Audiences were treated to more than 36 performances by almost 60 artists in nine of North Terrace’s most beautiful cultural and creative spaces over the weekend on 12 & 13 November. The thunderstorms on Saturday 12 were no deterrent as over 500 patrons made their way through the Samstag Museum of Art, JamFactory, Nexus Arts, ACE and MOD., participating in a moving feast of chamber music. This included a fusion of Persian, jazz and western traditions from The Crossing (Julian Ferraretto, Elizabeth McCall, Maryam Rahmani), being transported to 19th century London by the Adelaide Baroque Trio (Heidi von Bernewitz, Thomas Marlin, Robert Nairn) and the first public performances of five new chamber music works in response to MOD.’s INVISIBILITY exhibition. We also welcomed young artists from Centre for Aboriginal Studies in Music (CASM) who connected with audiences through original songs of life and love.

More cooperative weather on Sunday 13 saw a further 1000 people of all ages enjoy a full and varied program within the Art Gallery of South Australia, SA Museum, Migration Museum and State Library. The Adelaide Brass Quintet (David Khafagi, Martin Phillipson, Sarah Barrett, Colin Prichard, Peter Whish-Wilson) performed in the Migration Museum rotunda, their varied program reflecting the many different countries represented on the pavers within Settlement Square. Nexus Artists Farhan Shah and Sufi Oz had audiences singing in traditional Pakistani style, while Lazaro Numa and Juan Munoz had them literally tangoing in the aisles!

On the Terrace would not be complete without Adelaide’s most-loved chamber ensembles – Various People performed Anne Cawrse’s Three Persian Prayers under Persian/Australian artists Hossein Valamanesh’s Fallen Branch and Untitled 1994, Soundstream performed WAVE revisited, a spin-off from their collaborative work that unites digital imagery, ceramics and sound in an immersive 360-degree installation in the Elder Wing of the Art Gallery of South Australia, and Kegelstatt Ensemble’s delightful trio of guitar, clarinet and flute (Caleb Lavery-Brook, Steph Wake-Dyster, Linda Pirie) performed in the Pacific Cultures gallery of the SA Museum. The day concluded with a showcase of talent from Recitals Australia’s young emerging performers (Shawn Hui, Lauren Borg, Gianna Gutilla, Simon Pazos Quintana) in the Mortlock Chamber of the State Library.

A huge thank you to everyone who came along and to the participating artists and venues and everyone else who contributed to On the Terrace 2022 being a huge success! It is an event that epitomises why Adelaide is a UNESCO City of Music, and why we are known nationally and internationally as the Festival State.

It truly was a celebration of ‘Big Sounds in Small Spaces’.