A BUMPER year for the Canberra International Music Festival was celebrated on Saturday with a romantic garden party and concert at the Crisp Galleries in Bowning, NSW.

Hosted by the Festival’s indefatigable committee and glass artist Peter Crisp, the events saw artistic director Roland Peelman surrounded by some of Canberra’s most dedicated music lovers, along with a few from the Southern Highlands who had come down not for the lunch, but for the concert later presented by the distinguished visiting German musical family, the Röhns.

2016 has by any estimates been a momentous year for the CIMF. Now on a more secure funding footing, with a new general manager in Peppi Wilson, it saw Peelman assert both his directorial skills and his extraordinary networking in the Australian and international music communities to deliver an autumn festival of rare quality.

Founded by the late Ursula Callus as a series of concerts, mostly in our embassies, the Canberra International Music Festival has in recent years burgeoned to put Canberra on the musical map, despite difficult times for the art form in this city.

As patrons wandered around Crisp’s glass gallery and down the romantic white hydrangea avenue, there was also time for some fundraising, as this lunchtime to afternoon event signalled the event organiser, Anna Prosser, and the festival committee’s determination to match funding from the Australia Council and ArtsACT with solid financial support from the community. Seen in the gardens were the familiar faces of Canberra individuals and families who have supported named concerts at the last few music festivals, a successful funding initiative.

After a relaxed and leisurely lunch, it was time to move to the shed for the highlight of the day, a dramatic concert of mixed works from the Röhn family, who introduced themselves with the words “we are the Germans!”

The ensemble is comprised of mother and father, violinist Andreas and pianist Kirsten Hinart-Röhn, violinist Anja, violinist/violist Daniel and the newcomer to the family, flautist Ana Röhn de la Vega, married to Daniel on the previous weekend. Her new father-in-law was quick to acknowledge that it was the marriage of his son to someone from this region made this concert happen.

“CityNews” spotted among the crowd at least one former music teacher from Ana’s old school, Frensham in Mittagong, where the talented flautist gained her musical grounding.

There followed a concert of works by the famous ” Glück, Debussy, Beethoven, Dvorak) and the not so famous (Kopkovic, Herman and Kreisler) , including “The Kreisler Story”, an entertaining interlude of selected pieces reworked by virtuoso violinist Fritz Kreisler from the golden years of violin playing, performed by Daniel and “my mother, still my favourite pianist,” Kerstin.

This proved to be an unusual event that was short on speeches and full of wine, food and superbly-performed music.

Canberra International Music Festival,  April 28 to May 8 2016, all details at cimf.org.au