Festival Director: Lindy Hume
The enormously popular Festival First Night kicked off in the afternoon with Lah-Lah’s Big Band and circus company Circa. In the evening, Hyde Park turned into a vaudevillian playground. Audiences could see Eddie Perfect’s musical comedy Misanthropology, Nashville’s The Dynamites with Charles Walker and iOTA and the cast of Smoke & Mirrors. Over at The Domain Nukkan Ya Ruby celebrated the life and music of Ruby Hunter with acts like Amos Roach, Paul Kelly, Renee Geyer, Dan Sultan and Archie Roach. Emmylou Harris and her Red Dirt Boys rounded it out with dazzling Americana music.
During the Festival, John Malkovich’s performance in The Giacomo Variations sparked great debate amongst audiences and critics alike, while Philip Glass returned with the Kronos Quartet to soundtrack 1931’s Dracula live.
The newest addition to the annual free outdoor program, Festival Inside Out, brought the Australian Chamber Orchestra and Sydney Dance Company out of the theatre and into a relaxed parkland environment.
90,000 people registered for John Baldessari: Your Name In Lights, gathering outside the Australian Museum to see their names projected in bright lights. Others gathered on the University of Sydney Quadrangle for A Night At The Quad: Music and Movies, where bands combined with film; highlights included Kev Carmody and One Night The Moon; The Pigram Brothers and Alex Lloyd with Mad Bastards, and Decoder Ring with Somersault.
FESTIVAL FIRST NIGHT
Lah-Lah's Big Band, Circa, Eddie Perfect's Misanthropology, The Dynamites with Charles Walker, iOTA with Smoke & Mirrors, First Contact (projection piece), DJ NOMAD, Nukka Ya Ruby with Amos Roach, Dave Arden, Paul Kelly, Renee Geyer, Tiddas, Dan Sultan & Archie Roach; Emmylou Harris & Red Dirt Boys (Domain headline), Hanggai, Daara J Family, Arrested Development
THEATRE
The Giacomo Variations
John Malkovich
The Red Shoes
Based on the fairytale by Hans Christian Andersen
Kneehigh Theatre
My Bicycle Loves You
Legs On The Wall
A Life In Three Acts
Written and performed by Bette Bourne and Mark Ravenhill
Director: Mark Ravenhill
Bigger Than Jesus
Created by Rick Miller and Daniel Brooks
Snow On Mars
Kim Carpenter's Theatre Of Image
Minto: Live
Campbelltown Arts Centre
Lone Twin (UK), Gwendoline Robin (BEL), Hetain Patel (IND/UK), Nicole Barakat (AUS), Caitlin Newton Broad & Howard Matthews (UK/AUS), Blood & Thunder Press (AUS), Sweet Tonic Choir (AUS), Freddie Hill (AUS)
DANCE
Entity
Wayne McGregor / Random Dance
Trocadero Dance Palace at Sydney Town Hall
Festival Inside Out: Sydney Dance Company & Australian Chamber Orchestra
Music and dance under the stars
OPERA
Ghost Opera & A Chinese Home
Kronos Quartet and Wu Man
CABARET
Smoke & Mirrors
Directed by Craig Ilott
Created by Craig Ilott and iOTA
Eddie Perfect in Misanthropology
Director: Craig Ilott
ABOUT AN HOUR
Food Chain
Gavin Webber & Grayson Millwood (Animal Farm Collective)
Good Cop Bad Cop
Kassys
Driven to New Pastures
Rosie Dennis
2 Dimensional Life of Her
Fleur Elise Noble
My Girlfriend's Boyfriend
Mike Birbiglia
The Adventures Of Alvin Sputnik: Deep Sea Explorer
Perth Theatre Company, Weeping Spoon Productions
Invisible Atom
2b theatre company
East London West Sydney
Jonzi D, BrothaBlack, Sarah Sayeed, MC Trey, Maxwell Golden
Super Night Shot
Gob Squad
FILM
Dracula: The Music and Film
Philip Glass and Kronos Quartet
Conductor: Michael Riesman
Live Music: Archie Roach
Film: The Tracker
Live Music: Decoder Ring
Film: Somersault
Live Music: Kev Carmody
Film: One Night the Moon
Live Music: The Necks
Film: The Boys
Live Music: The Pigram Brothers and Alex Lloyd
Film: Mad Bastards
MUSIC
An Evening of Chamber Music with Philip Glass & Wendy Sutter
Beach House
Beck's Festival Bar: Aloe Blacc & The Grand Scheme, Benji B, Waajeed & Africa Hitech
Beck's Festival Bar: Arrested Development & The Last Kinection
Beck's Festival Bar: Beach House & Parades
Beck's Festival Bar: Cobblestone Jazz, Mathew Jonson & Murat Kilic (Reckless Republic)
Beck's Festival Bar: DJ Harvey & DJ Garth
Beck's Festival Bar: FBi Night: Gold Panda, Djanimals & Kyu
Beck's Festival Bar: FBi Night: Holy Fuck & My Disco
Beck's Festival Bar: Future Classic: Henrik Schwarz
Beck's Festival Bar: Mad Racket: Octave One (Live)
Beck's Festival Bar: The Dynamites featuring Charles Walker, I Like It Like That Orchestra & Russ Dewbury (Jazz Rooms)
Beck's Festival Bar: The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion & Super Wild Horses
Beck's Festival Bar: Wire, HEALTH, Popfrenzy DJs
Colm Mac Con Iomaire
Emmylou Harris and her Red Dirt Boys
Gotye
Hanggai
Holly Golightly & The Brokeoffs
Kitty, Daisy & Lewis
Lah Lah's Musical Wonderland
Lah Lah's Big Band
Los Lobos
Mountain Man
Olof Arnalds
Orkestra del Sol
Owen Pallett
Paul Kelly
Royal Crown Revue
Sufjan Stevens
Summer Sounds in The Domain: Los Lobos
Symphony In The Domain - Midsummer Shakespeare
Sydney Symphony, Bell Shakespeare, Sydney Philharmonia Choirs
The Unthanks
Tomasz Stanko Quartet
Villagers
Wu Man
EXHIBITIONS & INSTALLATIONS
John Baldessari: Your Name In Lights
Edge of Elsewhere
Campbelltown Arts Centre, 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art
Artists: Brook Andrew, Arahmaiani, Richard Bell, Dacchi Dang, Newell Harry, FX Harsono, Shigeyuki Kihara, Jun Nguyen-Hatsushiba, Lisa Reihana, Khaled Sabsabi, Phaptawan Suwannakudt, Michel Tuffery and Young-Hae Chang Heavy Industries.
Earth
Ho Tzu Nyen
Live: An Intimate Video Study Of The Art Of Performing
Curator: Jasmin Tarasin
Artists: Jarvis Cocker, Jim James (My Morning Jacket), Peaches, Feist, Róisín Murphy, Lisa Kekeula (The Bellrays), Jimmy Little, Ron Peno, Sarah Blasko, Dan Kelly, Kim Salmon, Laura Jean, Gareth Liddiard (The Drones), Warren Ellis, Clare Bowditch, Martha Wainwright, Juliette Lewis, Julian Hamilton (The Presets), Rufus Wainwright, Kram (Spiderbait)
Exposed: Photography & The Classical Nude
Power Plant at Darling Harbour
Mark Anderson, Anne Bean, Jony Easterby, Kirsten Reynolds, Ulf Pedersen
TALKS
Festival Keynote: Hope 2011 - stories that must be told
Host: Wendy Harmer
Speakers: Geoff Huegill, John Bell, Samah Hadid, Low Kee Hong, Larissa Behrendt
Performers: Emma Donovan, Colm Mac Con Iomaire and Lenka.
Festival World Café
John Malkovich in conversation with Jim Sharman
Microscope: Festival artists in conversation with Caroline Baum
John Baldesarri, Patrick Nolan, Rafael Bonachela, Mike Shepherd, Patrycja Kujawska, Grayson Milwood, Gavin Webber, Gob Squad
Paul Kelly in conversation with Richard Kingsmill
Philip Glass in conversation with Paul Grabowsky
AUSTRALIA DAY
Ferrython
