From your perspective, what makes it so special? (Answers supplied by cellist Julian Smiles)

More than anything else, the opportunity to get to know an audience over a few days. In our normal lives we give one performance and move on seldom getting a chance to meet more than a few members of the audience. At Huntington, we perform, and then we eat and talk with the audience, and over the course of the festival, the relationship changes from performers / audience to one of a group of friends sharing a feast of the senses.

An exciting blend of musical styles, performed by a wide range of top-class performers. Meals under the trees, and drifting in and out of the cool winery with its wonderful smells and amazing acoustic.

From your perspective, what makes it so special?

It is the combination of food, wine and music with the winery locale and the magical balmy weather of Mudgee at the outset of summer that makes Huntington inimitable. The quality of the repertoire and the performers has something to do with it, but it is the perfect fusion of all the elements that takes the experience to a different level.

The Huntington Festival is an unrivaled experience for serious lovers of chamber music. Even for us seasoned professionals it's an unparalleled sensual immersion that uniquely fuses great food and wine with brilliant music into some sort of hybrid experience that defies categorisation.

I hoped very much to keep it all to myself. It turned out to be different, and it was good.

When it was time to perform, I was shocked by the bare appearance of the "hall" where I was going to play. However, quickly I realized that the "Barrel Room" gained a magic aura by the attentive listening of its audience.

Huntington is a special place and it will remain personal and very special to me.

From your perspective, what makes it so special?

The collaborations are wonderful - with such little time for rehearsal, the performances contain a spontaneity and drive which is at times frightening but altogether exhilarating! Also, the unique setting of the barrel room and all consuming audience presence reminds you of the raw energy of performance and magical delights of music making. As a musician, it is easy to forget why we are making music and only think about what we are making - Huntington reminds you why.

The Festival is a wonderful, unique experience that celebrates music, food, wine and friendship in one of Australia's most stunning regions. The stunning setting, away from the hustle and bustle of the city, immediately sets both musicians and audience at ease. The artists and audience alike relish the sponatenous music making brought about by one-off collaborations and the magic of making music is enhanced as all thoughts of everyday life are put aside and the artists fully immerse themselves within the music.

When we were in Huntington, the heavens opened for the most spectacular rainstorm and we were all saturated. But it was wonderful! It was the first time we had seen such quantities of rain for years! Also the night of the deluge, Liz's husband arrived from Melbourne and he joked when he parked that he felt he may have bogged the rental car. Hours later, when we returned to the car after another exhilarating night of performing and Hesperion XXI, we returned to find that the car was in fact bogged and it took a tractor to dislodge it! For the next 3 days, Mudgee was charmed by the nasty squealing of clogged brake pads!!!

I have such fond and unforgettable memories of my first Huntington Festival. I participated in two week-ends of making music with some of the most inspiring musicians in Australia and abroad.

Together we soaked up the atmosphere of the Barrel Room and played to an enthusiastic and joyful audience. We were treated to delicious food and wine in the grounds after our concerts, where we mingled with other musicians and met people from the audience.

Huntington Estate Music Festival is a unique opportunity to get intoxicated on some of the most fabulous wine I have ever drunk, listen to some of the finest music I have ever heard, and hang out with some of the nicest people I have ever met. That sums it up in a nutshell, I believe!

HEMF is a lot more personal than most music festivals. The artists get to mingle with each other, as well as with the public, the staff and everyone from Musica Viva. It certainly is better organised than most music festivals, which tend to be rather chaotic at times. Having such great wine to drink at Huntington Estate is a luxury on any level. But it is also truly unique to have such a warm atmosphere in a festival, where everyone welcomes everyone and there is such a feeling on celebration as well as seeming that everyone is just "hanging out" together.

But truly, performing a wonderful piece of chamber music, followed by drinking a great glass of Shiraz, followed by lying down on the grass in the beautiful grounds of the Huntington Estate, was truly a moment of bliss!

My husband and I have been attending Huntington Festival for about 13 years. For me the best thing is ... to arrive in Mudgee, a really lovely town... and really unwind in preparation for the holiday of the year.

The festival for me, being slightly hearing impaired, is not only the music. (I love the music but am not an expert like some of the people we have met there). It's the relaxed and friendly attitude... also I feel so spoilt, there is only one venue and programme so no choices have to be made, it is all laid out for us. I dont have to worry about meals, housework, phones, what to do next and it is all paid for up front. Just great.

My favourite part is after the morning concerts having a long, lazy lunch and few glasses of wine under the trees, discussing the programme we have just heard... The next best thing is sitting under the stars after the night concert and listening to the quiet of the country. You can almost hear the vines and grapes growing.

I get the "this is as good as it gets" feeling!!!!!

Huntington Music Festival is a week of great music presentations held in Mudgee at a vineyard 5kms out of town. The concerts are held in the vat room of the vineyard where the acoustics are really good, great meals are served professionally and eaten under the sheoaks on an eclectic mix of tables and chairs, wshed down with great wines. The weather can be very diverse so bring umbrellas, sensible shoes, layers of clothes. The accomodation around town is very good and diverse from the 5 star B&Bs, motels and hotels, right down to camping by the river.

Included in the overall cost is concerts, meals and wine.

I think the rain on odd years has to be the remarkable show put on by mother nature.