Garlagula, collaborating with Erkki Veltheim. It’s a mix of music, storytelling and poetry.

There will also be works by Nicole Smede, Canberra’s Chris Sainsbury and Deborah Cheetham Fraillon.

Five Short Blasts is a one-of-a-kind performance on Lake Burley Griffin. As a flotilla of five boats crosses the Lake, the award-winning work by Madeleine Flynn and Tim Humphrey unfolds through sound, stories and history, marking the 60th anniversary of Lake Burley Griffin in a magical, multi-sensory experience.

Mr Ughetti said the lake would become the concert space as the audience on the boats listen to music from the banks, as well as a pre-recorded radio broadcast of interviews and sounds.

There would also be a new composition for the Carillon.

“There’ll be a whole series of other musical happenings on the land that feed into a kind of pre-recorded, soundscape that is broadcast to the boats.”

At the NFSA, there will be a day of MOSSO: music in motion to celebrate contemporary music, moving images, and spatial sound, showcasing Australia’s top composers, sound artists and performers.

“That leans into music with the moving image, cinematic sound or spatial sound and a whole series of different types of format work, so live music, but also sound installation and audiovisual, fixed-media works as well,” Mr Ughetti said.

A highlight of the international contingent will be a troupe of Breton pipers led by the virtuosic musical maverick Erwan Keravec. Their 8 Pipers for Philip Glass project will make its Australian debut at the Snow Concert Hall after captivating audiences across Europe.

They will also perform at the brutalist pavilion LESS at Dairy Road.

Mr Ughetti said the Celtic region of Brittany in France was a fascinating place that had its own specific bagpiping tradition, although other instruments would be played as well.

“It’s just an incredible sound,” he said.

Other festival highlights include bold new works by leading Australian composers including the world premiere of Richard Mills’ violin concerto with Sophie Rowell as soloist, to be performed at the opening concert.

But this is just a taste.

Mr Ughetti said the big challenge over the past year had been to understand the Canberra community and audience and how to bring them along while also building a new and more diverse audience.

“That has to be done with respect, has to be done with sensitivity,” he said. “And that was a slow process of leaning into what I thought would resonate with people here, respecting the tradition of the festival, but at the same time trying to make a mark that would set this festival aside from any other music festival in Australia.”

At a time when music festivals generally are struggling, he was conscious of the need to make it a success.

But that didn’t mean just doing mainstream things.

“It means offering something unique and also something affordable, but at the same time, something that people just feel they can’t miss,” Mr Ughetti said.

He said the musicians were excited at the prospect of performing in the national capital and thrilled to be part of the program.

“We’ve got some really heavyweight musicians coming,” he said.

The Canberra International Music Festival will run from Wednesday, 30 April, to Sunday, 4 May 2025.

Tickets go on sale at 10 am, Monday, 25 November.

To learn more, visit the CIMF website.