Sydney Festival 2019

9102 LAVITSEF YENDYS

Our Picks for the Sydney Festival 2019

WHAT'S ON SYDNEY www.whatsonsydney.com

WHAT'S ON SYDNEY AND THE FESTIVAL

SYDNEY FESTIVAL 2019

What's on Sydney was

Every year in January, Sydney becomes alive with events and cultural activities across the city.

launched online on 2 January 2003. It was launched to promoted events and attractions in Sydney however, the date it launched was to make sure it could promote the 2003 Sydney Festival. Every year since we have listed all the festival events and this year we have produced this

The 2019 program, runs from 9 –27 January, it is a diverse program this year cutting across all art forms. As usually there is a huge free program making the festival truly a time for all Sydneysiders and visitors to come together and enjoy cultural Sydney.

The Indigenous program BLAK OUT returns with powerful new theatre including Man With The Iron Neck and The Weekend. As usual, there is a great contemporary music program covering everything from Cuban mambo to pop icon Neneh Cherry and Nakhane. And of course Hyde Park will house the Magic Mirrors Spiegeltent and Festival Garden.

booklet to highlight just a few of the many great events on during the festival in 2019.

There are free art installations at Carriageworks, the Museum of Contemporary Art, UNSW Galleries and Artspace, and free talks with artists and experts at UTS, NSW State Library and more.

COUNTING AND CRACKING 11 January - 2 February

COUNTING AND CRACKING Radha and her son Siddhartha are finally ready to embrace

Sydney Town Hall @ 483 George Street www.belvoir.com.au

their lives in Sydney's western suburbs, when a phone call from Colombo brings the past spinning back to life. Sixteen actors play four generations of a family, in a story about Australia as a land of refuge; Sri Lanka’s efforts to remain united; and reconciliation within families, across countries, across generations.

Box Office: +61(2) 9699 3444

Written by S. Shakthidharan, this powerful new Australian play is staged in Sydney Town Hall and served with a Sri Lankan meal.

It’s a timely illustration of the ways in which Australia transforms those who come here and is itself transformed, that ultimately reveals not how much separates us, but what we all have in common.

COUNTING AND CRACKING Counting and Cracking - What is the meaning behind the title?

The title of the play comes from a line a lead character says at a climactic moment in the show. So I can't tell you the meaning without giving away the story! What I can tell you is that the title, and this line in the play, asks us to consider how the fate of our family and our society are intertwined.

How do we nurture both our family and our society at the same time? How do we stop them from reaching a breaking point?

Can you give us a bit more insight into the story and the characters?

The show begins on the banks of the Georges River, in modern day Australia, with a mother and a son. They don't seem to get along with each other, but they do find fun and solace with other Australians. The mother has a cheeky exchange with a Turkish air conditioner installer in an apartment in Pendle Hill. The son talks endlessly through the early hours of the morning with a Yolngu woman at a house party in Coogee. They seem finally ready to embrace their lives in Sydney when a phone call from Colombo brings the past spinning back to life. With that we are plunged into an epic journey that takes us through Sri Lanka and Australia over multiple decades.

It is a story of love, refuge and reconciliation - across continents, time periods and societies.

COUNTING AND CRACKING There is a lavish Sri Lankan wedding. There is a storm at sea. There is the cricket match where Murali gets his 500th wicket! As we near the close of the play we finally find out the secrets the mother has been holding onto, and the story of how her family came to be in Australia. There is the cricket match where Murali gets his 500th wicket! As we near the close of the play we finally find out the secrets the mother has been holding onto, and the story of how her family came to be in Australia.

The audience is going to be served with a Sri Lankan meal, is this going to make up part of the performance or is the meal served during one of the intervals?

Audience members will walk into Sydney Town Hall and find themselves inside a Sri Lankan town hall that we've built from scratch. As you wander into this little piece of Sri Lankan life, you'll gather your Sri Lankan meal and eat it before the show begins. After all, you don't want to watch a theatrical epic on an empty stomach! A certain amount of lucky audience members will also get served food during the play itself (don't worry, no other interaction is required, only eating delicious short eats).

What is your favourite line from the play?

My favourite line is of course the one that the title of the play comes from. But you have to come to the show to hear that one. Another favourite line is: “No more politics in the house!” said by Aacha, the matriarch of the family. She only rarely gets her wish.

DUST 9 - 13 January

DUST

Carriageworks

A world premiere from Dancenorth, the new powerhouse of

@ 245 Wilson Street,

Australian dance that gave us the mesmerising and multi award-

Eveleigh

winning Attractor at last year’s Brisbane Festival.

www.dancenorth.com.au

Dust takes a deep and daring dive into how, through the lottery of birth, we inherit the architecture of restriction and opportunity. Award winning Dancenorth examines personal,

★★★★★ "This is a work capable of expressive depth without the need for polemic hyperbole, and in an age when our lives are perpetually bombarded by outrage, from both ends of the political spectrum, such measured, thoughtful commentary can speak louder than any angry words." – The Music

social, cultural and political inheritance and the way we question and respond to that which has come before us. How can we scrutinise the past in order to shape the future? In Dust, the dancers attempt to agitate and illuminate the engineering of their own existence.

Dust is an audacious new collaboration created by Dancenorth’s Artistic Director Kyle Page and Associate Artistic Director Amber Haines, featuring live violin by Canada’s Jessica Moss (Thee Silver Mt Zion) and an architecturally-designed set by the award-winning Liminal Studio.

DUST What inspired this work?

Dust is an investigation into the architecture of inheritance, the passive assortment of inheritance that we each accumulate on a personal, social, cultural and political level. On the 21st of March 2017 our son Jasper was born, the ensuing weeks and months warped time and proffered deep contemplation. We thought about the world into which he was born and our role in shaping that world. We thought about the world into which we were born and deeply questioned all that we had become accustomed to. We considered both the intimate and global conditions that we unconsciously assimilate into our lives and explored the consequences of these systems.

Dust is an expression of these ponderings, ponderings which when shared with the cast and creatives, spoke deeply to each of us in our own way. As with all of our works Dust is a true collaboration, no element stands alone, all influenced and ultimately enriched by the presence of the other. Only through the generous and insightful contributions of the creatives and the openness and immense skill of the dancers has Dust emerged.

Dust invites the audience to question, reimagine and recreate what has been handed to you, what has been handed to us and what in turn we hand on to others; our children‌ For while we are each the sum of our inherited parts, we are more importantly the parts of a much, much larger sum.

As with all of our works Dust is a true collaboration, no element stands alone, all influenced and ultimately enriched by the presence of the other. Only through the generous and insightful contributions of the creatives and the openness and immense skill of the dancers has Dust emerged.

DUST The music for the work, was it composed for Dust? Which came first the music or the choreography?

An important element of Danceorth’s philosophy is the art of collaboration. For Dust we have been fortunate enough to join forces with the incredibly talented Canadian artist Jessica Moss.

Jessica is a violinist who for many many years has worked with Canadian based Avant-garde Thee Silver Mt Zion. Jessica’s sound is truly extraordinary and is very evocative to perform to. The work that she produces as a solo artist is a genesis for the sonic content for Dust. Working collaboratively with Jessica is long time Dancenorth collaborator Alisdair Macindoe who is the Sound Designer for Dust. Alisdair and Jessica have very complimentary skills and together they have created something truly extraordinary.

Jessica will perform live at Sydney Festival which is really exciting, performing to live music is always an incredibly beautiful, evocative and emotive experience not only for the dancers but also for the audience.

DUST How do the set and lighting play a part in the overall production?

Dust is conceptually, choreographically and visually galvanised by an extraordinary set piece designed by Liminal Spaces' Peta Heffernan and Elvio Brianese. The structure begins as a large monolith separating the space in two, and is ultimately dismantled and reconfigured throughout the performance. This visionary modular design has anchored the creation of the work and is a breathtaking addition to the experience of watching these amazing dancers in action. Lighting for Dust has been designed by Nik Pajanti and also heavily informs the work. At times the lighting draws our attention inward, highlighting nuance and choreographic detail and at other times in the performance Nik illuminates the entire space, celebrating the complexity of order and chaos as the dancers interact with the set.

What are Dancenorth's plans for the rest of the year? Will you return to Sydney?

2019 is a huge year for the company. Following the Sydney Festival season of Dust we fly directly to Canada and the USA for a tour of Attractor, we then tour Dust around Australia in March before heading back overseas to the US, Mexico and Holland in April/May. We have two world premieres in the pipeline (details yet to be released!), a very exciting season on the Gold Coast, and we finish the year with a dancers season called Tomorrow Makers. We don’t have a scheduled return to Sydney in 2019 but you never know what is around the corner!

BLAK BOX 10 January - 2 February Blacktown Showground @ Richmond Road,

BLAK BOX Urban Theatre Projects (UTP) is delighted to install its surroundsound pavilion, BLAK BOX at Blacktown Showgrounds in the heart of Western Sydney, from 9 January to 2 February 2019, in partnership with Sydney Festival and Blacktown Arts.

Blacktown The state-of-the-art surround-sound space captured the

www.urbantheatre.com.au

imagination of Sydney-siders when unveiled earlier this year at Barangaroo and now a brand-new program of works – Four Winds – has been curated by Daniel Browning with elders, young people and musicians from Blacktown, Australia’s most populous First Peoples community. Four Winds draws on the oral history and speculative future of Blacktown and Greater Western Sydney from the perspective to Blacktown Elders and teenagers.

Four Winds explores the need for greater dialogue between younger and older Aboriginal people - both of whose voices can go unheard in the national conversation. Four Winds is both a remembering of the past and a collective vision for the future.

BLAK BOX 10 January - 2 February Blacktown Showground

BLAK BOX The artists, 94 year old elder Uncle Wes Marne, Senior darug Elder Aunty Edna Watson and teens Savarna Russell and Shaun Millwood speak to each other across a silence - a divide or gulf -

@ Richmond Road,

engaging each other in a dialogue that bridges generational

Blacktown

divides. The work is informal and inquisitive, sombre and funny, gentle and insistent, powerfully highlighting the urgent

www.urbantheatre.com.au

need for all their voices to be heard.

The pavilion — which glows luminously from dusk - straddles sound, creative writing, contemporary architecture and temporary public art. First presented at Barangaroo in Sydney’s CBD in June 2019, the pavilion recently won Silver in the annual DrivenXDesign NOW Awards. Architect Kevin O'Brien hopes Blak Box can act as a mechanism for daydreaming and convey, "an idea of contemporary Aboriginality".

BLAK BOX Is this a live performance or is it recorded?

Blak Box Four Winds is a pre recorded intergenerational conversation between 2 Aboriginal elders and 2 teenagers with a soundtrack sung in the Darug language by celebrated song woman Emma Donovan and composer Eric Avery. Audience members are also invited to attend the Sunset Sessions featuring live performances, DJs and talks happening before and after the Blak Box listening sessions.

Why the box? And do the audience sit inside or do they remain standing?

Blak Box is an award-winning architecturally designed listening space with state of the art surround sound and immersive lighting elements. The box is designed to not have a floor but is instead connected to the country where it is installed and tells the stories of that local country by the local First People of that country. Audiences are seated around the perimeter of the circular interior.

BLAK BOX The conversations/ stories, what are they about?

Four Winds explores the need for greater dialogue between younger and older Aboriginal people - both of whose voices can go unheard in the national conversation. Four Winds is both a remembering of the past and a collective vision for the future.

The artists, one a 96 year old elder Uncle Wes Marne, Senior Darug Elder Aunty Edna Watson and teens Savarna Russell and Shaun Millwood ask each other questions that help to bridge a generational divide. Â The work is informal and inquisitive, sombre and funny, gentle and insistent, powerfully highlighting the urgent need for all their voices to be heard. Â How does music play a part in the audiences experience?

Songwoman, Emma Donovan, whose family have created and made music together for generations in the Blacktown area, responds to the stories in song with Darug words gifted by Aunty Edna. Emma has collaborated with violinist Eric Avery whose compositions seamlessly merge deep cultural traditions with classical forms.

Aunty Edna Watson Uncle Wes Marne

SUPPRESSION DAM 12 & 13 January

SUPPRESSION DAM Ensemble Offspring, Casula Powerhouse and Sydney Festival

Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre @ 1 Powerhouse Rd, Casula www.casulapowerhouse.com

present three celebrated international art music ensembles – Ensemble Offspring (Sydney), International Contemporary Ensemble (New York/Chicago) and Ensemble Adapter (Berlin) – combined to form a supergroup performing a surround sound concert in the vast Casula Powerhouse turbine hall.

Experience the work of expatriate Australian composers Kate Moore and Natasha Anderson, performed with amplified classical instruments and electronics inside a decommissioned power plant.

Kate Moore’s award-winning industrial chamber composition The Dam showcases her inimitable swirling rhythmic sound world, while Anderson’s experimental ensemble work Cleave uses spatialised electronics, processed samples and live instruments to create a soundscape of refracted sonic mirrors.

SUPPRESSION DAM 12 & 13 January

SUPPRESSION DAM Opening the performance is choral composer Alice Chance’sÂ

Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre @ 1 Powerhouse Rd, Casula www.casulapowerhouse.com

communal sound art project Audience Choir.

Master Chef Federico has designed a main course at Bellbird Dining & Bar (on site) that unites New York, Berlin and Sydney smoked beef, pickled cabbage (sauerkraut), horseradish, confit baby onions & jus or a vegetarian option based on the best selection of seasonal produce from CPAC's very own kitchen garden.

This is a special offer to enjoy at 6pm after the performance on Saturday, or at 12.30pm, before the performance on Sunday, only $25 with a glass of Artemis wine included! This can be booked at the same time as your concert tickets to make a wonderful event package.

SUPPRESSION DAM How did the three ensembles get together for this work and why?

The leaders of each ensemble all happen to be very like-minded percussionists who have inspired one another for years. Our Artistic Director, Claire, went to Amsterdam Conservatorium with Matthias Engler and worked with Ross Karre with Speak Percussion at the first-ever Mona Foma Festival in Hobart, so there is a big history there between all of us. The plan grew around the idea of going to Sydney, Berlin and New York reciprocally, so although another two cities will get to hear these works, Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre will be both the premiere, and the only Australian opportunity. For years we have found the Powerhouse turbine hall awe-inspiring, and wanted to program music written especially for the space which uses its spaciousness to its advantage.

Is all the music played live?

The music is all live – but that can mean so many things! For instance, something unusual for an Ensemble Offspring show is the inclusion of a full-sized harp (played by Gunhilder from the German group Ensemble Adapter) with extended techniques being performed on it (that is when you stick things on the strings to make them buzz or use a bow to sound them instead of plucking) – it will be something to behold! Zubin, our pianist, will be playing a Korg Minologue, which is a new type of synthesiser which none of us have seen or performed on before. We’ve got electric bass as well as double bass. There will also be electronic playback mixed with the twelve acoustic instrumental parts, which goes to create an otherworldly sound world.

SUPPRESSION DAM What is the meaning behind the titles The Dam and Cleave?

Composer Kate Moore tells us that her prizewinning work The Dam is drawn from the thousands of tiny sounds of creatures that cluster around a water source at night, each individually minute but together, overwhelming. “Their evening song becomes a great choir joyously singing out into the vast universe. It is possible from far away to hear where the waterhole is without being able to see it.” Natasha Anderson chose Cleave as a way to reflect the structure of the piece. ‘Cleave’ is a Janus word – it is its own opposite, describing elements both clinging together and severing.

What have the Offspring Ensemble got planned for the rest of the year?

2019 is going to be a massive year for Ensemble Offspring, so it’s fitting that we will roar into the season with a work of this scale. We are currently developing a new chamber work with Scottish composer Genevieve Murphy, which will premiere at Gaudeamus in Utrecht, the Netherlands as part of a whole European tour we will be taking on. But we also have lots going on closer to home, including our two-day Kontiki Racket in Paddington Town Hall, and our beloved annual event, Sizzle, at Petersham Bowling Club. So keep watching to see us pop up all around Sydney!

OUR FREE EVENT PICKS Circus Comes to Town

Symphony Under the Stars

11 - 13 January

19 January

Prince Alfred Square, Parramatta

The Crescent @Parramatta Park, Parramatta

Free Mallakhambindia performances Marvel at Heliosphere  Turn your bicycle into a flying flame machine to join the opening parade.

Aerialize are also back with affordable circus skills workshops for all ages and abilities, along with our outdoor Flying Trapeze workshops.

Settle back and enjoy one of Sydney's most loved free event of the year.

Conducted by Benjamin Northey, the Sydney Symphony Orchestra performs a selection of iconic film music and well-known classical favourites by Rossini, Strauss, Tchaikovsky and more.

The Vigil at Barangaroo Reserve 25 January Barangaroo Reserve Gather at dusk at Barangaroo Reserve for the lighting of the fire. An overnight vigil will be held to reflect on the impact of colonisation in Australia, the significance of the day before the First Fleet arrived, and what happened after.

There will be musical performances and stories of Country from current and future community Elders.

OUR FREE EVENT PICKS Moon Drops at Darling Harbour

The Dollar Bin Darlings 10 - 26 January

9 - 28 January Darling Harbour Experience weightlessness inside the earth’s gravitational pull and float through the air, with giant bouncy droplets Moon Drops.

International designers Jasmax collaborated with Alt Group and Auckland Council Public Arts team to create these super-sized water-filled droplets.

Magic Mirror Spiegeltent @ Hyde Park The Dollar Bin Darlings will be throwing the late night party ‘Disco in the Mirror Ball’ every Friday and Saturday night in the Spiegeltent, and playing disco in the Festival Garden from the afternoon into the evening, Thursdays through to Sundays.