One year ago today the music world mourned the loss of one of its fiercest advocates, beloved conductor and educator Richard Gill. Amongst the tributes celebrating Gill’s life that have taken place all around the country, plans for a new music festival in the conductor’s home town of Stanmore, in Sydney’s inner west, have been hatched, with the first Stanmore (or St.Anmoré) Festival of Music set to take place on November 16.

Richard Gill, Sydney Symphony OrchestraRichard Gill (1941 – 2018). Photo © Brendan Read

“Living in Stanmore for over 30 years, Richard was of course a local icon,” says Simon Chapman, who lived a couple of streets away from the conductor, and who has been the driving force behind the new festival, along with Gill’s wife Maureen, the Stanmore business community, the Inner West Council and others. “You’d pass him striding the pavements and your day would get that extra little lift.”

The festival will see a massive line-up of musicians take to those pavements, including Leichhardt Espresso Chorus, Sydney Chamber Choir, ensembles from Stanmore Public School and Burwood Girls High School, as well as the NSW Police Band, George Washingmachine and even...