But the organisers of the Albury Chamber Music Festival are out to change those perceptions this weekend.

The three-day festival kicks off tomorrow evening, with concerts to be held throughout Albury all weekend – seven in total.

Festival artistic director Helena Kernaghan said classical music's ability to explore emotion was what helped it stand the test of time, and also continue to evolve in the modern era.

“For me, I was lucky enough to come from a music loving and performing background, I'd been exposed to classical music from a young age,” she said.

“Getting an opportunity to bring something like this to Albury, especially with the beautiful venues we have, is a really exciting opportunity.

“A big hope of the committee is that we can make this a more accessible festival, and really widen the audience.

“Classical music has always had that association of being stuffy and elitist, which is historically true, but these days it's very different.”

The festival features a line-up chock full of internationally renowned talent, capped off by the world premiere of brand new work from local composer Gordon Kerry.

His new piece will be performed by the Flinders Quartet.

Also featuring will be the Firebird Trio, Ensemble Liason, Brisbane soprano Ayse Goknur Shanal, the Orpheus Piano Tria, Daniel Dries and Ashley Hribar.

Mr Kerry has also compiled a professional program explaining the history behind each of the performances over the weekend.

“Having the world premiere of Gordon Kerry's new work is one of the big highlights for me,” Ms Kernaghan said.

“To know Gordon is at the forefront of Australian composers,  it was an obvious decision to have him perform this weekend.”