THERE are few more delightful places to be during autumn than Bowral in the southern highlands of NSW, and the upcoming Bowral Autumn Music Festival provides just one more reason to be there this weekend.

Musical dynamo, violinist Myee Clohessey, who is artistic director of the festival and also violinist with the Acacia String Quartet, is brimming with optimism about the event, which has managed to stay afloat through covid.

In its 16th year, the festival, centred around the historic St Jude’s church, is essentially a classical chamber music festival, and one that gathers together some of Australia’s top performers and composers.

This year’s event features seven Australian compositions, including a world premiere written especially for the festival by Jessica Wells.

Clohessy has programmed eight concerts featuring masterpieces from the Baroque and Romantic periods, to music of the moment.

The Australian Brass Quintet will kick off on Thursday (March 24), with a journey from Monteverdi and Bach to Bernstein’s “Westside Story” arranged for brass quintet, Andrew Ford’s “Blood Red Roses” and Crespo’s “Suite Americana.”

Then on Friday (March 25), Acacia will play Borodin’s String Quartet No 2, followed by Shostakovich’s very timely ode for the war victims of Dresden.

After two education days of workshops for piano, strings, woodwind and brass with the festival artists, offered free and open to all music students and teachers in the Southern Highlands, young performers – selected by audition from across the region – will perform In the inaugural “Musica Floreat” concert on Friday.

Saturday’s program will begin with Sydney’s Bel a Cappella choir, directed by Anthony Pasquill singing Australian composer Alice Chance’s “Holy Dreaming” Mahler’s “Urlicht” for a cappella choir and other works, including twelve-year-old boy treble, Michael Alsop-Orchard performing Faure’s “Pie Jesu for boy treble”.

Ensemble Offspring and their guest narrator will provide the festival’s traditional children’s musical entertainment, with a romp through Holly Harrison’s “Mad Hatter’s Tea Party” and Ned McGowan’s naughty “Annabel”.

Centrepiece of the festival will be the Saturday night solo recital by the New York concert pianist Andrea Lam performing Schubert Piano Sonata in A D. 959, Chopin Piano Ballade No 1, as well as Vivian Fung’s “Glimpses” for prepared piano.

Sunday will begin with English organist Simon Nieminski, the assistant director of music at St Mary’s Cathedral, performing music by Bach and Mozart and his own arrangement of the slow movement from Rachmaninov’s Symphony No. 2.

At 2.30pm on Sunday there’ll be long awaited appearance of the Highlands Music Collective performing Respighi, Haydn and Finzi with solo clarinettist Alexandra Donaldson.

Festival pass holders and Bowral Autumn Music Festival members will also be invited to a pre-concert discussion hosted by Andrew Ford from Radio National’s “Music Show,” while organist James Flores from Albury will give three organ preludes before concerts 1, 3 and 4 to highlight St Jude’s grand organ with its new console.

Concluding the weekend there will be a festival service at 4pm on Sunday (March 27) followed by an evensong, accompanied by St Jude’s Church organist, Allan Beavis OAM.

Bowral Autumn Music Festival, March 24-27, bookings an all program details here bamf.org.au