Experience the intimacy of the acoustic & a connection to place at the Orange Chamber Music Festival
17/02/2026
Think classical music isn’t your thing? The Orange Chamber Music Festival might just change your mind.
Each year, Orange hosts national talent in a festival that not only celebrates chamber music in the region, but is hosted in a tranquil autumn setting that offers a whole experience, including wine, food and immersive cultural enrichment.
The Orange Chamber Music Festival emerged from COVID19, when Carmen Nieves, her husband Jay Byrnes and members of the Acacia Quartet Lisa Stewart and Stefan Duwe moved to Orange in 2019. Based on their shared love for chamber music and careers as musicians, they decided to form a Festival where their two ensembles could perform. Nieves had just obtained her Master of Arts Management at the Australian Institute of Music and so, volunteered to organise it.
Their first event happened in 2021 and included guest and local musicians to help form larger ensembles too.
“The first year proved very successful with local audiences,” says Nieves, “but then it also attracted a lot of visitors to Orange to experience chamber music in Orange, which it’s probably not something that it’s very common in regional areas.”
Since that first year, the festival has expanded significantly and now involves a wider range of venues and experimental types of concerts, transforming it from just a music festival to a more immersive cultural experience.
“Seeing the impact of the first year with the combination of audiences visiting and locals, we thought, well, we can easily expand this and try not to follow the typical format of concerts that usually occur at the one venue. Instead, let’s make it a little more diverse and involve different character-filled venues and try to keep people moving around Orange. And then it became a little bit of a cultural destination festival.”
Nieves has done this by incorporating a wider range of art forms, including literature and the visual arts, as well embracing the excellent food and wine that Orange is known for. Visitors have the option of purchasing packages with access to the concerts, as well as extras like fine dining experiences and meet the artists events.
“We try to always keep it very interesting and diverse, bringing the music out of the concert halls and putting it where people don’t expect it, so that they will have a lasting connection with it.”
Nieves has also incorporated other art forms, such as the local art gallery, museum and library where their free community events called Cultured are hosted each year.
“I wanted to make it more of an immersive cultural experience, so we incorporated the museum, the gallery, and the library and we bring music into those spaces, inviting the community to come in and experience art in a different way.”
Chamber music: instrumental music played by a small ensemble, with one player to a part, the most important form being the string quartet.
Orange Chamber Music Festival Founder & Festival Director, Carmen Nieves amongst the autumn leaves in Orange, NSW. Copyright: Carmen Nieves.
“For example, with the gallery, we try to investigate and respond, based on particular themes, the music that will be filling the space, aiming to intrigue people passing by and entice them to come in and move, and experience what the space has to offer. We encourage people not to come and expect that they’re going to find a seat as if they were at a concert hall. Instead, we make the musicians stand in different parts of the space so that people are encouraged to walk around them. We keep it very open and organic, to create a sense of belonging.”
“We are so very lucky to have an incredible precinct that is so accessible, already with great programs and touring exhibitions that can be highlighted when the town is filled with a vast audience. This is usually a great surprise to new visitors.”
Limelight, and Australian publication focused on promoting Music, Arts & Culture, featured last year’s Cultured event, highlighting the way it celebrated the people of Orange. They described it as “a love letter to the local community.” (Read more here)
Events like this are not only immersive and experimental, but they also help make classical music more accessible, because it includes those that might not normally go to a traditional concert, an art gallery or a museum.
“If you’re targeting the typical audience, then you’re probably excluding a lot of people that think that classical music is not for them. And that’s part of my mission. And our mission is to get rid of that stigma of classical music that it’s ‘not for me’.”
‘Tonic Lunch’ event at the Orange Chamber Music Festival. Copyright: Carmen Nieves.
The festival also serves the community by bringing professional musicians into the area, to provide a different level of expertise to local students learning an orchestral instrument, to get expert insights and training.
“Young musicians that might think there isn’t a future in it can participate in a masterclass, tutorials or play along with the professionals. And perhaps that could be inspiring, and maybe a turning point for a young person thinking they could pursue music training further.”
The Orange Chamber Music Festival is held annually in March, which is a particularly beautiful time of year in the Orange region, with the leaves starting to turn and the temperature cooling after summer.
“It’s warm enough, but it’s also not too cold. It’s a beautiful, natural setting and there are all the facilities to experience and explore. A lot of people that have never been to Orange come too and they find it really attractive when you include the experience of classical music.”
Ultimately, Nieves and the Orange Chamber Music Festival team’s priority is to make classical music attractive to regional audiences, or any other audiences for that matter. They believe that Orange is a cultural destination of excellence in regional NSW. And the team at RANSW agrees.
“It’s not an event for numbers because that’s not what chamber music is about. It’s about the intimacy of the acoustic, live musical experience and a connection with place.”
Final tickets are available (and selling fast) for the 2026 Orange Chamber Music Festival, which is being held on the 12-15 March.
Visit their website for more information and to reserve your seat.
Orange Chamber Music Festival. Photo by Aisleen Moxey.
Cover Image: ‘Cultured’ at the Orange Chamber Music Festival. Photo by Aisleen Moxey.
Written by Beatrice Waller, Operations & Engagement Officer at Regional Arts NSW.