Get your summer culture fix as the city bursts with live entertainment this January
With a huge line up of events to suit all ages and interests, the Sydney Festival returns this year with a bumper schedule to celebrate its 50th anniversary.
The event, which runs from 8 to 25 January, will be the first edition for festival director Kris Nelson. “I’ve loved and admired (the Sydney Festival) from afar for years and have had the lucky chance to work with so many Australian artists when I was directing festivals and living in Ireland, and then in the UK,” Kris says.
“The Sydney festival is like no other festival around the world. It’s an incredible opportunity to connect with some of the leading Australian artists and some really amazing people from around the world.”
The festival has a combination of free and ticketed events, covering theatre, music, dance, installation and live performances.
To mark the 50 year anniversary there will be a huge, free concert in Tumbalong Park in Darling Harbour with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. The event will be held on 17 January and will feature First Nations orchestral work, followed by a journey through 50 years of Sydney Festival moments with archival footage and live music from the orchestra.
Mama Does Derby will transform Town Hall
Efectos Especiales is a free show merging dance and cinema
“It’s a full-on festival program with lots of different kinds of things and works for people of all ages,” Kris says.
There are some special shows on offer, including the free event, Efectos Especiales, which merges dance and cinema. It will turn the streets of Walsh Bay into an action movie set where extraordinary and unpredictable events unfold in real time. Efectos Especiales will be held on 10 January on Hickson Road.
Sydney Town Hall will be converted into a full-scale roller derby track for Mama Does Derby, a heartwarming and action-packed work by Virginia Gay and Clare Watson. The show, which runs from 15 to 22 January, is about a single mum, a teenage daughter and a new life in a regional town.
To see the full program and to book tickets, visit the Sydney Festival website.
Sydney Festival
8 to 25 January sydneyfestival.org.au