TICKETS are now on sale for the 2013 Bellingen Music Festival which, this year, will be the curtain raiser for an exciting week of arts and cultural events across the Bellingen Shire. Buy your tickets online or at Roots Records, Bellingen.

Opening the Festival at the Bellingen Memorial Hall is ACO2, the Australian Chamber Orchestra’s regional touring orchestra, and they are thrilled to be returning to Bellingen. This concert is a fundraiser for the award winning Bellingen Youth Orchestra.

Australia’s internationally renowned (and Bellingen’s favorite) Shakuhachi player, Riley Lee, will play in two concerts, one with our famous Youth Orchestra. The Enigma Quartet, a vibrant young ensemble from the UK, presented in association with Musica Viva Australia, will join Riley on Sunday. Riley will also hold a breathing workshop.

This year the Festival is held in association with the North Coast Performing Arts Association (NCPAA) who are proud to present Karl Jenkins’ stirring choral opus, The Armed Man. Singers across the region are invited to participate.

Finally, in what is shaping up to be a great event, NCPAA’s Chamber Orchestra will team up with principal dancers from Bellingen’s Rivers Ballet Studio for an exciting combination of music and dance to works by Stravinsky and Tchaikovsky.