2009 melbourne international arts festival
October 09, 2009
Artistic Director, Brett Sheehy presents his first Melbourne International Arts Festival with a powerful and emotive program of work from some of the world’s most exciting artists in 76 events, comprising 22 world premieres, and 16 Australian premieres from artists across 26 countries.
The 2009 Festival presents international works drawn from every art form - opera, outdoor spectacle, visual arts, symphonic music, dance and theatre to hybrid arts, techno, heavy metal and neo punk - for a unique celebration of contemporary arts.
There are free and low-cost events, and students can attend nearly every single performance for just $25, making even the most astonishing international opera, symphonic music, dance, theatre or hybrid arts incredibly accessible.
The 2009 Festival opens with an outdoor celebration featuring Transe Express performing its signature masterpiece Mischievous Bells in a spectacular free event across four nights. Festival highlights include the exclusive presentation of British film great and guest of the Festival Peter Greenaway’s multimedia extravaganza
Leonardo’s Last Supper; the phenomenal Körper from European dance sensation Sasha Waltz, the acclaimed double bill Uprising and In your rooms from UK’s hottest contemporary dance group Hofesh Shechter Company; Sasha Waltz & Guests delve into the Greek tragedy Medea with a ravishingly beautiful opera; the
magnificent London Philharmonic Orchestra with Principal Conductor Vladimir Jurowski, and to close out the Festival, the world premiere of dirtsong from Indigenous Australian ensemble The Black Arm Band with special guest Jimmy Barnes.
Melbourne’s iconic Forum Theatre will be transformed into Beck’s Rumpus Room as the party hub of Melbourne Festival, with 27 international and local acts over 11 nights and a flat ticket price of $15. With a visual arts program that is spectacular in its scale and specificity and of a magnitude which is rarely undertaken in Melbourne, there will be ambitious new projects by local and international artists, significant group exhibitions and recent historical work.
“My career has been dedicated to debuting for Australian audiences some of the great artists of the world, and through this Festival, Australian audiences will begin a dialogue with an extraordinary array of artists who command the world’s stages and galleries but whose work has been, until now, unseen by us,” Mr Sheehy said.
Launching on Friday 9 October and running until 24 October there are a diverse and entertaining range of events to attend.
A full program is available at www.melbournefestival.com.au
