Our 2025 grand tour of the mosaic of musical heritages begins in Noongar country, deep in the Southwest sanctum of the world’s oldest continent, as solo violist Christopher Moore and Festival strings conjure Aaron Wyatt’s heartfelt evocation of dewy mornings, flowering banksias, and the hues of an ageless landscape dotted with red gums. We then glide into the world’s most-loved Aussie vocalise, Eliza Aria from Elena Kats-Chernin’s ballet Wild Swans, featuring ascendant star soprano Mia Robinson. Virtuoso classical accordionist James Crabb and Festival Co-Director Stefan Cassomenos team up for Lutosławski’s adrenalin-charged incarnation of everybody’s favourite Paganini caprice, and are then joined by esteemed colleagues for an arrangement of an adaptation based on a fantasy on Bizet’s famous frenzy of Spanish Gypsy blockbusters. Our Festival opener concludes with Brahms’ own moment of Gypsy extravaganza indulgence, with its peak-Hungarian turbocharged Rondo alla Zingarese finale, completing our tracklist of delectable ingredients for a dazzling gala – never to be forgotten!