IT was cold, wet and windy along the Kingston Foreshore but inside the Fitters’ Workshop the atmosphere was joyous and happy as the 21st Canberra International Music Festival reached its finale.

Deborah Conway, together with long term colleague Willy Zygier, had been haunting as she poured her soulful voice into often melancholy lyrics but was now powerfully uplifting as she was joined by the splendid forces of the instrumental and vocal Young Artist Festival Fellows (YAFF) to complete a set of mixed Australian and Jewish influenced songs, mostly from her successful album, “Stories of Ghosts”.

A celebration of Jewish culture, from ancient rites to contemporary Australian, was a loose theme for this 24th and final concert of the 2015 Festival which commenced with the Moorambilla Voices, a choir drawn from 78 schools in remote areas of New South Wales.   There was certainly the ‘cuteness’ factor but the youngsters, on their first ever performance trip, also sang with enthusiasm and full-throated gusto (though not always with musically developed polish) through a selection of recently composed Australian works including Sing to the Stars, Sticks and Stones and the ‘full of national pride’ anthem-like “Wide Open Skies”.

The highlight of the first act was certainly the beautifully balanced and controlled singing of “Beni Avshalom”, a setting of Old Testament scripture by Nigel Butterley.   The composer was in the audience and was surely moved as the Song Company and the YAFF vocalists, conducted by festival artistic director Roland Peelman, brought his work to life with great skill, control, passion and warmth.

Also appealing was “Nigun” from “Baal Shem” by Ernest Bloch.   Subtitled Pictures from Chassidic Life this sadly beautiful but calming work with its Jewish overtones was performed with great surety by fine young Australian violinist Anne Horton with delicate and precise backing from the YAFF instrumentalists.

In contrast to that moving music I found the Philip Glass violin music from “Einstein on the Beach” out of keeping and context with the rest of the concert, not particularly well played and somewhat like a repetitive and tedious technical exercise.

Overall though, this concert of great variety and interest was a fitting way to end a most successful 2015 Canberra International Music Festival.   Many enthralled music lovers had attended most, if not all, of the concerts on offer and my survey indicated a particularly high satisfaction rate.  The 21st birthday cake celebrations for artists, staff and dedicated volunteers were well deserved.