Adelaide Festival’s music programme starts your day strong with Daylight Express, a series of short lunchtime concerts featuring musicians from around the world. The programme includes Dancing With The Birds, a suite of classical pieces inspired by Adelaide’s native winged fauna, and the Ensemble Offspring’s Songbirds, a celebration of Australian birdsong through chamber music. Elsewhere on the timetable you’ll find an oud virtuoso, classical Indian violin, and more.

Continuing the ornithological theme, Adelaide Chamber Singers present There Will Come Soft Rain, a sequence of choral works emulating birdsong, while Ensemble Offspring return with Night Songs, an audiovisual response to the song of the pied butcher bird with contemporary instrumentation. 

Night owls and jazz birds also have plenty to look forward to. Band Of Brothers are a classical-jazz fusion supergroup with Russian and Egyptian heritage, featuring the Grigoryan and Tawadros brothers. Angélique Kidjo’s unique style cross-pollinates the traditions of her Benin childhood with R&B, funk and jazz. Or if you like your jazz with existentialism (and why not?), try Nothing: Chamber Landscapes, a concert series from Richard Tognetti, exploring the concept of nothingness. 

For contemporary classical aficionados, the much-garlanded Goldner String Quartet presents a selection of the best string ensemble pieces from the first three decades of this century. Performances include Compassion and Ngapa William Cooper, a duo of song cycles inspired by Hebrew and Arabic history from composer Nigel Westlake and the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra. Pianist Víkingur Ólafsson also makes his Australian debut with a rendition of Bach’s Goldberg Variations. 

WOMADelaide is back with a bang, too: the four-day celebration of world music includes contributors from over 25 countries, including Senegalese superstar Baaba Maal, activist and legend of Brazilian music Gilberto Gil, and Jamaican reggae icon Ziggy Marley. 

If you like your sounds offbeat, let the Fringe expand your universe. A strong First Nations showing is a highlight, with performers such as Pitjantjatjara singer-songwriter Frank Yamma and events like Dupang Pangari, a camping festival and corroboree from Ngarrindjeri ambassador Uncle Moogy. If you like your music retro, The Beatles Dub Club brings a range of weird and wonderful covers of the Fab Four, fresh from a smash appearance at Glastonbury. 27 Club features the music and stories of Joplin, Cobain et al; The 60 Four: Living In The ‘70s is a one-off weekender featuring 60 minutes of non-stop hits; and In Pursuit Of Repetitive Beats is an interactive VR spectacular putting you in the shoes of rave culture’s pioneers. Whatever sounds help you soar, you’ll find them right here.