Their performance on Sunday September 30 at 11am in the Memorial Hall will be memorable.

Awarded a fellowship at the Australian National Academy of Music upon their formation in late 2013, Arcadia Winds became Musica Viva Australia’s inaugural FutureMakers musicians from 2015–17.

They have brought their brand of energetic, joyful and spontaneous performance to festival stages in almost every state and territory in the country, concert halls across mainland China, and listeners around the world through broadcasts of the BBC Proms Australia chamber music series.

And they have revelled in musical partnerships with internationally renowned performers including the Australian String Quartet; piano virtuosi Lambert Orkis, Paavali Jumppanen and Anna Goldsworthy, and woodwind masters Ole Kristian Dahl and Thorsten Johanns.

Flautist Kirin Phatak was winner of the Australian International Flute Competition in the year Arcadia was formed and has maintained a prize-winning profile.

Oboe player David Reichelt is widely recognised for his glorious oboe tone. He regularly collaborates with artists of international renown and has played with many Australian orchestras.

“Spectacular charisma, brilliance and sensitivity” is how clarinettist Lloyd Van’t Hoff has been described. He has performed worldwide and, amongst other awards, he won ABC Symphony Young Performer of the Year in 2015.

Rachel Shaw is the horn player; She describes herself as a “true musical chameleon” and enjoys a prolific career across several ensembles and genres. An energetic advocate for the French horn, Rachel has also had the privilege of performing alongside Kerry Turner and the American Horn Quartet, and was a finalist in the 42nd International Horn Symposium Competition.

Hailed by the Daily Telegraph as “a new star…who wields his instrument with virtuosic skill and with moves you usually associate with a rock guitarist”, Matthew Kneale is one of Australia’s leading lights on the bassoon. He has even been called the ‘rock-god’ of bassoon.

In late 2017 he was the first ever bassoonist to be awarded the prestigious Freedman Classical Fellowship. This fellowship is enabling Matthew to embark on an international concert tour which will shatter preconceived notions by presenting the bassoon as a brilliant solo and chamber entity in its own right, with a strong emphasis on music by Australia’s leading young composers.

As a group this impressive young ensemble has won the immensely competitive Australian National Academy of Music’s Chamber Music Competition.

A desire to celebrate and promote Australian music has led Arcadia Winds to commission and perform works by composers such as Elliott Gyger, Natalie Williams, Lachlan Skipworth, Kate Neal, Peter de Jager and Elizabeth Younan.

In 2017, they recorded Lachlan Skipworth’s Echoes and Lines on their debut self-titled EP, released in partnership with ABC Classics and Musica Viva. Equally focused on inspiring a love of, and participation in, wind music in the next generation, Arcadia Winds have recently developed an hour-long show for the Musica Viva In Schools (MVIS) program. Entitled The Air I Breathe, it showcases the magical transformation of breath into music to thousands of schoolchildren over the next three years.

Bellingen is lucky to see these ‘trailblazers’ for Australian wind music not only perform at the Bellingen Fine Music Festival but also offer workshops for flute, oboe, clarinet, French horn and bassoon.

These workshops will focus on enhancing skills and knowledge, and boosting confidence in performance. This is a great opportunity to work with and learn from some of Australia’s finest young wind players. 

See bellingenmusicfestival.com.au for details of how to register.

Children aged 12 and under are free for all the festival’s concerts so bring the family and enjoy the music.

Details and tickets at www.bellingenmusicfestival.com.au

”Captivating from the moment they took to the stage. Playing with great gusto and passion, these five uber talented musicians … stole the hearts of everyone in the crowd” – The Adelaide Review

“A festival highlight, bursting with sonic potential” – The Sydney Morning Herald

“The exacting individual skills and telepathic understanding between the five musicians created a breathtaking performance” – CutCommon