At the Four Winds Open Day, artistic director Paul Dean and his team will provide a taster of what’s to come next year, washing it down with a day of live music, a guided tour of the Four Winds Native Species Arboretum, children’s activities and locally made food and refreshments.

Dean himself will perform, joined by the innovative Ensemble Offspring and the ANAM Brass Trio. There’ll be a local schoolchildren’s sing-a-long (part of the National Music Teacher Mentorship Program) and a showcase of the Windsong Pavilion’s live interactive capabilities with a surprise guest performing from Perth.

The new artistic team of Dean, executive producer Yarmila Alfonzetti, and creative producer Liena Lacey are taking an innovative leap into the future by concentrating on Australian artists and new music.

Unsurprisingly, long-time Four Winds chair Sheena Boughen praises the “exhilarating and forceful energy” in the coming 18th festival’s programming, saying: “I think a festival should be about stretching an audience’s imagination.”

We won’t know the full line-up until October 10, but Dean definitely has the Navarra String Quartet and the exciting young British violinist Jack Liebeck coming from London.

And as well as hearing works by the usual suspects such as Schubert and Mendelssohn, audiences will be treated to the premiere performance of a new work by Aussie composer James Ledger.

“Our programming philosophy is all about setting up a reaction between each piece, between each ensemble, and between each person… that’s my hope,” he says.

Four Winds Open Day, Four Winds Road, Barragga Bay, 11am-4pm, Saturday, October 10. Free but registrations desirable to fourwinds.com.au