Adelaide Festival

Adelaide Festival of Arts 2015 – Program Launch Tonight

Spectacular digital illuminations will herald the opening of the 30th Adelaide Festival of Arts in 2015.

festival-artsSpectacular digital illuminations will herald the opening of the 30th Adelaide Festival of Arts in 2015. Blinc will transform the entire Torrens Riverbank and Festival Theatre precinct into canvases showcasing the world’s best digital art. A free event, Blinc can be experienced every night of the festival from Friday 27 February to Sunday 15 March 2015.

The stellar 2015 Adelaide Festival program features 42 music, theatre, dance and visual arts events alongside Adelaide Writers’ Week. The line-up includes 22 Australian premieres and 26 events exclusive to Adelaide.

In his third year as Adelaide Festival of Arts Artistic Director, David Sefton said, “Blinc will be the most ambitious public art event the festival has ever presented – obviously I’m very excited about that. To present a free event of this scale is a massive commitment from the festival and one that I believe will be enjoyed by hundreds of thousands of festival-goers.

The rest of the festival is a huge range of firm favourites – from the mammoth Danny Elfman’s Music from the Films of Tim Burton, to unique festival shows like Tommy and up-to-the-minute events with the return of the fabulous Unsound.”

New York’s world-renowned Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet make their long-awaited and exclusive Australian debut, performing works by Crystal PiteHofesh ShechterJiří Kylián and Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui.

An eclectic music program is led by the Australian premiere of Danny Elfman’s Music from the Films of Tim Burton, a celebration of movie music magic starring Danny Elfman with full symphony orchestra and choir. The program also features Tommy, a radical reimagining of The Who’s seminal album; the father of Afrobeat, Fela Kuti lives on in Fela! The Concert; a residency from one of the world’s most highly regarded composers Gavin Bryars; and Unsound Adelaide returns with a new and exciting line-up.

The 2015 program features a number of genre-defying shows, including French visual theatre maker Aurélien Bory’s metaphysical masterpieceAzimut, Canadian Kid Koala’s multidisciplinary show Nufonia Must Falland new media performance project The Experiment, featuring Australian composer David Chisholm.

Theatre program highlights include formidable Irish actress Olwen Fouéréwho embodies the voice of the river in Finnegans Wake in riverrun;Belgian Valentijn Dhaenens, star of 2014’s BigMouth, returns to Adelaide with SmallWaR; a whip-sharp and decidedly adults-only Beauty and the Beast (UK) from Improbable/ONEOFUS (UK); Stan’s Café(UK) take on religion and belief in The Cardinals; Italian actress Silvia Gallerano delivers a blistering monologue in La Merda; and Australia’s often unsung war heroes tell their stories in Black Diggers.

The FREE visual arts program exclusively features the broadest selection of works ever curated in Australia from American video and sound installation artist Bill Viola and an extraordinary solo exhibition from local Magnum photographer Trent Parke. Featuring more than 30 digital artworks from 18 international artists and collectives, Blinc will be displayed at more than a dozen locations turning buildings, bridges, trees, a waterfall, the sky and even the surface of the river into canvases for digital art.

In her fourth year as Adelaide Writers’ Week Director, Laura Kroetschsaid, “the focus this year is very much on contemporary culture. It appears, as we inch into the 21st century, we are all worried about money and food and modern marriage and these worries are reflected in the stories that are being written.”

Adelaide Writers’ Week will also celebrate its 30th event in 2015. Guests headlining the stellar line-up include influential chef and author Dan Barber (USA) in his first visit to Australia, beloved British writer John Lanchester, best-selling novelist Tom Rob Smith (UK), and prize-winning biographer Jenny Uglow (UK), celebrated novelist Joan London (AUS), political commentator Don Watson (AUS) and playwright Hannie Rayson(AUS).

MUSIC
This year’s mammoth music program includes the Australian premiere ofDanny Elfman’s Music from the Films of Tim Burton celebrating one of Hollywood’s sought after composers, Danny Elfman (USA) and his enduring and successful partnership with Tim Burton (USA).  His famous film scores will be performed by Adelaide Symphony Orchestra andAdelaide Festival Chorus with visuals of Tim Burton’s original film illustrations on the big screen. The concert will be led by award-winning conductor John Mauceri (USA) with special guest appearances by Danny Elfman and Australian songstress Bertie Blackman. The concert also features the youngest performer in this year’s festival, nine-year-old Adelaide boy soprano Charlie Wells.

The exclusive world premiere of Tommy (USA), a radical reimagining ofThe Who’s legendary double-album, is the brainchild of composer and lead performer Eric Mingus (USA) and maverick producer Hal Willner(USA). This electrifying performance will feature 18 stellar musicians, including post-punk singer Gavin Friday (IRE), chanteuse Camille O’Sullivan (IRE) and singer/songwriter Harper Simon (USA) son of Paul Simon. A concert version of the Broadway musical Fela!, Fela! The Concert (USA) traces the remarkable life of Fela Kuti and evokes the spirit of his infamous Afrika Shrine nightclub performances through live music, dance and archive footage.

One of the world’s most important living composers Gavin Bryars (UK) leads a series of concerts and a chamber opera in Gavin Bryars in Residence. Bryars will conduct the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra in a performance of his well-known early work Jesus’ Blood Never Failed Me Yet; he will perform with the Gavin Bryars Ensemble in two chamber programs and join the Aventa Ensemble (CAN) playing double bass in the Australian premiere of his latest chamber opera Marilyn Forever.

Across three nights in the Freemasons Hall, Unsound Adelaide returns with a mind-blowing line-up of electronic and experimental music including:Model 500 (USA), Hieroglyphic Being (USA), Vatican Shadow (USA),Fushitsusha (JAP), Shackleton (UK), Mika Vainio (FIN/GER), Forest Swords (UK), Container (USA), The Bug (UK), Evian Christ (UK) andLawrence English (AUS). Atom TM (GER/CHL) & Robin Fox (AUS) perform Double Vision, a new collaboration commissioned by Unsound and Adelaide Festival.

Blow the Bloody Doors Off!! (UK), celebrates the music featured in four of Michael Caine’s most iconic films, Alfie, The Ipcress File, The Italian Joband Get Carter. Musical director and multi-instrumentalist Terry Edwards(UK) leads an ensemble including Adelaide’s Zephyr Quartet in a concert performance hosted by Phill Jupitus (UK) (Never Mind the Buzzcocks), accompanied by scenes from the films.

Richard Thompson Electric Trio (UK) features guitar virtuoso and British folk rock legend Richard Thompson (UK) and his band in concert for one night only. The trio will bring music from across Thomson’s thirty plus years as a solo artist and recent studio album Electric. Performing for one night only are: Scottish instrumental rock luminaries Mogwai, post-rock/electronic outfit 65daysofstatic (UK), the Australian debut of post-punk firebrands The Pop Group (UK), and Japanese art metal 10-pieceVampillia.

One of the world’s greatest pianists Abdullah Ibrahim (ZA) will perform an exclusive solo show in celebration of his 80th birthday and the release of his album, The Song Is My StoryThe Experiment is a stunning and immersive hybrid performance by acclaimed Australian composer and producer David Chisholm, based on British playwright Mark Ravenhill’sdark monologue of the same name. The Australian String Quartetcelebrates their 30th anniversary with Remember TomorrowTafelmusik Baroque Orchestra (CAN) explore music and art in House of Dreams, and over two nights Adelaide Chamber Singers will present Arvo Pärt’sPassio. From Friday 6 March to Monday 9 March Adelaide’s stunning Botanic Park will play host to one of Australia’s most loved and distinctive festivals, WOMADelaide.

THEATRE
Opening weekend features the sensational and elegant Azimut (FRA), a mesmerising production that explores the Sufi traditions of Moroccan acrobatics, ancient skills honed by followers since the 16th century fromCompagnie 111’s Aurélien Bory and Le Groupe acrobatique de Tanger.

The impressionistic, multilingual prose of James Joyce’s legendary Finnegans Wake is brought to startling, spellbinding life in riverrun (IRE), a unique adaption by Olwen Fouéré (IRE). Fouéré transforms Joyce’s prose into an undulating soundscape, inhabiting the voice of Anna Livia Plurabelle, the river’s personification.

Film, theatre and music collide in Nufonia Must Fall (CAN). World-renowned turntablist, music producer and graphic novelist Kid Koala (Eric San) (CAN) brings his award-winning graphic novel of the same name to life in a multi-disciplinary puppet show, directed by production designer KK Barrett (Her, Being John Malkovich) featuring the Afiara String Quartet(CAN).

One of the UK’s best known disabled performers Mat Fraser, acclaimed American burlesque star Julie Atlas Muz and award-winning directorPhelim McDermott (UK) (Shockheaded Peter) have teamed up to create an adult retelling of Beauty and the Beast (UK) that playfully confronts disability and sexuality head-on, exploring the beauty and beastliness in us all.

Three cardinals in crimson robes are on a mission to spread a message of redemption with their evangelical puppet show in The Cardinals, a witty and wordless Biblical odyssey from the masters of innovative and thought-provoking theatre, Stan’s Cafe (UK).

La Merda stars multi-award winning actress Silvia Gallerano (ITA) who portrays a naked and ‘ugly’ actress revealing her revolting secrets in a breathtaking solo performance. A provocative, scandalous and beastly text,La Merda was written by award-winning writer Cristian Ceresoli (ITA).Valentijn Dhaenens (BEL) follows up his critically acclaimed 2014 season of BigMouth with the powerful companion piece, SmallWaR (BEL), a poignant meditation on war’s physical and emotional fallout set against mind-blowing digital theatre.

Jack and the Beanstalk (AUS/ITA) is an international collaboration between Chiara Guidi (ITA) of Socìetas Raffaello Sanzio and a team of Australian artistic collaborators including Jeff Stein. This dark twist on the classic fairy tale combines theatrical storytelling, physical theatre, live music and puppetry. Perfect for children aged seven and up.

Bob Kingdom (UK) flawlessly portrays Welsh poet Dylan Thomas in Dylan Thomas – Return Journey (UK). This tour de force performance weaves stories about the famous Swansea writer, incisive comments about the American touring circuit and his last, ill-fated lecture tour.

Black Diggers tells the largely untold stories of Indigenous Australian ANZACs in an understated yet powerful new work from Queensland Theatre Company, directed by Wesley Enoch and written by Tom Wright. State Theatre Company of South Australia presents Beckett Triptych, three perfect theatrical gems written by Samuel Beckett and brought together especially for the 2015 Festival. These rarely produced short plays will feature three of Australia’s greatest actors, Paul BlackwellPeter Carroll and Pamela Rabe.

DANCE
Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet (USA) make their exclusive Australian debut with four stunning works by acclaimed international choreographers. The program features a mixed repertoire of Violet Kid by Hofesh Shechter (ISR), Ten Duets on a Theme of Rescue by Crystal Pite(CAN) and Indigo Rose by Jiří Kylián (CZE), as well as the feature-length piece Orbo Novo by Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui (BEL). Through their daring, athletic movement and integration of ballet into contemporary and popular forms, the 16 immensely talented dancers of Cedar Lake take audiences on a choreographic journey that explores the infinite possibilities of movement and multimedia.

VISUAL ART
Blinc, international digital art exhibition involving live performance and audio pieces delivered in conjunction with video, 3D motion graphics, animation, mapped projections, LED installations and 30 watt laser lighting.

The original creators of light based artwork festival Blinc which originated in North Wales in 2011, Joel Cockrill (UK) and Craig Morrison (UK) worked with David Sefton and the festival team to curate a version of the project specifically designed for Adelaide, with a number of works commissioned for the event.

International digital artists showing work at Blinc include: Laszlo Zsolt Bordos (Hun), Casa Magica (GER), Joel Cockrill (UK), Wendy Dawson(UK), Dawn of Man (USA), H C Gilje (NOR), Perry Hall & Elliott Sharp(USA), Hartung & Trenz (GER), Ryoichi Kurokawa (JPN), Jessica Lloyd Jones (UK), Craig Morrison (UK), Murmur (FRA), Tony Oursler(USA), Squidsoup (UK/NZ), Théoriz & BK (FRA), Topla Design (FRA),Sean Vicary (UK) and Cecilia Westerberg (DEN).

A collection of seven original works, the broadest selection ever curated in Australia, from world renowned video and sound installation artist Bill Viola (USA) will be presented in three venues. The Art Gallery of South Australia host The Crossing (1996), The Messenger (1996) and will the premiere of Walking on the Edge (2012) and The Encounter (2012). The historic Queen’s Theatre will be home to Fire Woman (2005) andTristan’s Ascension (The Sound of a Mountain Under a Waterfall)(2005) and Three Women (2008) can be seen in the Lady Chapel at St Peter’s Cathedral.

Bill Viola (USA) and his wife, partner and executive director of Bill Viola Studio, Kira Perov (AUS) will be in Adelaide especially for these exhibitions. The two will also be in conversation with David Sefton for a special ticketed event at Radford Auditorium, Art Gallery of South Australia on Saturday 28 February at 2.30pm.

The extraordinary work of Adelaide-based Magnum photographer Trent Parke will feature in an immersive exhibition at the Art Gallery of South AustraliaThe Black Rose is the culmination of seven year’s work and a meditation on life journeys.

Booking Details:
adelaidefestival.com.au or BASS 131 246
For further information visit adelaidefestival.com.au

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