You’ll be thinking my life is one continual musical happening and as music is every bit as important to me as food I seem to find lots of opportunities to indulge both loves. This one was the Australian Chamber Music Festival that actually finishes today but I was only privy to three wonderful nights at the beginning of the 9 days and how I would have happily stayed on for a whole week more of concerts as the programme each day was so rich I would have revelled in every moment of it but my schedule just won’t allow it.

We arrived on the Thursday afternoon just in time for a swim and a sleep having left home that morning at 5 a.m. The reason for the early morning was to be there in time for a sound check for the big Chefs of the North dinner and concert which I was co hosting with Damien Beaumont of ABC. I have been involved the last three years with this dinner and love every moment of it. Four interstate chefs pair with a team of local chefs to put on a great meal for 350 people. This deserves a lot more discussion which I’ll do later in some detail. So delighted as I was with the food on the night; for me it was the marriage with the music that took it to yet another plane. I met for the first time Tamsin Little violinist from the UK who has worked so often with Piers Lane the Festival Director. Every violinist has a different sound and Tamsin just blew me away and here I was just feet away from her as she played.

The next night, just to mention a little, the super talented super prolific larger than life Elena Kats-Chernin was the composer in residence for the festival and when she and Tamara-Anna Cislowska a gifted pianist from Sydney played a piece of Elena’s for 4 hands on the piano – the energy was palpable and at drinks after the concert we were privy to 4 pages of music, scribbles all over sticky taped together with blue tac to keep it in place on the piano – that’s how new the composition was!

During the festival Piers holds Concert Conversations; The only one I could go to was Saturday morning where among others he interviewed Tamara-Anna, Elena and the American baritone Thomas Meglioranza. What is so fantastic is Piers with his knowledge of the artists brings them to life to us in more than their music and after an interval with morning tea we head back into the auditorium for a concert. The Friday night had given us the smallest glimpse of Thomas when he sang just one song with the Camerata St. John’s string orchestra so to hear so much more about him on Saturday and have him sing one song after the other as soon as the concert was over I googled his cd’s to order them, as I did Tasmin Little’s Elgar recording.

Oh, I should tell you it was 27 degrees and sunny and home in the Barossa was 0 to 10 degrees, hale storms – so what a great weekend to be in Townsville.