Welcome
Messages
Carrillo Gantner AO
President
This is the first Festival I have been
involved in as President of the
Board, but I have enjoyed almost
every Melbourne Festival since the
very beginning.
In 2010 Melbourne Festival
celebrates 25 years of bringing the
finest contemporary art to our city. I
think back with great pleasure on
so many outstanding performances
and shows from all around the globe
that the Festival has brought us.
Peter Batchelor MP
Robert Doyle
Premier
Minister for the Arts
Lord Mayor, City of Melbourne
Artistic Director
The Melbourne International Arts
Festival is a great highlight on
Victoria’s thriving cultural calendar.
When the Victorian Government
established an international arts
festival 25 years ago, it was with
a bold vision to bring the best of
the world’s arts to local audiences.
Since then, the Festival has inspired
Melbourne with an extraordinary
array of arts experiences – from
the provocative to the whimsical,
from living legends to artists at the
cutting edge.
It is my great pleasure to welcome
you to the 2010 Melbourne
International Arts Festival program.
Hello and welcome to the 2010
Melbourne Festival.
John Brumby MP
With events from 29 countries, this
year’s program represents a chance
for us all to experience the best
in contemporary art from around
the world, while at the same time
shining the spotlight on our own
incredibly gifted arts community.
Throughout October we warmly
welcome artists and art lovers from
interstate and overseas to celebrate
our great city.
The extensive program of events
planned for this year’s Festival is
the result of a lot of hard work by
The Melbourne Festival is one of
many dedicated individuals. But
hard work and artistic brilliance are the world’s premier arts events and
of immense cultural and economic
only part of the story. A Festival of
significance to Victoria.
this size and calibre would not be
possible without significant financial Our Government has proudly
contribution from our government
supported this wonderful cultural
partners, our generous sponsors
event since it began 25 years ago,
and our invaluable personal donors, and I invite all Victorians to get
the Patrons Circle members. It is
involved and see why it is one of the
thanks to them that we can all enjoy world’s best.
this 25th Melbourne Festival.
Make the most of the
Festival on a budget.
Discounts apply for most
ticketed events. See page
72 for all the details.
For the latest Festival news, detailed
program info and updates, clips,
images and a wealth of extras visit
www.melbournefestival.com.au
It has also provided a high profile,
international platform for our
local artists to continue to shine
alongside their international
contemporaries.
This year’s Festival again sees
extraordinary local talent among
the 13 world and 15 Australian
premiere works as part of a
program that will make the city buzz
with excitement and creative energy.
I’ll be taking in as much as I can,
and hope that you do too!
Understanding the
Symbols in this Guide
Melbourne Festival is not just
a festival in Melbourne, but
importantly is a festival for
Melbourne. And once again it’s set
to take over the city with a huge
array of events and exhibitions
happening in galleries, theatres,
music venues and outdoor spaces.
The 2010 Festival program has
something for all arts lovers to
enjoy, whatever their budget – from
the free opening night spectacular
aerial theatre show K@osmos
to the huge contemporary music
celebration at the Forum featuring
nine eclectic international groups
and 12 great local acts.
The City of Melbourne is proud
to support the 25th Melbourne
International Arts Festival.
Take a look at this guide and
discover a world of art at your
Melbourne Festival.
Event is either 50% or 100%
visual and can be enjoyed by
people who are deaf or hard
of hearing
Venue is wheelchair accessible
Venue has a sound
amplification system
Event qualifies for a
Discount Package
Event qualifies for a Matinee/
Twilight Discount Package
Brett Sheehy
Last year we embarked on a
Festival vision focussing on
innovation, excellence, accessibility,
affordability and the broadest
possible engagement.
This year that vision is further
enhanced, and we do so with the
most contemporary work from
the current artistic Zeitgeist. In
particular, threads which have
emerged in artworks created here
and internationally include vivid
explorations of mortality, spirituality,
transition and transcendence. And
as with much contemporary art
practice, the boundaries between
the artform silos of old continue to
blur, morph and dissolve, giving
us everything from an installation
opera set in a gallery space to
visual artworks which began their
lives on the opera stage. Indeed,
it is frequently impossible to
describe the works in this program
exclusively as drama, opera, dance,
music concert or art exhibition
(though we have kept genre
descriptions in the Planner as a
guide). The artistic endeavours you
encounter are best characterised
simply as ‘works of art’, created by
some of the finest creative minds of
our times.
Many of the key initiatives of
the 2009 program are further
explored this year – a new
raft of Australian debuts in the
contemporary music program at
the Forum; further interrogation of
current dance-opera; the collision
of visual imagery and technical
wizardry in myriad productions
and presentations; and for our free
outdoor opening we counterpoint
the 19th Century aerial aesthetic of
Transe Express with the 21st Century
aerial aesthetic of Grupo Puja!.
Of the 90 8 artists presenting their
work for you, 658 are Australian
and 250 are International, with
many of the international artists
realising their Australian debuts,
as we continue to traverse genres
and geographies to find the most
significant artworks for our time
and place.
As well, much of the program is
exclusive to our city, distinguishing
Melbourne as Australia’s
‘destination festival’ – for the nation
and the region.
I also want to welcome to the
Festival its first Principal Partner
in eight years – FOXTEL. It is
especially appropriate in these
years of growth and innovation
that our partner is a dynamic,
young company with national reach.
I look forward to seeing you at this,
the 25th edition of Melbourne’s
premier cultural event, and I
especially look forward to having
a post-show chat and a drink at
Seventh Heaven, the Festival’s
new-look artist and audience
lounge (see page 33).
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