Big Sounds, Small Spaces
Chamber Music Adelaide champions the vibrant chamber music community of South Australia. We're here to support over 160 musicians from Baroque specialists to experimental innovators - helping them create, perform, and thrive.
As Australia's only member-based chamber music organisation, we commission new Australian works, provide performance platforms, and advocate for the artists who make our musical landscape so rich and diverse.
Whether you're a lifelong chamber music devotee or curious to discover something new, there's a world of intimate, powerful musical experiences waiting for you.
Discover What's On
Explore our concert diary to find performances across Adelaide and regional South Australia- from grand cultural institutions to unexpected spaces, featuring everything from beloved classics to brand-new commissions
What’s On
Join Adelaide-based flute ensemble Coruscalia Collective as they explore the complex relationships between ecosystems, climate and humanity. Become immersed in soundscapes and melodies that will transport you from hazy eucalypt forests to the chaos of forest fires and dust storms, and the stillness of the desert at dawn. This program of contemporary art music includes works by Australian composers Fran Griffin, Diana Blom and Christopher Sainsbury.
Once again St Francis Xavier's Cathedral is opening its doors for our popular lunch time organ recitals.
A mix of well known classical music, some Latin vibes, and a Belgian touch. Original arrangements for an unusual combination of instruments that will bring a smile on your face, a tear in your eye and a heartwarming feeling!
Join mezzo soprano / soprano and classical guitarist Katelyn Crawford, and classical guitarist Caleb Lavery-Brook, for ‘Songs for Voice and Classical Guitar’, a Recitals Australia Special Event celebrating repertoire written and arranged for voice and classical guitar. Featuring Lennox Berkeley’s evocative song cycle ‘Songs of the Half-Light’, Manuel de Falla’s song cycle ‘Siete canciones populares españolas’, as well as pieces including Beethoven’s ‘Adelaide’, Simon and Garfunkel’s ‘Scarborough Fair’, and Quique Sinesi’s ‘Cielo Abierto’.
Programme:
Prokofiev - Symphony No. 1, "Classical" arr. for Bassoon, Saxophone and Piano
The soaring oratorio El Niño by John Adams, one of the leading composers of his generation, had its Australian premiere at the 2002 Adelaide Festival in a landmark production directed by Peter Sellars.
El Niño: Nativity Reconsidered is a new chamber adaptation of this monumental work, featuring Grammy Award-winning singer Julia Bullock. Hailed as “intimate, affecting and quietly rich with activism” (The New York Times), this distilled rendering centres the maternal voice within what has historically been delivered as a patriarchal narrative.
Carl Vine, one of our nation’s foremost composers, gained prominence for his compositions for dance. In his first Piano Sonata (1990), he explores complex textures with interesting cross-rhythms and rhythmic drive, building up layers of resonance that vary from ‘pointed polyphony’ to being ‘granite-like in density, propelling the music irresistibly towards its climax.’ Peter Sculthorpe's Left Bank Waltz is a nostalgic, jazz-inflected piano piece that evokes the atmosphere of 1930s Parisian café culture with its gentle waltz rhythm and wistful melodic charm.
Pairing effortless lyricism with intense virtuosity, Italian-based violinist Sergej Krylov captures the brilliance of his instrument’s extremities. Greatly influenced by cellist Mstislav Rostropovich, with whom he regularly shared a stage as a young violinist, Krylov’s nuanced artistry has seen him perform with many of the world’s great orchestras, as well as holding the role of Music Director of the Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra.
Pairing effortless lyricism with intense virtuosity, Italian-based violinist Sergej Krylov carries the influence of the great cellist Mstislav Rostropovich, with whom he regularly shared a stage as a young violinist. Krylov has held the multi-faceted role of Music Director of the Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra since 2008, while performing as soloist with orchestras such as the London Philharmonic, Orchestre National de Lyon and the Deutsche Symphonie-Orchester Berlin…
Rooted in the rich traditions of the APY Lands, this performance celebrates the spirit of Aṉangu culture. Blending tradition with contemporary expression, audiences will be immersed in a diverse array of performance styles, from the ancient and deeply spiritual rhythms of Inma (cultural song and dance), to the harmonious strength of choir, and the contemporary voices of rap, reggae, and R’n’B.
Each element speaks to the ongoing evolution of Aṉangu expression — blending tradition with the modern, and honouring connection to Country, community, and culture. More than a performance, this is a statement: of resilience, of creativity, and of the unbroken, ever-adapting story of the Anangu people.
Pairing effortless lyricism with intense virtuosity, Italian-based violinist Sergej Krylov carries the influence of the great cellist Mstislav Rostropovich, with whom he regularly shared a stage as a young violinist. Krylov has held the multi-faceted role of Music Director of the Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra since 2008, while performing as soloist with orchestras such as the London Philharmonic, Orchestre National de Lyon and the Deutsche Symphonie-Orchester Berlin…
Richard Mills’s recent Sonata for Cello and Piano introduces a contemporary Australian voice, exploring the expressive potential of the duo with inventive textures. Written during a period of separation from his wife, Shostakovich’s Cello Sonata contains his trademark rhythmic drive, wit and intensity, creating a dynamic dialogue between cello and piano.
Programme:
Henri Brod - Trio for oboe, bassoon & piano, Op. 5
Ben Hoadley - Trio
Joe Chindamo - "Trio Fantastique" (2021)
Adelaide’s own Silk Strings Ensemble (Felix Wang, David Dai and Lester Wong) returns with Turkish vocal virtuoso Dr. Aysegul Altiok, drummer Satomi Ohnishi, pianist Yundi Yuan and bassist Tim Matthew. Together they create rich arrangements, surprising twists and a heartfelt tribute to cultural diversity and connection.
Programme:
Henri Brod - Trio No. 1, Op. 5
Benjamin Britten - Temporal Variations (oboe and piano)
Joe Chindamo - Trio Fantastique (2021)
- Interval -
William Hurlstone - Sonata for bassoon and piano
Andre Previn - Trio for oboe, bassoon & piano
Slava, Leonard, Vladimir and Andrew are renowned nationally and internationally as leading soloists and passionate advocates for their distinctive instrument. They are also recognised for their formidable and diverse repertoire. For UKARIA, they present a beautifully balanced program showcasing intimate delicacy and extravagant flair. The concert opens with Bach’s sixth Brandenburg Concerto, here arranged by James Smith for guitar quartet…
Aurora Vocal Ensemble celebrates our Southern Skies and the land below in 'Lyra' — a shimmering program of music inspired by flight, light, and belonging. Named for the constellation that sings across the heavens, Lyra invites listeners to look upward and outward, to find beauty in the vastness above and wonder beneath our feet.
Elegance, virtuosity, humour and youthful energy will be on display in Mozart’s Divertimento in D major, K. 136. Sparkling with charm and graceful wit, it is a perfect example of his early mastery in light-hearted chamber writing. Alessandro Marcello’s Oboe Concerto in D minor follows, performed by Jade Elsdon. First attributed to Vivaldi, and then his brother, Marcello’s composition is a Baroque pearl renowned for its expressive lyricism and ornamentation. Rounding out the program is Carl Nielsen’s Little Suite for Strings, Op. 1, a youthful yet inventive work, with lively themes and textures that hint at the bold voice he would later develop.
As a regular recitalist at London’s Wigmore Hall and as a soloist with the London and Berlin Philharmonic Orchestras, French pianist Cédric Tiberghien is noted for his sensitive, versatile musicality as well as his innovative and engaging programming…
François Couperin’s three surviving tenebrae lessons for Holy Week are widely regarded as the pinnacle of French Baroque vocal writing. Two solo movements and one sublime duet set the Lamentations of Jeremiah with stunning ornamentation. In the lead up to Easter, don’t miss this intensely beautiful and atmospheric program highlighting the sweet soaring voices of sopranos Kate Macfarlane and Emma Horwood with the grace and delicacy of French harpsichord music specialist Anne Whelan.
Anna Pope, soprano
Emma Horwood, soprano
Kenneth Pope, bass
Join us in welcoming newest jazz faculty members Timothy Clarkson (saxophone) and Alex Taylor (trombone) for an afternoon of chamber jazz featuring special guests from Adelaide's vibrant jazz scene.
Journey from Australian shores to the elemental landscapes of Scandinavia. Strings swell in Barber’s Adagio for Strings. In Richter’s On the Nature of Daylight, a repeating melody rises with quiet resignation – cinematic and deeply tender. Sibelius and Thorvaldsdóttir evoke endless skies, frozen air, and distant warmth – a still, slow-moving northern landscape conjured in the quiet language of strings.
Journey from Australian shores to the elemental landscapes of Scandinavia. Strings swell in Barber’s Adagio for Strings. In Richter’s On the Nature of Daylight, a repeating melody rises with quiet resignation – cinematic and deeply tender. Sibelius and Thorvaldsdóttir evoke endless skies, frozen air, and distant warmth – a still, slow-moving northern landscape conjured in the quiet language of strings.
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A powerful evening of story and song with singer-songwriter Nathan May, a chamber music concert that blurs the lines between contemporary country, folk and Baroque traditions. In a collaboration with genre-defying violinist, Julian Ferraretto and Adelaide Baroque string quartet. Directed by Chris Drummond. Created with the support of Create SA, Chamber Music Adelaide and Nexus Arts. Presented by Chamber Music Adelaide.