Music / Four Winds Festival, Barragga Bay, Bermagui. April 7-9. Reviewed by HELEN MUSA.

THERE was a distinctly different flavour to this year’s Four Winds festival at Bermagui and it had a lot to do with the fact that its new creative director, Matthew Hoy, is a working instrumentalist.

A cellist from Melbourne who was previously artistic director for  the festival’s umbrella organisation, Hoy has stepped up this year, replacing Lindy Hume after her two years in the role.

Through a community-funded program of residencies for emerging musicians and by engaging  top musicians from around the country, he created the Four Winds Festival Orchestra.

At  times augmented with instrumentalists from the Australian Art Orchestra and the Australian String Quartet, it was, when operating at full strength,  tagged  the “Barragga Bay Philharmonia.”

Having a consistent orchestra gave Hoy the scope to explore his thematic idea of “polyphony,” literally meaning “a variety of sounds,” as he strove to keep old audiences and attract new ones. An affable host at the outdoor mike, he was often seen ducking back to his cello to perform with the band.

The payoff came in the variety of works the festival conductor, Ben Northey, had rehearsed on-site for a week preceding the main festival, treating audiences to both much-loved works from the European repertoire and newer composition.

I was only able to attend two of the festival’s three days, so cannot comment on every performance, but among the highlights for me was the song cycle “Penelope”, American composer Sarah Kirkland Snider’s take on Homer’s “Odyssey”, poetic reflections by the wife of a man suffering from war-induced PTSD after an absence of 20 years. Performed with delicate, affecting refinement by vocalist Georgie Davidis and  a chamber ensemble selected from the wider orchestra, it was a compelling work that teetered between pop and contemporary classical music.

A packed house under the stars on the Saturday night began with songstress Jess Hitchcock, supported by guitar and violin, performing ballads from her new album, while also revealing in her choices that her secret wish is to become a country star.

But the centrepiece of the night was Anna Meredith’s composition “Moon”, where the full orchestra supporting soul singer Ngaiire, who appeared clad as a pop diva and calling out to the audience “Hey, Bermagui” before a less than captivating performance.

Sunday morning’s sunshine offered the festival’s traditional audiences an agreeable orchestral interlude of “outdoor” music, the highlight of which was a jaunty rendition of Aaron Copland’s “Appalachian Spring”. A perfect piece of programming, although the Stravinsky and Prokofiev that followed were enjoyable, too.

That was followed by a contemplative recital of music by Max Richter, Iceland’s Hildur Guðnadóttir and Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson, also with the full orchestra.

Increasingly poor weather meant reduced time for the scheduled solo recital by visiting flautist Lisa Andonovska and local hip-hop artist, Gabadu, but it was nonetheless a rare treat to hear Gabadu’s expert double-time tribute to nearby Wallaga Lake played with the full backing of a live orchestra. More, please.

Umbrellas were out when Jess Hitchcock returned to the stage with the full orchestra to perform, with crystal-clear voice, “One Song”, numbers by her late mentor Archie Roach, sung for the first time since his death, she said. This touching recital was a high point.

The finale, witnessed by a crowd of tenacious music-lovers in ponchos, saw songmen David Yipininy Wilfred and Daniel Ngukurr Boy Wilfred take centre stage. They had travelled 15 hours from southern Arnhem Land to Bermagui for the festival and now, supported by the full Barragga Bay Philharmonia, they performed “Wata”, a seven-part incantation to a composition by Paul Grabowsky, who was himself at the keyboard. He  told the audience he hoped it would take its place in the “manikay” repertoire of the NT for future ceremonial events.

Responding to criticism some years ago that this festival was elitist, the Four Winds team have taken pains to include solid local content and in particular the Djinama Yilaga choir of First Nations artists.

As he wraps up, Hoy can feel pleased with himself and his impressive crew of volunteers, who provided an enjoyable, well-catered event, even catering seriously for kids.

But he will no doubt be working out how further to investigate the art of being all things to all audience members.