St Mary of the Angels to host Windfire Music Festival's world-class program

FOR Windfire Music Festival’s 16th year, local and international performers will fill the historic Basilica of St Mary of the Angels from October 3 to October 12.

Music at the Basilica’s secretary Jane Bashiruddin described the festival as “a fabulous feast of music”.

Directed by Tom Healey, the Vox Angelica Geelong Chamber Choir will open the ten-day program with bird-inspired performance The Saddest Sound, the Sweetest Sound.

The choir will perform fifteen compositions, two of which were composed by choir-member and Geelong local Michael Hannan.

The title of the performance is derived from Christopher Tin’s The Saddest Noise, which described the birdsong of early spring as “the saddest noise, the sweetest noise, the maddest noise”.

Opening the festival is Vox Angelica Geelong Chamber Choir’s bird-inspired performance “The Saddest Sound, the Sweetest Sound”. Photo: SUPPLIED

Following this, Australian musicians Greg Dikmans and David MacFarlane will present Music For a Mixed Taste, an exploration of 17th and 18th century European music styles.

To close the first weekend pianist Sonoka Miyake will join Océanique’s Oliver Bonnici on violin, Jenny Ingram on viola, and Siobhan O’Shaughnessy on cello for E Flat Major Through the Centuries.

On October 10, festivities will continue with Then, Now.

Described by Bashiruddin as “an immersion of soul and space”, the performance will feature compositions from the 12th to the 21st century.

For the second choral concert of the festival, The Australian Boys Choir will join The Vocal Consort on October 11 to perform a program of French classics.

To close the 2025 Wildfire Festival on October 12 is Four Saxophones: A Harmonious Journey Through Time, performed by the AXES quartet.

International saxophone quartet, AXES, will close the 2025 Windfire Music Festival on October 12. (L-R) Shannon Ebelling, Niels Bijl, Sara Beale, and Michael Lichnovsky. Photo: SUPPLIED

Founded in 2018, the four saxophonists of AXES are Sara Beale, Michael Lichnovsky, Niels Bijl, and Geelong local Shannon Ebeling.

During the week, five free presentations of poetry will also be performed, each with a unique musical accompaniment.

“Some of these instruments will be well known, and some quite unusual,” Bashiruddin said.

The poetry repertoire includes Surf Coast poet Helen Seymour, accompanied by Clifton Springs therapeutic harpist Gillian Turner.

Music at the Basilica patron Keith Fagg said the Windfire Music Festival “brings together so many highly talented musicians in a celebration of music”.

“This all promises to be a great experience.”