With eight world premieres, 17 Australian premieres and 15 events exclusive to Melbourne Festival, 2015 is shaping up to be a massive program drawing on the best from Australia and the world. Over 18 days in October, the Festival will present 74 events by artists and companies from countries including Iceland, Faroe Islands, Israel, UK, Mali, USA, China, Sweden, France, Canada and Germany.
Presenting a series of one-off, unique gigs will see Flight Facilities combine their electro stylings with the
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, UK singer/songwriter Laura Marling perform a special acoustic set at Hamer Hall and Patti Smith’s seminal Horses celebrated with a performance from Courtney Barnett, Jen Cloher, Adalita and Gareth Liddiard in tribute to the albums’ 40th anniversary. On top of this, guitar virtuoso John McLaughlin (Miles Davis, Mahavishnu Orchestra) will be shredding his way into town as well as Clint Mansell, Babylon Circus, The Field, The Fall, Rhye, The Basics, Katie Noonan, George Maple, Bombay Royale, Cut Copy DJs and more.
For the first time, Melbourne audiences will be treated to the hit West End adaptation of George Orwell’s dystopian masterpiece 1984. Backing up the quality theatre selection is Nobel Laureate Toni Morrison as she takes on Shakespeare’s fiery angel in Desdemona and work from acclaimed NYC company PS122.
Purposefully selected events have been chosen to provoke thought and further the experience viewers take home from the program, encouraging festivalgoers to reflect upon their experiences. Language, Performance and Power: Reflecting on 1984 in 2015, Aural Contract: The Voice Before the Law, George Orwell’s 1984: A Live Reading at the Legislative Assembly Chamber in Victoria’s Parliament House and the Eyes Without a Face: Surveillance in Cinema program at ACMI all aim to incite debate and thought.
Dance highlights include Israel’s Batsheva Dance Company presenting two exhilarating works by Ohad Naharin with Decadence and Last Work alongside world renowned dance theatre from Belgium’s 32 Rue Vandenbranden in Peeping Tom. To cap it off, Spiegeltent favourite LIMBO will make its long awaited Melbourne debut featuring a blend of cabaret, circus and acrobatics that has brought the production sell-out success overseas.
In her third and final year of curating the festival, artistic director Josephine Ridge stated the aim was to both inspire and provoke audiences. “The festival continues to mine the depths of creativity with the many partnerships with other artists and organisations that make the cultural life of this city so extraordinarily rich. We also place an examining lense on some burning issues of today”, she said.
