Sydney will come alive this summer when Sydney Festival 2016 arrives with a programme bursting with free and ticketed events across theatre, dance, circus, opera and contemporary and classical music.
In 2016, Sydney Festival celebrates its 40th anniversary with an exclusive performance from Germany’s famous Thalia Theater Hamburg and director Jette Steckel who will make their Australian debut with 'Woyzeck', a stage adaptation by Robert Wilson, Tom Waits and Kathleen Brennan.
Sydney Festival 2016 is comprised of:
- 157 events, with 89 free
- 383 performances across 34 indoor/ outdoor venues
- 902 artists from across 22 countries
- 11 world premieres
- 20 Australian premieres
- 8 Australian exclusives
Acclaimed choreographer Anne Teresa de Kaesmaeker returns to Australia with her company Rosas to present her earliest choreography 'Fase Four Moments to the Music of Steve Reich', a seminal piece in the evolution of contemporary dance; and major dance concert work Vortex Temporum, a thrilling and extraordinary collaboration across art forms by Rosas and contemporary music ensemble Ictus.
'Fase...'The 2016 music programme features some of the globe’s most exciting artists including four-time Grammy Award-winning jazz drummer and composer Antonio Sanchez, who'll perform his fervent score live alongside the film screening of the hit movie 'Birdman'.
Joanna Newsom returns to launch her new album at the Sydney Opera House in her first Australian show in five years. Australia’s favourite underground rock band, Dirty Three will reconvene for the first time in three years for a special Festival show.
While Morrissey and The Smiths fans will have their heroes music treated to a Mexican makeover in Spanish, via vibrant rhythms of ranchera, mariachi, mambo and cha cha cha of Mexrrissey.
Art and architecture will collide at Sydney’s new creative playground, the Cutaway at Barangaroo Reserve, will be home to one of the largest community participation events presented in Sydney Festival’s history, with French artist Olivier Grossetête’s fantastically epic 'The Ephemeral City', and another pop-up installation titled 'The People’s Tower' at Darling Harbour.
Also in the Cutaway, Shaun Gladwell’s newest video work, 'Skateboarders vs Minimalism', will premiere in a large projection along the western wall in a commission by Catriona and Simon Mordant AM. Both works can be enjoyed from a bird’s eye view on a free flying fox - zipping between the cardboard buildings and video installation on a giant, 165m zip line.
On the local front, Sydney Festival will present new Australian works: the Helpmann Award-winning opera 'The Rabbits', and Stephen Page’s directorial debut feature film 'SPEAR' by Bangarra Dance Theatre.
In a major new work by Broome’s internationally acclaimed dance-theatre company Marrugeku, 'Cut The Sky' explores our relationship with country – our past, present and future through an Aboriginal lens – and humanity’s frailty in the face of our own actions.
Cut The SkyHyde Park’s Festival hub Meriton Festival Village returns with a variety of circus, comedy and cabaret shows, activities and a wide range of contemporary music performances.
A world premiere and new Australian work by Sydney Festival favourite Meow Meow headlines the Festival Village in Meow Meow’s Little Mermaid, and award-winning actor-singer-author Alan Cumming returns to Sydney with his new show, 'Alan Cumming Sings Sappy Songs!'
Australia’s leading circus company Circa will invite audiences to enter a world of physical daring in the beautiful and truly virtuosic 'What Will Have Been'. While Djuki Mala will thrill adults and children alike with their high-energy and stunning fusion of traditional Indigenous culture, contemporary dance and storytelling.
And what better way to celebrate your 40th by hosting a free party, Summer Sounds in The Domain, headlined by the musical force that is The Flaming Lips. No live show of theirs is every the same. Bring on the confetti cannon.
2016 marks the final year for esteemed Festival Director Lieven Bertels. “It’s such a privilege to be part of the 40th anniversary of Australia’s favourite summer arts festival. Over these 40 years, we have taken audiences on a wonderful voyage, and our 2016 festival is an important milestone on that trip."
Sydney Festival 2016 takes place 7-26 January.
