We are delighted at the variety of musical acts, performances and showcases that have highlighted both local and international talent in our hometown of Bathurst. These programs enhance the lifestyle of the region, and supports our desire of raising the financial and social well-being of our community.

Reliance Bank has supported the financial well-being of Bathurst and thesurrounding communities for more than 50 years. Our history of being one of the first Customer Owned banking institutions established in Bathurst provides us with an understanding and connection to the region. Being a good corporate citizen that plays an important role within the community is something we are very proud of.

The level of community support we provide to over 100 organisations and charities across the region and our long standing association with BMEC is a great example of how a locally owned banking institution can help improve the well-being of the region. During the past twelve months, Reliance has donated over $300,000 to local charities, community events, schools and sporting organisations.

We are extremely pleased to be the Principal Sponsor of BMEC and we wish them and their audiences an entertaining and memorable 2020 season.

MARK GENOVESE

CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER

A MESSAGE FROM THE CENTRE MANAGER

The launch of the Annual Season is always a wonderful time for us at BMEC and we anxiously anticipate the quality, diversity, challenge and joy the Annual Season offers you, our community. The Annual Season represents at least two years of searching, planning and negotiating. Two years of scanning the country and overseas to bring you the very best in the performing arts that is available to us.

We are also very proud of the local contribution to the Annual Season. Our aim is to include at least one new local work each year, supporting the development of local performing arts capacity and ensuring that local stories are part of the mix that you see on stage. The works we support in this field of endeavour are world premieres which have generally had at least a three year gestation.
In 2018 we brought you The Climbing Tree which then toured to Parramatta Riverside Theatres and which we hope will return in 2021 followed by a national tour. 2018 also saw the superb collaboration between the Mitchell Chamber Orchestra and the Western Sydney based MC L-Fresh the Lion. In 2019 we supported the premiere of Mighty by the wonderful local physical theatre company Lingua Franca in association with the acclaimed sculptor Harrie Fasher. The 2020 Season includes the play Kangaroo, a new play with great depth and resonance by a new local playwright Miranda Gott. It will be a highlight of the coming season.

In 2020 we continue our exceptional Principal Sponsor relationship with Reliance Bank, a 21 year relationship which has allowed the stability to expand and take risk. In 2020 we mark a point where our second longest sponsorship supporter, Ben Gelin joined by wife Martha, has made the wonderful decision to increase sponsorship in the support of our Local Stages program and the development of local performing arts practice. We will soon announce a donation program where you, as individuals or businesses, can join this support of local performing arts practice at a level that is comfortable for you. We see this project as the cornerstone of our future relevance locally, nationally and internationally.

STEPHEN CHAMPION
CENTRE MANAGER

Gold and platinum award winner, Karen Knowles is one of Australia’s favourite singers. Star of the musical BIG RIVER and lead singer with The Seekers in the early 1990s, Karen started her career on Young Talent Time and became the highest selling Australian female recording artist for two consecutive years.

Karen’s best known hits include Why Won’t You Explain, You are the Reason, By Request, La Vie en Rose, Amazing Grace and Moonglow.

The lovely Karen Knowles will perform with musical director Beverley Kennedy on piano and Caerwen Martin on cello.

“ONE OF THIS COUNTRY’S BEST SINGERS”   Australian Stage

“BEST SHOW I HAVE SEEN FOR MANY A DAY. COME BACK SOON PLEASE!” Audience member

Set sail on the high seas with Gilbert & Sullivan’s beloved comedy of star-crossed lovers, mismatched marriages and mistaken identities. Award winning director, Kate Gaul, makes her Hayes Theatre Co debut with this re-imagined, gender-bending, hyper-theatrical and kinky take on this Gilbert & Sullivan classic.

This nautical caper is overflowing with infectious tunes such as I am the Monarch of the Sea, I’m Called Little Buttercup and He is an Englishman. H.M.S. Pinafore is a sharp satire of the English social hierarchical system of the Victorian Age.

Pinafore’s extraordinary popularity in Britain, America and elsewhere was followed by the similar success of a series of Gilbert & Sullivan works, including The Pirates of Penzance and The Mikado. Don’t miss out on this rollicking farce and get set for some hysterical hi-jinks on the high seas.

Music by Arthur Sullivan Libretto by W. S. Gilbert 

PHOTO: HARVEY HOUSE PRODUCTIONS
(MODEL LARA LIGHFOOT; HAIR & MAKEUP NATALIA LADYKO)

MOZART HORN QUINTET
THE ENCHANTED CALL OF THE HUNTING HORN

Virtuoso Australian horn player Carla Blackwood returns to Bathurst to perform with The Australian Haydn Ensemble after ten years performing in Europe. The Ensemble is delighted to welcome her back to perform Mozart’s much-loved Horn Quintet alongside his string quartet The Hunt and Haydn’s Fifths.

Mozart completed his delightful Horn Quintet in 1782 for the horn player Ignaz Joseph Leutgeb, an old friend of the family from Salzburg. Throughout, the horn is called upon to match the agility and range of the string instruments, so much so that Alfred Einstein has described the Andante as “a little love duet between horn and violin”. The fast outer movements are touched by some of the same humour that characterised the friendship between Mozart and Leutgeb.

PROGRAM
HAUFF Horn Quintet in E Flat Major
MICHAEL HAYDN Romance in A Flat Major for Horn and String Quartet (arrangement of Mozart’s Horn Concerto slow movement)
MOZART String Quartet No 17 in B Flat Major K 458 The Hunt
HAYDN String Quartet Op. 76 No.2 Fifths in D Minor
MOZART Horn Quintet in E Flat Major K 407

Backbone examines the various perceptions of what strength is, where it comes from and how it is measured. This frenetic celebration of human interconnectedness will test the limits of strength: physical, emotional, individual and collective. It is set in the here and now. We won’t be transporting the audience to Verona. We are on a stage. In a theatre. In front of them! Backbone is this amazing circus company’s third work. Their last show A Simple Space, achieved huge international success and has been performed more than 530 times at 76 festivals and theatres across 24 countries.

“MAGNETIC WORLD PREMIERE, A PERFECT COMBINATION OF FLUIDITY, METTLE AND DANGER.”  *****   Limelight Magazine

“WITH BACKBONE, GRAVITY AND OTHER MYTHS HAS PRODUCED SOMETHING SO INTENSELY  BEAUTIFUL IT MAKES YOU PROUD TO BE HUMAN. AND IN OUR CURRENT GLOBAL CLIMATE, THAT’S A RARE AND WONDERFUL THING.” Alison Flett, InDaily

Backbone has been assisted by the Australian Government’s Major Festivals Initiative, through the Confederation of International Arts Festivals Inc. commissioned by Adelaide Festival, Melbourne Festival & Sydney Festival.

PHOTO: CARNIVAL CINEMA

Searching for the secular songs that were sung after church, Jessie Lloyd explores the day to day life on the missions, settlements and reserves through music.

Presented as an acoustic trio, Jessie Lloyd takes audiences on a musical journey across Australia. She engages through intimate storytelling, moving harmonies and historical insights, using humour and truth to share the voices of elders as they would around a warm campfire or kitchen table.

From cultural identity to love and loss, these rare songs performed by an extraordinary trio of Indigenous musicians consist of almost forgotten stories that illuminate the history of our Aboriginal and Torres Strait elders, families and communities.

“…PROFOUNDLY MOVING… THE ENTIRE COLLECTION IS SUBLIME.” The Australian

“THE STORIES ARE HEARTFELT AND BEAUTIFULLY SUNG..” Elizabeth Walton Timber & Steel

Mission Songs Project is produced by Performing Lines and supported by the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body, and the Indigenous Languages and Arts program.

CONCEIVED AND DIRECTED BY TAMARA SAULWICK
COMPOSED BY KATE NEAL
FEATURING GIAN SLATER, GEORGIE DARVIDIS, EDWARD FAIRLIE
AND JOSH KYLE WITH CONTRIBUTING ARTISTS JETHRO WOODWARD, BOSCO SHAW AND MARG HORWELL

Delicately poised between concert and theatre, Permission to Speak explores the dynamic relationship of parent and child as it exists and evolves through a lifetime.

This collaboration between Chamber Made Artistic Director and performance maker Tamara Saulwick and composer Kate Neal pairs contemporary performance with musical composition. Musings, diatribes, recollections and hindsight find voice as four performer–vocalists are fused in choral counterpoint with an assembly of pre-recorded voices to construct a revealing portrait of what is often left unspoken. The work premiered in 2016 to critical and audience acclaim.

Winner ‘State Award for Performance of the Year’ APRA AMCOS Art Music Awards 2017
Nominated ‘Choral Work of the Year’ APRA AMCOS Art Music Awards 2017
Nominated ‘Sound Performance’ in Contemporary and Experimental Performance category Green Room Association Awards 2016. ****½

“THE INTERWEAVING HARMONIES COMPOSED BY KATE NEAL ARE SO BEAUTIFUL, SO DELICATE, THAT IT FEELS LIKE SUCH A PRIVILEGE TO WITNESS THE CREATION OF THIS SOUND ON STAGE … PERFORMED WITH A STYLISED SIMPLICITY THAT IN NO WAY DIMINISHES COMPLEXITY, THIS PIECE IS A SOFT JOY, A CATHARSIS, AN HONEST ACT OF CONNECTING.  Theatre People

“PERMISSION TO SPEAK [IS] REMARKABLE … WHAT DIRECTOR, TAMARA SAULWICK, AND HER CAST AND CREW HAVE MADE IS A PIECE BUILT ON FEROCIOUS DISCIPLINE, YET STILL MANAGES TO FEEL FRESH … SONIC HIGHWIRE ARTISTS WITHOUT A NET, THEY CAUGHT EACH OTHER EVERY TIME.” Australian Arts Review  

Permission to Speak was commissioned by Chamber Made with support from Helen & Peter Murdoch and Sue Kirkham. The project has been assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body. Permission to Speak has also been supported by the City of Melbourne through Arts House and by the Australian Research Council and SIAL Sound Studios through the Agile Opera Project.

In 2020, Sydney Dance Company will explode the everyday and take you into the sublime with an electrifying double bill featuring Rafael Bonachela’s newest creation Impermanence and Melanie Lane’s critically acclaimed WOOF.

IMPERMANENCE SEES ARTISTIC DIRECTOR RAFAEL BONACHELA JOIN FORCES WITH BRYCE DESSNER OF ICONIC AMERICAN ROCK BAND THE NATIONAL WHO WILL COMPOSE A WORLD PREMIERE SCORE THAT EXPLORES THE EPHEMERAL NATURE OF ALL THINGS. COMPLETING THE DOUBLE BILL IS MELANIE LANE’S SMASH-HIT WOOF. SET TO A BOLD ELECTRONIC SCORE BY UK MUSICIAN CLARK, WOOF IMAGINES A FUTURISTIC, APOCALYPTIC FANTASY WITH CHOREOGRAPHY THAT IS ‘WITTY AND FRESH’      ****     The Sydney Morning Herald

2020 IS THE YEAR TO EXPERIENCE DANCE THAT WILL MAKE YOUR HEART BEAT FAST AND YOUR BLOOD RUN HOT. DON’T MISS SYDNEY DANCE COMPANY IN ALL THEIR QUICKSILVER BRILLIANCE.  ****

“A THRILLING DANCE WORK FLUSH WITH WIT AND INVENTION” Daily Review (WOOF)

Bryce Dessner’s music composition Impermanence is commissioned by the Australian String Quartet and Sydney Dance Company. This commission has been assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council for the Arts, its arts funding and advisory body.

PHOTO: PEDRO GREIG

Umberto Clerici conducts the Sydney Symphony in two of the greatest works in the classical repertoire.

Sydney Symphony Concertmaster Andrew Haveron is the soloist in Bruch’s gorgeous Violin Concerto, and Clerici conducts Mozart’s triumphant and exhilarating Jupiter Symphony, undoubtedly one of the greatest symphonies ever written.

PROGRAM

BRUCH Violin Concerto No.1

MOZART Symphony No.41 Jupiter

ARTISTS

CONDUCTOR UMBERTO CLERICI

VIOLIN ANDREW HAVERON

Shipwrecked and separated 25 years earlier, two sets of long-lost twins miraculously find themselves in the same city on the same day. What could possibly go wrong?

The Comedy of Errors is a hilarious romp of swapped identities, misguided love, mistaken imprisonment and chaotic mishaps, leading to an unbelievably crazy day for bumbling twins.

At the heart of this tale of comedic misfortune is an old man searching for his lost children who has found himself in the fight of his life… to save his life. As far-fetched coincidences unfold, chaotic hilarity ensues and a man’s life could be saved — if only everything would go to plan.

Directed by Janine Watson (Romeo and Juliet, Ensemble Theatre’s Unqualified) this is a beautiful story about reunion, wrapped up in an evening of entertainment and laughter.

After a day of mistaken identity leading to unfair thrashings, wrongful arrests and false charges of infidelity, robbery, madness and even demonic possession, can the twins possibly reunite and live happily ever after?

“BELL SHAKESPEARE HAS MASTERED THE ART OF PRESENTING SHAKESPEARE IN A MANNER THAT IS ACCESSIBLE TO THE MODERN-DAY AUDIENCE, WHILE STILL ENDEARING THOSE WHO LOVE THE TRADITION.”   Australian Stage
“BELL SHAKESPEARE – ARGUABLY THE BEST SHAKESPEAREAN THEATRE COMPANY” Herald Sun

DIRECTOR: JANINE WATSON
DESIGNER MELANIE LIERTZ
LIGHTING DESIGNER: KELSEY LEE
COMPOSER & SOUND DESIGNER: BEN PIERPOINT
MOVEMENT DIRECTO: SAMANTHA CHESTER
CAST: JULIA BILLINGTON
DIRECTOR: JANINE WATSON
DESIGNER: MELANIE LIERTZ

Firefly Forest is an immersive magical lighting installation created by Patch Theatre’s new Artistic Director, Geoff Cobham, and his longtime collaborator Chris Petridis.

This timeless piece, inspired by an unexpected sublime moment in a paddy field under a full moon and next to a volcano, is an inspiration for all ages.

Our fireflies leave trails of ever-changing ember coloured light. Please come and sit beneath them and be transported to another time and place.

Glow is an interactive installation that allows playful exploration of light and shadow. Glow will spark your imagination and give you an immersive ‘hands on’ experience you will never forget.

This is a free event.

Writer Miranda Gott
Director Becky Russell

Three strangers, intricately entwined by the events of one fateful night.

In a small regional town, three people share their own funny, yet tragic, stories that cause their lives to converge.

Melissa, a mother at 18, escaping a home life with an emotionally abusive father. Her daughter is now 5, and Melissa is coming to realise that history is repeating itself.

Mick, an enthusiast for his work – tending the sewage facility and collecting the town’s garbage. Once a bright child, betrayal by a trusted adult forms his home-grown philosophy about life’s disposability.

Barbara, a former university lecturer in art, who has made a fresh start in the town with her investment speculator husband. Settling into country life, her academic understanding of death is confronted by the reality of life and death among rural animals.

Kangaroo is a truly inspired new work by a first time playwright based in Bathurst NSW. It weaves and dances, revealing a dark and poetic world of solitude, strength, survival and death.

This work has been supported by ROUTES – a regional partnership between Lingua Franca, Local Stages and Q Theatre.

Caught between her desire for love and a longing for freedom, Carmen faces an impossible choice. Carmen is enigmatic and elusive: a femme fatale you can’t forget. She captivates Don José with her sensual Habanera and he abandons everything to possess her. But Carmen won’t be owned and finds herself a new lover: the dashing bullfighter Escamillo.

Don José’s jealousy is untameable, Escamillo’s appeal is strong, and in a gripping finale, Carmen is destined to fight for her life.

This new production highlights the colour and vibrancy of postcard Spain, with vintage-inspired costumes it evokes an era of bikers and shady police in a post-war setting of teen angst and rebellion.

A cast of some of Australia’s finest opera singers assemble with a chamber orchestra and a local children’s chorus to perform one of the world’s most popular opera. Hear some of opera’s most famous tunes such as the Habanera and the Toreador Song when you join us for Opera Australia’s 25^th Anniversary tour of Bizet’s Carmen.

Sung in French with English surtitles

PHOTO BEN SYMONS

When eleven-year-old Juniper May receives a petition signed by her entire class stating that she is ‘the most hated person in the school’ her life is thrown into complete meltdown. After exhausting all other avenues her parents’ resort to the only thing they have left, a giant singing robot.

Based on a true story, Robot Song illustrates the profound, transformative nature of creativity that when combined with unconditional love, becomes an unstoppable force.

“Miss Cummings, if we’re all different, doesn’t that kind of make us all the same?”  - Juniper May, Robot Song

This is a Family Club show!  See Box Office for special deal

CREATED BY SHAKE & STIR

Animal Farm, one of the most enduring political commentaries returns in a multi-award winning, critically-acclaimed theatre production. George Orwell’s intensely powerful fairy tale allegorizes and satirizes communist governments while illustrating with stunning simplicity how greed and power corrupts with devastating consequences to all who yield.

Revolution has taken place at Manor Farm. The pigs have assumed control and all the animals, fueled by enthusiastic camaraderie and guided by a set of self-imposed rules, are promised a better life free from the self-serving greed of humans. However, it is not long until the rules that promised equality and freedom become the shackles that bind the animals once again.

Created by shake & stir and directed by Michael Futcher, Animal Farm promises to be one of the most shocking, relevant and wickedly funny theatre events of 2020.

“SHAKE & STIR’S PRODUCTION OF GEORGE ORWELL’S CLASSIC POLITICAL ALLEGORY IS A VIGOROUSLY PHYSICAL AND IMPRESSIVE THEATRICAL RENDERING. THIS IS A WORK FOR ANY ADMIRER OF ORWELL OR ANYONE APPRECIATIVE OF GOOD THEATRE IN WHICH A GREAT STORY IS TOLD BY PEOPLE OF REAL TALENT.” THE CANBERRA TIMES

“ONE OF THE MOST RAW PIECES OF THEATRE PRODUCED IN THIS COUNTRY IN RECENT DECADES… DON’T MISS YOUR CHANCE.” AUSTRALIAN STAGE 

PHOTO DOMINIC O’DONNELL

Mara Music is excited to announce a new development for Australia’s leading World/Jazz ensemble Mara!

For over 3 decades the Mara! Quintet has been developing a new genre of contemporary Australian music, exploring the intersection between jazz and world music. This has earned them two ARIA awards and two final ARIA nominations and taken them across the globe many times with tours to 23 countries.

Now they’ve expanded into the Mara! Big Band, a 12-piece ensemble that straddles the Eastern European Gypsy Brass Band and Jazz Big Band traditions, to augment their signature sound with a kaleidoscope of musical colours including brass, piano accordion, percussion and voice.

The Mara! Big Band features some of the greatest names in Australian jazz and world music.

Mara Kiek, voice and percussion
Llew Kiek. bouzouki, bağlama, acoustic and electric guitars
Sandy Evans, soprano and tenor saxophone
Paul Cutlan. clarinets (Ab, Bb, bass)
Lloyd Swanton, double bass
Plus
Andrew Robson, alto and baritone saxophones
Sam Golding, trumpet, sousaphone
James Greening, pocket trumpet, trombone
Gary Daley, piano accordion
Tunji Beier, drums and percussion
Silvia Entcheva, voice (soprano)
Jarnie Birmingham, voice (alto)

Step into a magical world of wonders and wacky contraptions. A quirky tale of friendship with a touch of Mr Bean.

Makers, creators, and story lovers; dive into a theatrical adventure that feels like the magic box of a bygone trickster!

Journey to an eccentric place where gadgets are poetic, puppets naughty, machines untamed and circus tricks pop up when you’re least expecting it! This is a world where musicappears from lemons, carrots and bunny’s bums, monsters go crazy and birthday parties are ferociously celebrated.

Loose Ends is the story of a man who thinks he can organise all his life in boxes, and has a knack for getting into mischief. Can this tinkerer learn enough about real friendship to keep him out of trouble?

Built from hard rubbish and op-shop treasures, the set is a celebration of the capricious: household items are transformed and given new uses and contexts, offering a humorous and surprising look at things.

This breathtaking show is highly visual, emotional and unpredictable. It makes inventions and machines fun and adds a few quirky edges to puppetry

“A comical visual feast which simply has to be seen to be believed.” ArtsHub
“Pure junkyard genius.” Sydney Morning Herald

Nominated "Best Production for Children" Adelaide Fringe 2017