Canowindra Baroque Music Festival

We're delighted to be the performing at the 2026 Canowindra Baroque Music Festival, bringing a program that traverses 17th century Europe through to 21st century Australia, via irresistibly toe-tapping klezmer and the uniquely genre-defying Van Diemen's Fiddles.

Fri 18 September
CONCERT 1 - SONATAS A L'ANCIENNE 
Van Diemen's Band
All Saints Anglican Church, Canowindra

The Baroque era was fertile ground for musical experimentation and instrumental virtuosity. Composers such as Albinoni, Biber, Erlebach and Muffat exploited techniques and compositional structures from Italy, Germany and France, and invented their own unique rhetorical voices.

Sonatas a l'ancienne sees Van Diemen's Band bring to life this vibrant era, highlighting the humour, joy and hope that European musicians clearly brought to their practice in the mid to late 17th Century, despite the pain and suffering inflicted by the brutal Thirty Years’ War which had ravaged the region. Music was and still is, the universal tool to unite and to heal.

Sat 19 September
CONCERT 2 - VAN DIEMEN'S FIDDLES
Gooloogong Log Cabin Hall

Van Diemen's Fiddles formed in 2019 from a simple question: what happens when you put a modern experimental violinist, a klezmer fiddle player, and a Baroque violinist together? Three musicians, one instrument, but worlds apart in their approaches. What's emerged is a sound that doesn't fit neatly into any one category—and that's exactly the point.

In the true spirit of Baroque experimentation, Van Diemen's Fiddles (VDF) dive deep into new repertoire and performance approaches, interweaving vocals, exploring different colours and turning traditions on their heads.

VDF combines the exceptional talents of Van Diemen’s Band Artistic Director Julia Fredersdorff on Baroque violin, Klezmer and folk fiddler Rachel Meyers, and modern/Baroque violist and Freedman Fellow Katie Yap. They are joined by long-term collaborator Dave McNamara (piano accordion) to perform repertoire from Hildegard of Bingen through to the present day.

CONCERT 3 - TRANSFORMATIONS
Van Diemen's Band & Andrew O'Connor, bass-baritone
All Saints Anglican Church, Canowindra

In this stunning program, Van Diemen's Band and bass-baritone Andrew O’Connor perform a program of sacred and secular works from 17th Century Germany, that are the perfect medium to showcase the beauty of the baritone voice.

Exploring profound themes of faith, readiness, and human vulnerability, this program features works by Tunder, Bruhns, Schop and Buxtehude, connected to the present by two newly commissioned works by Alice Chance and Brooke Shelley which reimagine and recontextualise this rich musical heritage.

Transformations offers a meditation on how we inherit, honour, and reimagine the artistic voices of the past.

Sun 20 September
CONCERT 4 - MEYERS & McNAMARA
Billimari Hall

VDB's Rachel Meyers (violin, viola) and Van Diemen's Fiddles' Dave McNamara (piano accordion) have delighted audiences across Europe and Australia with their joyfully unrestrained and uniquely Tasmanian chamber-folk.

Together they explore the complex connections between Baroque music, klezmer and classical folk melodies, with original compositions, thrilling improvisations and toetapping dance tunes that are equally at home in the rowdiest tavern and the most refined royal concert hall.

CONCERT 5 - BAROQUE À LA CARTE
Van Diemen's Band & Andrew O'Connor, bass-baritone
Rosnay Organic, Canowindra

Praised for his 'textured, fine-wine bass baritone' (Arts Hub), Andrew O'Connor and Van Diemen's Band present a delectable program of Baroque favourites, showcasing beloved classics and hidden gems alike.

Experience world-class musicianship in an atmosphere that's warm, welcoming, and wonderfully unpretentious, where the audience is as much a part of the conversation as the musicians on stage.

From the intimate arias of Monteverdi to the expressive ornaments of Handel and beyond, Baroque à la Carte is a musical menu crafted to delight and surprise.