Life Begins At.....
Issue link: http://ebook.aprs.com.au/i/23233
SUMMER FESTIVALS SYDNEY CELEBRATE summer in the Harbour City { Sydney Festival is now one of Australia’s largest annual cultural events. For three weeks every January the Festival fills venues across the city with local and international theatre, music, dance, film and talks, attracting one million enthusiastic locals and visitors alike. Although the Festival has been an annual event since 1977, it has gone through a continued transformation, never afraid to try new things. This is aided by the fact that the Artistic Director changes every three to four years, with each bringing their own distinctive flavour to the mix. The current director, Lindy Hume, may have an international reputation as an opera director, but she is also very firmly Sydney born and bred. At the heart of her 2011 program is the very simple art of storytelling. It may be by acclaimed American actor John Malkovich musing on the life of Giacomo Casanova; a re-telling of Han Christian Andersen’s version of The Red Shoes; or Rosie Dennis telling the story of some displaced elderly residents in Minto – the Festival program acknowledges that we all have a story to tell. The Festival tries to appeal to a broad audience – there is Lah-Lah for the littlies through to UK choreographer’s Wayne McGregor’s Random Dance Company with Entity. McGregor was most recently in Australia with his work Dyad 1929, performed by the Australian Ballet. A cornerstone of the Festival is undoubtedly its free events – The Domain Concerts are a firm favourite, attracting up to 80,000 people – there is simply nothing else like it and it’s definitely as much about friends and families sharing a picnic, as it is about the music. THE RETIREE SUMMER 99 {