The 16-day 2012 Adelaide Festival officially kicks off tonight with a capacity crowd at the stunning open air concert at Adelaide’s Elder Park led by Maestro Ennio Morricone, followed by the launch of the purpose built Festival Club Barrio, with performance by renowned Grammy Award-winning Latin pianist and band-leader Eddie Palmieri (USA).
Legendary Italian film composer Ennio Morricone, the maestro behind The Mission, Cinema Paradiso and The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, will lead the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, six Italian soloists and a massed choir in the spectacular outdoor performance tonight. Paul Grabowsky said “I am thrilled that Maestro Morricone is part of my final Adelaide Festival, bringing him to Australia is the culmination of seven years hard work”.
The French master of theatrical spectacle James Thiérrée, in his delightful, critically acclaimed new large-scale fantastical solo work Raoul, receiving a cheering standing ovation after its opening performance last night, Thursday 1 March. Gardenia, a tender, funny and moving production that has toured the world to critical acclaim opens tonight.
Lots to be seen and heard over the opening weekend with legend of the Anglo American underground and avant-garde anti-hero Genesis Breyer P-Orridge & Psychic TV (UK/USA) in their first ever gig in Australia tomorrow, Saturday 3 March at 7pm at Barrio, the purpose built Festival Club. Combining the chaos of Hawkers market meets Mexican cantina, serving up the sights and sounds of Argentinean BBQ and treats from south of the border. Join collectors, merchants, eccentrics and provocateurs, to gather each night at an ever-changing mix of market place, bar, stage and dance floor, to enjoy balmy summer nights under the stars, at the city’s Hajek Plaza. Barrio is a free club and runs for ten nights only.
The new look Adelaide Writers’ Week, opens this weekend, refreshed and reinvigorated with over 90 authors, in a stellar line-up from some of contemporary literature’s most compelling voices.
A stunning visual arts program opened its doors yesterday with Restless: Adelaide International at four of the citys leading galleries and 2012 Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art: Parallel Collisions at the Art Gallery of South Australia, and Deadlyat Tandyana, National Aboriginal Cultureal Institute, offering a unique opportunity to see some of the best international, new Australian and indigenous work on a scale unparalleled by any other Australian arts festival.
The 2012 Adelaide Festival program marks the establishment of the Festival as an annual event. Over 17 days, from Friday, March 2 to Sunday, March 18 the program features 68 events, including 37 world premieres (three performance based and 34 visual arts), and 62 Australian premieres (19 performance based and 43 visual arts), in 386 performances from 1230 international and Australian artists.
For more information on the Adelaide Festival, visit adelaidefestival.com.au
Photo by Richard Haughton
