In 2019, Brisbane Festival rolls out a comprehensive programme of shows, performances and installations set to ignite the city in all its glory through September.
Brisbane Festival invites attendees to get back to basics with a programme split across three themes and based on the (other) three Rs: Revels, Revelations and Romance.
Across 23 days, Queensland's largest arts and cultural event will host 454 performances of 83 shows, involving over 908 artists from around the world including headliners 59 productions, the world leaders in digital and projection storytelling; Chinese dance-maker Yang Liping, South African music theatre ensemble Isango; and, Compagnie Carabosse out of France.
The festival will also help celebrate the 30th anniversary of one of the city's iconic venues with four big Saturday night concerts at The Riverstage.
The 2019 Brisbane Festival has been programmed under the curatorial eye of Artistic Director David Berthold in what will be his fifth and final contribution.
"This year’s Brisbane Festival is, without doubt, the most adventurous we’ve ever undertaken," David says.
"The Festival has matured enormously in recent years, and we thought the time had come to shift the goalposts.
"Within the overarching themes of Revels, Revelations and Romances are huge productions that reveal microscopic insights into the world, and small shows that pose some of life’s biggest questions."
The Revels section embraces the shows that put the ‘festive’ in the Festival and guarantee a great night out, whether it be the spectacle of Riverfire, Riverstage concerts from Hot Dub Time Machine, Cub Sport, The Amity Affliction and City And Colour, or the brand-new version of the Festival's biggest-selling show to date, 'Blanc De Blanc Encore'.
Meanwhile, Revelations speaks to the Festival’s big premieres, the record 16 ground-breaking independent shows at the Theatre Republic site, trailblazing musicians such as Jacob Collier and Kate Miller-Heidke, and to the large-scale interactive '1000 Doors' maze at Treasury Brisbane Arcadia.
The Romances section evokes the mystery and magic of the passions that take us from everyday life: from the joy and agony of first crushes in 'Fangirls' to the unconventional adoration of 'LOVE+' to the myth-busting retellings of 'Orpheus' and 'Eurydice' to the comfort of home in 'I Left My Heart In Highgate Hill'.
Brisbane Festival has co-commissioned what David describes as its "most ambitious project" to date: the multi-artform 'Invisible Cities', which will occupy a massive Yeerongpilly warehouse in an exclusive Australian season immediately following its world premiere in the UK.
'Invisible Cities' brings together international artists at the top of their fields, directed by Leo Warner and involving art and technology wizards 59 Productions, Belgian choreographer Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, and the full company of Rambert, one of the world’s great dance companies.
That's just a sliver of what's on offer from Brisbane Festival this year, with a programme to sate even the most discerning culture vultures in town. It's big, it's bold and it's bloody beautiful - it must be Brisbane Festival.
Brisbane Festival is proudly one of Australia's major international arts festival and Queensland's largest cultural event, welcoming more than one million visitors each year.
