Siobhan Stagg promises ‘deep escapism’ and natural highs at Chamberfest 2026
Soprano Siobhan Stagg has curated a ‘transportative’ experience for this year’s weekend-long Chamberfest, with moments of intimacy alongside more challenging choices not for the faint-hearted.
The Danish theatre director Kasper Holten once equated opera to a fitness centre for our emotions – a place to put your soul through its paces.
It’s a famous, often-repeated quote that resonates strongly with the Mildura-born soprano Siobhan Stagg. Speaking to InReview from her current home in Berlin, the celebrated, deep-lunged performer knows the importance of keeping body and soul match fit.
“We are regulars at Parkrun in Berlin – either running or volunteering most weekends at the five kilometre community event,” she says. “When I’m not performing, I’m an avid concert attendee. I love going to plays, book launches, poetry readings, ballet and sports events – anything where there’s a blend of humans striving to reach their potential and celebrating that striving with others.”
Stagg wants to take Holten’s metaphor one step further, however, and extend it to music in general.
“A concert hall is a ‘safe’ place to let your tears fall, remember precious moments, squeeze a loved one’s hand, ponder and question,” Stagg tells InReview. “To feel whatever you need to feel in that moment, and ultimately leave feeling recharged and more ready to live.
“I don’t think it’s for artists to prescribe what emotions people should feel, but rather to offer a platform which is dynamically charged and stimulating, giving people space to process whatever they are going through in their own lives.”
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It’s an idea that underpins Stagg’s choices as curator of Chamberfest 2026. After leading the cast of State Opera South Australia’s production of Charles Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette in 2025, Stagg returns to South Australia next month to oversee five concerts as part of the long-running weekend of music at UKARIA Cultural Centre in the Adelaide Hills.
“I want to create an unforgettable weekend of transportative musical experiences; with emotional impact above all, and additional layers for the intellectually curious. Throughout the curation process, I took care to mix well-loved, trusted classics with excellent new pieces that few in Australia will have heard before.
“I believe when music is performed at its best, new pieces feel warm and familiar, and the familiar ones feel fresh and new.”
Stagg will open the festival herself with a Friday program dubbed ‘Origins’.
“Just me, a candle and the piano, with some special effects thrown in,” she says. “It will feel like intimate storytelling, eye contact between you and me, marvelling at the wonders of creation throughout history.”
It will be followed by ‘Dead Poets Society’ on Saturday, with Berlin-based Soprano and pianist Rachel Fenlon leading a celebration of “writers whose stories vibrate into the future, beyond their own timeline”.
“Schubert certainly knew the power of words, and how much they can hold,” Stagg explains. “We hear about the real-life theft of the Mona Lisa from the Louvre in 1911 (woven by the four voices of a string quartet) and Rachel Fenlon serenades us, accompanying herself at the piano.”
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The literary themes – and fitness metaphors – return when she describes the Saturday night program ‘Kafka Fragments’, an hour of voice, text and violin that pays tribute to the 100th birthday of Hungarian composer, György Kurtág.
“In your hiking app, this aural trail would be marked as ‘advanced’,” she says. “With steep ascents and narrow tunnels, but a great view at the end. It’s not for the faint-hearted, but a thrill for the intellectually brave.”
The Sunday afternoon program, ‘Mighty and Mundane’, foregrounds everyday human relationships.
“We don’t just seek help or connection when we’re facing a cataclysmic crisis; we often bond over little details like what we had for dinner, or yearly rituals like setting up the Christmas tree.”
The afternoon performance will feature a “beautiful” new song cycle by Adelaide composer Anne Cawrse and poet Anna Goldsworthy (“if you’re a local gourmet, you’ll be well placed here,” she adds).
Stagg’s turn as Chamberfest curator – following recent programs helmed by Brooklyn Rider, Olli Mustonen, Anthony Marwood – marks her first appearance at UKARIA since 2024 (she also performed there during the 2020 Adelaide Festival, a year she also took the lead in Romeo Castellucci’s festival headliner production of Mozart’s Requiem).
“UKARIA is easily one of the best acoustic venues in Australia, with a growing reputation worldwide,” she reflects.
“Every musician I know who’s visited has fallen in love with the space, the backdrop, the vibe. I love the quality of the audience’s attention at UKARIA. Perhaps the drive into the hills beforehand sets us up for this kind of deep escapism.
“Curating has given me a new sense of creative agency and freedom. I’ll always sculpt a musical experience with the audience in mind – you are why we do this, after all.”
Like any good trip to the fitness centre, Stagg also hopes audiences will leave Chamberfest with a full heart – and the cultural equivalent of a post-workout rush of endorphins.
“Come for the unique location, good food and drinks and beautiful views, and leave touched by the music, the poetry and the performers,” she says. “It’ll be a buoyant emotional experience – I hope you’ll head home on a natural high.”
Chamberfest 2026 runs from Friday October 2 – Sunday October 4 at UKARIA Cultural Centre.
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