Sydney Chamber Music Festival director and international flautist Bridget Bolliger says the festival’s very first concert in 2008 was held at Manly Town Hall, and she adored its ambience.
“It has an olde-worlde charm and the acoustic is brilliant,” she says. “It’s a beautiful old building and it worked very well for the first concert.”
Since 2019, Northern Beaches Council has explored possibilities for the site, including options for cultural and community uses. In late April, Council invited expressions of interest from the private sector on developing it into a multi-use performance, cultural and exhibition space.
The Sydney Chamber Music Festival (SCMF) isn’t in the realm of such a commitment. In fact, the festival even relocated to the Manly Art Gallery & Museum (MAG&M) for its second year, where it has remained ever since. But Bridget believes Manly Town Hall should be used as a performance hub for things like music recitals, theatre and dance. “I would love it to be a conservatorium,” she says.
This year’s SCMF, June 27-28, at MAG&M, brings together nine musicians across four events. A family concert opens the weekend on the Saturday morning, with composer Ian Munro narrating his original Australian work Leonard the Lyrebird.
Saturday afternoon sees ‘longing and love’ through Latin American colour in Saudade, for flute, bass trombone and piano. The following morning, master luthier Sam Blade will present a free instrument exhibition and violin-making presentation, an unhurried look inside the craft behind the music. The festival finishes with the quiet power and lasting beauty of The Art of Tenderness, with works by Gaubert, Brahms, Shostakovich, Poulenc and Martinu.
It is the first year the event will be held in winter, as opposed to its usual timeslot of late spring/early summer. Moreover, a piano will feature in the 2026 program. “It’s always a little more special when there is a piano,’’ Bridget says. “The idea of the festival has always been to make music with really wonderful musicians. Ones I hand-select.
“It is more quality over quantity. It’s not the amount of breaths, rather it is about what takes your breath away at that moment.”
SCMF is supported by The Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust and Northern Beaches Council. To reserve your place for any of the scheduled events visit sydneychambermusicfestival.org.au
