There’s something odd about the Bangalow Chamber Music Festival. I say that because, here’s the thing – it’s a Queensland festival held in New South Wales.

Or at least in the region of Northern New South Wales many of us think should be annexed as part of Queensland. Bangalow is in the Byron Bay hinterland and it’s a charming, picturesque and historic little town that feels a bit like Queensland at least once a year. Not that the Bangalow Chamber Music Festival is parochial at all.

It features Queensland artists aplenty but also others from all over Australia with international guests too. Musicians love it. I spoke to the great New Zealand baritone Teddy Tahu Rhodes after a performance at QPAC in Brisbane last year and we chatted about Bangalow.

“I love Bangalow,” Tahu Rhodes said. He has performed as part of the festival people refer to as “Bangalow” and seemed to hope he might get asked back. Soon. Hint hint.

The Bangalow Chamber Music Festival 2023 is on from August 17 – 20. It’s organized by Brisbane’s own Southern Cross Soloists (SXS), the popular chamber music outfit led by artistic director Tania Fraser who recalls that “for the first few years the festival was run from my living room”.

This year is the 20th iteration of this popular event. The central venue is the charming A&I Hall in Bangalow. It’s an historic venue (it dates back to 1911) that audiences and musicians love – a sort of Byron Bay hinterland version of London’s beloved Wigmore Hall if you like.

Tania Frazer who is SXS’s oboe soloist, as well as the brains behind Bangalow, says this year will be a suitable celebration for the festival’s 20th anniversary.

Queensland based classical music boy band Orava Quartet (the festival’s quartet in residence) is in the line-up again this year. This is the new Fab Four.

There’s also Russian born pianist Konstantin Shamray who we see quite a bit of in Brisbane nowadays. If you’ve heard him play with SXS or at a Medici Concert you’ll know that every performance of his is nothing less than spectacular.

Violinist Alexandra Osborne and Courtenay Cleary (who once played for the late Queen Elizabeth II at Westminster Abbey) are also on the bill along with cellist Rachel Siu and Guillaume Wang, SXS horn player Nick Mooney and sopranos Suzanne Kompass and Nina Korbe. Korbe is a Queensland indigenous artist whose star is well and truly on the rise.

Maleny based musician, composer and world music star, clarinetist Linsey Pollack is also on the bill, among others including young piano prodigy from Brisbane, Maxwell Foster.

Tania Frazer is keen to see as many Queenslanders as possible cross over into Blues territory for the event and says “this year’s festival is about celebration and offers the chance for audiences to immerse themselves in the sublime beauty and virtuosic artistry of chamber music’s most beloved works, performed by some of Australia’s most outstanding musical talent who are all true masters of their craft”.

We attended last year and, notwithstanding a speeding fine (I guess I was in a little too much of a hurry to get there) we had a terrific time. Bangalow is such a beautiful location and the intimate venues make the experience pretty special.

If you can’t make it to Bangalow this year though this year there are more opportunities to see and hear SXS in Brisbane and if you haven’t experienced them in concert before this is the year to get to know them.

Their 2023 Sunset Soirée Recital Series is on before Bangalow with “Whispers of the Heart” at the Judith Wright Arts Centre Saturday July 22 at 5pm and Church of the Good Shepherd Mudgeeraba Gold Coast Sunday 23 July at 3pm.

Whispers of the Heart explores the unspoken intricacies of romantic entanglements and passion through the seductive power of music. SXS’s James Wannan and Tania Frazer are joined by QSO acting Principal Cello Hyung Suk Bae, violin superstar Courtenay Cleary and piano soloist Daniel Le in a romantic program of works by Clara and Robert Schumann, Brahms, Debussy, Ravel, Massenet and Piazzolla. The series continues in September and November too.

Then there’s SXS’s 14th QPAC Concert Series as QPAC Company in Residence. It’s entitled The New World and is on at 3pm Sunday 22nd October 2023 featuring a very special guest artist, Grammy Award winning multi-string instrumentalist John Jorgenson. He was Elton John’s guitarist for 6 years and has recorded or toured with the likes of Bob Dylan, Emmylou harris, Pavarotti and Barbra Streisand.

But hey, get to Bangalow if you can. It’s just a two-hour drive from Brisbane (closer still if you live on the Goldie) and well, it’s nearly Queensland. In fact, it feels like Queensland to me.

Which may be a funny thing for me to say considering I’m originally from New South Wales.

southernxsoloists.com/bangalow