Sydney Festival 2014 opens today in anexplosion of exceptional theatre, dance, music, visual arts, film and more thatwill bring the harbour city to life from January 9-26.
Sydney Festival 2014 is comprised of 106 events, 21 of which are free. With 372performances across 33 indoor and outdoor venues, Sydney Festival 2014 features722 artists from 80 companies across 17 countries, in 10 world premieres, 4Australian premieres and 13 Australian exclusives.
View the multimedia assets at:
http://www.multivu.com/players/English/63912-sydney-festival-2014/
(Photo: http://photos.prnasia.com/prnh/20140109/8521400035)
In Sydney¡¯s famous outdoor venue The Domain, two fantastic free events are setto delight, kicking off with Chicago¡¯s R¡¯n'B, soul and disco diva Chaka Khan (
http://www.sydneyfestival.org.au/2014/Music/Summer-Sounds-in-The-Domain-with-Chaka-Khan/
)on the opening weekend, and Sydney Symphony Orchestra performing GustavHolst¡¯s astrological suite The Planets, conducted by Hamburg State OperaArtistic Director Simone Young, in Symphony in the Domain (http://www.sydneyfestival.org.au/symphony ).
Against a backdrop of some of the world¡¯s greatest theatre and dance, newAustralian works of magnitude and cultural importance dominate this year¡¯stheatre program. The world premiere of Black Diggers (http://www.sydneyfestival.org.au/diggers )(directed by Wesley Enoch and writtenby Tom Wright) unfolds the untold stories of 1000 Indigenous soldiers whofought in World War One, whilst Michael Kantor and Tom E. Lewis¡¯ indigenousre-working of King Lear in The Shadow King (http://www.sydneyfestival.org.au/king ) has recently premiered to a rousingreception by audiences in Melbourne, Australia.
A highlight of the 2014 program is Henry Purcell¡¯s romantic tragedy Dido &Aeneas ( http://www.sydneyfestival.org.au/dido ) in Sasha Waltz¡¯s wondrousreimagining of the great opera, featuring stunning choreography, a prologueperformed in a giant fish tank underwater, and celebrated Baroque orchestraAkademie fur Alte Musik Berlin ( http://www.sydneyfestival.org.au/akademie ).
Internationally acclaimed choreographer Shaun Parker returns to Sydney Festivalwith the world premiere of Am I ( http://www.sydneyfestival.org.au/ami ),whilst Halina Reijn performs the lead role in the retelling of the 1927monologue by Jean Cocteau in La Voix Humaine (http://www.sydneyfestival.org.au/humaine ). Philip Glass presents a live scoreto Godfrey Reggio¡¯s Visitors ( http://www.sydneyfestival.org.au/visitors )following its premiere at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival, andafter a five month sell out season on London¡¯s Southbank LIMBO(http://www.sydneyfestival.org.au/limbo) returns to heat up the 1920sSpeigeltent in the wildly expanded Festival Village.
In Parramatta ( http://www.sydneyfestival.org.au/parramatta ) in Sydney¡¯s west,the favourite free event Parramatta Opening Party (http://www.sydneyfestival.org.au/pop ) is back with free music and festivalfun, and everyone¡¯s favourite yellow friend Rubber Duck (http://www.sydneyfestival.org.au/duck ) is back too!