Canberra International Music Festival
May 6, 2018

If there was a curtain at the Fitters’ Workshop, that curtain has now come down on the 24th Canberra International Music Festival with another day of discoveries, re-acquaintances and cheerful encounters. During the past ten days, the CIMF has presented over two dozen events, often three per day. It has programmed around 100 pieces of music, performed by over 100 musicians from throughout Australia and the world beyond. In the main, it has been another very stimulating program, the fourth devised by conductor/pianist Roland Peelman as Artistic Director, whose concealed connections and origins only slowly revealed themselves through his festival. This reviewer has managed to attend around 18 of the major events, and has managed to experience music that extends back 500 years to new works, barely a month old. In total, it has been an exhilarating and sometime exhausting ride through music history.

Canberra International Music Festival Artistic Director Roland Peelman. Photo © Peter Hislop

As another brisk autumn day opened around the Kingston Foreshore and its bustling markets, the Fitters’ Workshop opened its doors to another busy day. It began...