Bendigo International Festival of Exploratory Music brings world-renowned artists to the region

The three-day event, which was in its seventh year, boasted more than 20 performances around the city for members of the public to enjoy.

"I feel like Bendigo has played such a vital role in the festival's success," founding artistic director David Chisholm said. "As much as its an international event, it's been born and raised in Bendigo."

Many of the different events were free to attend, which Mr Chisholm said was integral to festival's longevity.

Read more: BIFEM founder David Chisholm to guide festival programming from New Zealand

"It's part of the festival's DNA," he said. "It's absolutely paramount because we want people to be able to make qualitative decisions about what they see rather than say, it's too expensive, I'm not going to go."

Mr Chisholm said the broad concept of exploratory music allowed people to engage more.

"We don't really have a genre," he said. "When you remove labels, you can create an environment to explore and the sense of ownership is stronger for the listener.

"The festival is just really fun and unpretentious. We try to break down all of the etiquette around how people should behave."

New Zealand sound artist Clovis McEvoy displayed his work at the festival for the first time. His piece, titled Pillars of Introspection, used virtual reality to guide the viewer through a visual soundscape.

"A few years ago I got to do a small research project at the University of Auckland," Mr McEvoy said.

"I was supposed to use the research budget to live on and pay for rent but instead I blew all of the money on a virtual reality head set.

"As soon as I tried it out, I just thought it was surprisingly effective and I got very excited about it."

American flautist Kathryn Williams, who is based in England, also performed at the Bendigo festival for the first time.

The focus of Ms Williams' performance, titled Coming up for Air, was to play a collection of pieces using a single breath.

"I started the project in the first place because I had a very troubled relationship with breathing," she said.

"As a professional flute player, I have asthma and I also had a chronic sinus condition which meant I couldn't breathe through my nose for three years.

"Then I had an operation three years ago and that just transformed my health and my wellbeing. So this performance came out of my recovery and learning how to breathe better."

Mr Chisholm said the international focus of the event would continue into the future.

"We already have plans in place for next year and for 2021," he said. "That will take us into our ninth year and once you do nine, you're obliged to do 10."

The Bendigo festival continues through to Sunday, September 8. More information can be found at www.bifem.com.au/

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