Presented in association with Musica Viva

The Spooky Men’s Chorale is a vast, rumbling, steam powered and black clad vocal behemoth, seemingly accidentally capable of rendering audiences moist eyed with mute appreciation or haplessly gurgling with merriment. Based on the twin pillars of grand foolishness and the quest for the perfect subwoofer-rattling boofchord, the Spooky Men seek to commentate on the absurdity and grandeur of the modern male armed only with their voices, a sly collection of hats and facial hair, and a twinkle in the eye.

The Spooky Men attracted attention at the National Folk Festival in Canberra 2004, which led to the first of six tours to the UK in 2006. Standout appearances amongst their 500+ gigs since have included (in Australia) WOMADelaide, The Great Escape Festival, Woodford, Cobargo, Port Fairy, Blue Mountains and Bellingen festivals.

In the UK/Europe they have appeared at major festivals including Tonder (Denmark), Malmo (Sweden), Cambridge, Broadstairs, Wickham, Camp Bestival, Towersey, Shrewsbury, and Edinburgh Fringe. Theatrical venues have included Union Chapel (London), St David’s Hall (Cardiff), The Philharmonic (Liverpool), Colston Hall (Bristol), the Sheldonian (Oxford) and Sage Gateshead.

A Spooky Men’s performance is ideally not so much comedic as hilarious, not so much shimmeringly perfect as pleasingly and deeply human.

“It takes a rare skill to be very silly, thoughtful, and sing in perfect harmony, but the Spooky Men’s Chorale manage to achieve just that.” ROBIN DENSELOW GUARDIAN LIVE REVIEW 2015

“Sheer musical excellence – like the ghosts of choristers long gone” JOHN SHAND SYDNEY MORNING HERALD 2009

Experience the inimitable talents of the most versatile singer in Australia, Luke Kennedy, in
this incredible collection of classic songs which showcase his world-class voice.

Witness Luke effortlessly slide between musical styles as he takes you on his journey from teenage pub rocker through his considerable international touring experience as a previous member of vocal sensation The Ten Tenors, to ultimately breaking out as Ricky Martin’s grand finalist, and series runner-up, on The Voice Australia Season 2.

Featuring timeless popular music by artists like John Farnham, Elton John and Sting, plus Italian classics such as Un Giorno Per Noi (A Time For Us), and his signature version of Time To Say Goodbye, a Number One smash-hit in 2013. Luke’s astonishing vocal prowess, coupled with his down-to-earth Aussie humour and charisma, will enthral and entertain audiences of all ages.

An unmissable live experience for fans of brilliant music and power vocals.

Luke Kennedy’s “… voice is like butter. Put it on anything and it tastes good” JOEL MADDEN

Luke Kennedy “...builds an incredible mood from start to finish and sings his heart out beautifully”CHRISTINE SAMS - SYDNEY MORNING HERALD

“Masterful... Class, pure class.” SEAL

Starring Naomi Price as Adele
A production by The Little Red Company in association
with Christine Harris and HIT Productions

Following standing ovations across the country including acclaimed seasons at the Sydney Opera House, Hamer Hall and Adelaide Cabaret Festival, Australia’s smash hit stage spectacular Rumour Has It returns bigger and bolder than ever.

Starring stage and television star Naomi Price (The Voice Australia) in her award-winning portrayal of international superstar Adele, Rumour Has It charts the incredible rise of THE blockbuster soul sensation of the modern age live in story and song.

Hear Adele’s deliciously frank life story come alive in the words of this world-class performer backed by an electrifying six-piece band, delivering the greatest hits from a mega-platinum catalogue, including Rolling in the Deep, Someone Like You, Turning Tables, Set Fire to the Rain and the Oscarwinning Skyfall.

Rumour Has It evokes the inspirational spirit and talent of a mischievous working class diva from Tottenham as she spills intimate details about a meteoric rise that has captured hearts across the globe.

“Full of heart, genuine laughs, and incredible talent” CULTURAL FLANERIE
“Don’t miss this. It will make you glad to be alive: SCENESTR
“A powerhouse performance that never flags for a second” GREENROOM

A CDP Kids production
A play by Maryam Master
Based on the book by David Walliams
Directed by Jonathan Biggins

David Walliams’ award-winning book comes to lifeon stage for children 6-12… and their adults!

“Mr Stink stank. He also stunk. And if it was correct English to say he stinked, then he stinked as well…”

It all starts when Chloe, just about the loneliest girl in the world, makes friends with Mr Stink, the local tramp. Sure he smells a bit, but he’s the only person who’s ever been nice to her. So, when Mr Stink needs a place to stay, Chloe decides to hide him in the garden shed.

Now Chloe’s got to make sure no one finds out her secret, but she’s about to learn that some secrets have a way of leading to disaster. And speaking of secrets, there just might be more to Mr Stink than meets the eye… or the nose…

The team behind The 13- 26- and 52-Storey Treehouses live on stage return with this touching, twisted and hilarious, and very smelly tale… hold on to your nose!

“boisterous fun… the young audience…thoroughly enjoy[ed] this quality production.” THE DAILY TELEGRAPH
“enchanting” ABOUT LAST WEEK

A shake & stir theatre co and QPAC production Dracula by Bram Stoker created and adapted by shake & stir theatre co

ANOTHER BLOODY CLASSIC
The Gothic horror story swoops the country in 2017 for a gripping world premiere production created by shake & stir.

When young Lawyer Jonathan Harker visits Castle Dracula deep within the Carpathian Mountains, he’s not expecting the strange hospitality he receives from his mysterious host.

Alone and trapped within the castle walls, Jonathan discovers that Dracula wants more than his presence at the dinner table – he might also be the main course. Leaving Jonathan for dead and his castle behind, Dracula travels to London on a quest for seduction, true love and above all – blood.

From the company behind the multi-award winning, national touring productions of 1984 and Animal Farm comes this new adaptation of Stoker’s twisted tale.

*****  ARTSHUB
“shake & stir theatre co’s latest triumph.” THE COURIER MAIL

“shake & stir theatre co created a movie on stage...the action never slowed, the tension stayed high and the scenes were seamlessly linked. The actors used precision timing to move from one location to the next and never once faltered in what was an amazing piece.”  ABSOLUTE THEATRE

This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council for the Arts, its arts funding and advisory body. Tour supported by arTour an initiative of the Queensland Government through Arts Queensland, part of the Department of the Premier and Cabinet.

2017 Regional Tour - Toby Thatcher conductor

If you love classical music then you have more than four centuries of great music to choose from, and in this concert the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and conductor Toby Thatcher will take you on a whirlwind tour through the ages.

It begins with glorious brass music composed for the Basilica of St Mark’s in Venice at the height of the Renaissance and Johann Sebastian Bach’s great concerto for two violins – one of the masterpieces of the Baroque era.

There’s a modern classic by Schoenberg, in which he returns to the tonal impulses of his early works, and after interval a magical new gem from young Australian Andrew Howes.

At the climax of the program, Felix Mendelssohn – composing in 1830 – reflects on the world of Bach and his Protestant faith in his Reformation Symphony. It begins with the famous rising tones of the ‘Dresden Amen’ and Luther’s great hymn ‘A Mighty Fortress is Our God’ underpins the triumphant finale.

The SSO will also be presenting engaging, interactive matinee concerts for schools on Wednesday 24 May. More information and tickets available from education@sydneysymphony.com

“...some of the finest playing I have heard from the orchestra, from the sinewy intensity of cellos... to the serenely balanced radiance of its final chord. The orchestra has lifted its playing to a new level.” SYDNEY MORNING HERALD 2014

Gabrieli
Canzon in 8 parts, Ch.172
Johann Sebastian Bach
Double Violin Concerto, BWV 1043
Schoenberg
Chamber Symphony No.2
Howes
Sonata for Winds
Mendelssohn
Symphony No.5 (Reformation)

by Patch Theatre

A whimsical world where amazing ideas are expressed in extraordinary ways!

Inspired by three of the most loved books of Stephen Michael King, Emily Loves to Bounce creates a whimsical world full of balls and boxes where amazing ideas are expressed in extraordinary ways.

Follow carefree Henry and practical Amy as they turn the world upside down and right way round, and learn that working together in spite of their differences brings out the best in everyone.

Based on the books Henry and Amy, Emily Loves to Bounce and Patricia written and illustrated by
Stephen Michael King. Text and illustrations copyright (c) Stephen Michael King 1998, 2000, 1997. First published by Scholastic Press a division of Scholastic Australia Pty Ltd in 1998, 2000, 1997 respectively.
This production produced under license from Scholastic.

A masterstroke of ingenuity – a beautiful blend of sound, mime and illusion. It is intriguing, mystical, funny, irresistible and thoroughly absorbing’ ADELAIDE THEATRE GUIDE

Emily Loves to Bounce is a fabulous non-narrative performance exploring two entirely different personality types – amazingly expressed through the metaphor of balls and boxes. Our sell out 2.5 week season was filled with joyous responses. Children gasped with delight as string musicians were revealed from underneath large white boxes. Everything about this production is first rate – the live music, singing and wondrous lighting. Patch Theatre, through years of detailed research and practice, know how to engage and entertain 4-8 year olds and this production is amongst the company’s best. PRODUCER, SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE

Adapted from the Emile Zola novel by Gary Abrahams
A Dirty Pretty Theatre & Critical Stages Production

Thérèse Raquin is a superb examination of corrupted morals, set in the notoriously dingy backstreets of Paris in the late 19th century. Thérèse lives a life of servitude and is married off to her sickly cousin in a loveless, arranged marriage. But her life is suddenly turned around when her husband’s friend, Laurent arrives and they begin a passionate, feverish affair. What follows in this masterpiece of French literature makes for a gripping, corseted thriller that will have you on the edge of your seat.

Dirty Pretty Theatre is one of Melbourne’s most exciting independent companies. This stunning, critically acclaimed, production was nominated for six 2014 Green Room Awards in all categories of design, direction and performance. Director Gary Abrahams (whose recent work includes Buyer and Cellar for Melbourne Theatre Company and Resident Alien with actor Paul Capsis) has crafted an original and uniquely Australian adaptation of a renowned classic work of French literature, bringing to the production a heightened sense of melodrama and a raw and immediate passion. Thérèse Raquin is a genuinely affecting, thrilling, emotional rollercoaster.

“Beautifully paced and engaging theatre... an imaginative and immersive adaptation, directed with skill and style.”  THE AGE

“5 Stars. The intricate and extravagant costumes designed by Chloe Greaves spectacularly remaster the movements and lifestyle of 1860’s gothic romance, tight fitting corsets and puffy long gowns further restricted the freedom of women…
Each forbidden, adulterous, passionate scene is exaggerated; the danger, the tragedy, the raw emotions are all the more powerful and have the audience spellbound. MELBOURNE. ARTS. FASHION

ILBIJERRI Theatre Company & Belvoir
A definitive story from our neglected
Indigenous history, starring Trevor Jamieson

Coranderrk is about what might have been.

At a Victorian Parliamentary Inquiry in 1881, the men and women of the Coranderrk Aboriginal Reserve went head-to-head with the Aboriginal Protection Board. Their goal was both simple and revolutionary: to be allowed to continue the brilliant experiment in self-determination they had pioneered for themselves on the scrap of country left to them.

Coranderrk recreates the Inquiry. This is both great theatre and great history. It revives the voices of all those, black and white, who fought for a better pact between the country’s oldest and newest inhabitants.

Coranderrk is a collaboration between leading Indigenous and non-Indigenous artists, researchers, education experts and community members. The production aims to encourage a shared understanding of the past between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people.

“It is honest, open, raw, emotional, poignant; true. There is a strong spirit in Coranderrk. And to sit in a crowded darkened theatre and witness it, is a truly humbling experience.” THE SPELL OF WAKING HOURS

“This is a vital Australian story, with the ability to inspire a new generation of utopian thinking – a must see for all.   **** ARTSHUB

This special production pays tribute to the resilience and adaptability of a people who rose to the challenge despite the odds, appropriating the power of the written word to make their own voices ring loud and clear.

by Roslyn Oades & Collaborators Toured by Performing Lines

Roslyn Oades went to an 18th and an 80th birthday party in close succession. Her Malthouse Theatre and Melbourne Festival hit Hello, Goodbye & Happy Birthday celebrates these two milestone birthdays; major transition points in adult life. One represents untold potential and opportunity; the other a lifetime of experiences, aspirations, fears and memories. Scripted from intimate reallife conversations with people either side of these milestones, Hello, Goodbye & Happy Birthday is a new, beautifully warm and human show from Roslyn Oades & Collaborators. Playful and affecting in equal measure, this show sees Oades continue her ground-breaking ‘headphone verbatim’ documentary theatre technique, to create extraordinarily immediate and vivid performances.

THE PERFORMANCE TECHNIQUE:
HEADPHONE VERBATIM
Rather than reciting memorised lines the actors wear headphones and speak aloud a sequence of carefully edited audio interviews word-for-word as they are played to them. By confining the actors to the discipline of accompanying a recording with absolute precision (including every inflection, cough, stumble, breath and overlap), a curious, hyper-real performance style is established. The discipline of this technique prevents parody. It also allows the many quirks and imperfections of human speech to be acknowledged with integrity. As a theatre-maker Roslyn operates from the principle that there is as much information embedded in the way someone speaks as what they are saying. By meticulously preserving the vocal print of real-life interviews in performance, the cast set out to mine the rich nuances of conversational speech like musicians following a score.

“Hello, Goodbye & Happy Birthday is an extraordinarily powerful piece of theatre, both playful and sad; it vividly captures the peaks and troughs of life from many facets of society, the young, the older and the many immigrants that we share our lives with. In the end, as diverse as we all are, the similarities are evident in the way we lead our lives in the pursuit of happiness and love.”
MELBOURNE. ARTS. FASHION

Andrey graduated from the Tchaikovsky Moscow State Conservatory in 2010, where he studied under Professor Vera Gornostaeva; since 2016 he has been studying at the International Piano Academy Lake Como with Stanislav Ioudenitch and William Nabore.

Andrey is the winner of the Ernest Hutcheson First Prize of the 2016 Sydney International Piano Competition. He is also the winner of the Eileen Joyce Best Overall Concerto Prize, the Miriam Hyde Best 19th or 20th Century Concerto Prize, the Hephzibah Menuhin Best Violin and Piano Sonata Prize and the Roger Smalley Best Preliminaries Round 1 Recital Prize.

Andrey has toured as a recitalist, a chamber music partner and as a concerto soloist, performing at Carnegie Hall in New York, Abravanel Hall in Salt Lake City, at the Eastman School of Music, the Great Hall of the Moscow State Conservatory, the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall in Moscow, the Moscow International House of Music, the Louvre, Teatro Verdi in Trieste and in Vienna’s Musikverein. He has collaborated with the State Academic Symphony Orchestra of Russia, the St. Petersburg Cappella Symphony Orchestra, the Netherlands Symphony Orchestra and the Asko Schonberg Ensemble, among others.

He has been a guest artist at the Ruhr Piano Festival, Mariinsky International Piano Festival, Ohrid Summer Festival, Zagreb Summer Evenings Festival and the Bermuda Islands Performing Arts Festival, among others.

“Gugnin’s nervy, energised and involved playing, high technical development and feel for Prokofiev’s imaginative scope, from the dreamy and romantic to the spiky and grotesque, made him the clear winner.” SYDNEY MORNING HERALD

Johann Sebastian Bach
Adagio in G Major BWV 968
Franz Schubert
Piano Sonata No.17 in D Major D.850
Dmitri Shostakovich
Piano Sonata No.1 Op.12
Leonid Desyatnikov
“Reminiscences of the Theatre” (1985)
Michael Kieran Harvey
48 Fugues for Frank Zappa No.6:
G-Spot Tornado (2009)
Igor Stravinsky
Trois Mouvements de Pétrouchka

by Compagnia TPO & Insite Arts in co-production with Teatro Metastasio Stabile della Toscana Toured by Performing Lines
“imaginations run wild” “exquisitely realised”

Saltbush is an exquisite interactive journey through the culture and landscape of Aboriginal Australia, celebrated through live dance, music, song and stories. An ensemble of Aboriginal artists collaborated with Insite Arts and the internationally acclaimed Italian company Compagnia TPO to create this highly acclaimed work.

Saltbush centres on the journey of two friends from different Aboriginal backgrounds as they cross Australia on foot. Their journey sees them travel across diverse Australian landscapes (countries) – river country, urban landscapes, the desert and the sea, all the while discovering the land and better understanding and acknowledging our own challenges and personal journey.

Children are invited to explore, play and dance with the performers as the landscape unfolds around them, providing a unique immersive experience where the audience becomes part of this visually beautiful journey.

“This inclusive and exquisitely realized piece of children’s theatre is steeped in sensitivity. It speaks of the universality of the importance of every country’s language, place and people, a message that at once displays the tragic irony of the isolation of most Aboriginal people in their own land” EDINBURGH FESTIVAL GUIDE REVIEWS

…Stirs the senses…
(It doesn’t) just talk about stars, the children can actually chase them through the night. With the little ones in particular, their imaginations run wild. They’re not only standing on a lily pad, they’re worried about getting their feet wet if they fall off!” LIZ POWER THE AGE

Living the Dream / The Song Company
A fantastical musical adventure exploring an Inception-like series of nested dreams. From ambiguous start to surprising finish, this program sets out to fragment and distort the listener’s experience of slowly waking from sleep, with the focus on changing perceptions of time – at times pulsing and pacy, at others hazy and elusive – with new arrangements of some iconic pieces of Classical music, culminating in a part-minimalist, part-improvisatory soundtrack of four pianos plus electronic and real percussion, a talking clock, and a twilight heroine on a kaleidoscopic ride through states of semi-consciousness, where the stretching of the harmonic rhythm of the final Contrapunctus from J.S.Bach’s Art of Fugue portrays the fluidity of psychological time against the primordial relentlessness of the clock and Time itself.

About The Song Company
Vocalisation is all about the sound and the story. The Song Company of Australia comprises the continents leading vocal ensemble, singing music of all times and places. Since the dawn of history the human voice and the act of singing have been intrinsically linked with storytelling and the acquisition of culture. The Song Company belongs to a land whose first peoples who used songlines and vocal music to pass knowledge and culture from generation to generation, and is proud to continue that tradition, in a unique way, sharing music from across western and non-western art traditions.

"a concert of rare and transcendent beauty" PETER MCCALLUM SYDNEY MORNING HERALD

"this is virtuoso ensemble singing. It’s hard to imagine a better performance ".  HARRIET CUNNINGHAM SYDNEY MORNING HERALD

"the performance of such a program was a tour de force, showing us once again what a brilliant outfit The Song Company is," NICHOLAS ROUTLEY AUSTRALIAN STAGE

Steve Reich Clapping Music
Stravinsky Otche Nash’
Handel (arr.) Zadok the Priest
J.S. Bach arr. W.Swingle Sleepers, awake!
J.S. Bach The Art of Fugue / Contrapunctus XIX
Antony Pitts Anna’s Rapid Eye Movement

Marrugeku

Gudirr Gudirr calls a warning, the guwayi bird calls when the tide is turning — to miss the call is to drown. An intimate solo dance and video work performed by Dalisa Pigram, daughter of Broome. By turns hesitant, restless, resilient and angry, Gudirr Gudirr lights a path from a broken past through a fragile present and on to a future still in the making.

The production considers the legacy of Australia’s history for Aboriginal people in northwest Australia today and asks: what does it take to decolonise Aboriginal people’s minds, to unlock doors and to face cultural change?

Gudirr Gudirr calls a warning to a community facing massive industrialisation on traditional lands, loss of language and major gaps between Indigenous and non-Indigenous wellbeing.

Drawing on a physicality born of Pigram’s Asian– Indigenous identity, and in a unique collaboration with Belgian choreographer Koen Augustijnen and visual artist Vernon Ah Kee, Pigram builds a dance language to capture this moment in time for her people.

…an extraordinary work from an artist at the peak of her craft and intellectual confidence… Unmissable. THE GUARDIAN

Pigram is an extraordinary dancer, her solo work is breathtakingly good… she seems to move entirely her own way, a body that is both memory and future tense. THE AUSTRALIAN

An intensely personal exploration of identity as well as a kind of universal commentary on where we are as a larger society… this work has real power both in its relevance and in its rawness. THE AGE, MELBOURNE

The Australian Ballet Regional Tour, in association with BMEC, presents  GISELLE
Choreography: Jean Coralli and Jules Perrot | Music: Adolphe Adam
Costume design: Peter Farmer | Lighting design: Francis Croese

Experience one of the world’s most loved ballets – Giselle live on stage with The Australian Ballet’s Regional Tour.

Starring guest artists from The Australian Ballet, and graduating students from The Australian Ballet School, don’t miss this special staged production when it sweeps audiences away in 2017.

Since its premiere in 1841, Giselle has captured the imagination and torn at the heart. This transcendent love story follows an innocent village girl transformed into a tender spirit after dying of a broken heart. With its hauntingly beautiful ensemble of white tutus, classical technique and heartbreaking story of boy-meets-girl, Giselle is the perfect must-see ballet.

Don’t miss this chance to see The Australian Ballet in Bathurst!

“A marvel of precision and ethereal beauty … Giselle is really the perfect ballet” HERALD SUN

“Phenomenal dramatic impact” THE NEW YOUR TIMES

A glittering fusion of musical theatre, opera and dance

From Broadway to Ballroom features seasoned opera performers Liza Beamish and Lachlan Baker accompanied by the recently awarded 2015 World Dance Council Champions Emma and Rhett Salmon.

Atmospheric dappled lighting, gently billowing mist and flowing white gowns set the mood for From Broadway to Ballroom’s spectacular opening number, Everything I Do, I Do it For You. Rhett and Emma’s graceful dancing perfectly complements a sweeping orchestral version of this classic ballad. As Liza and Lachlan’s voices rise into the climactic last verse in true Italian operatic style, Rhett sweeps Emma into a spinning lift for an exhilarating final moment.

From Broadway to Ballroom is a stunningly beautiful show with a spectacular fusion of ballroom dancing and song. Songs include Crazy Little Thing Called Love, The Phantom of the Opera’s beautiful All I Ask of You, the haunting Bring Him Home from Les Miserables, the romantic Merry Widow Waltz by Franz Lehar, Puccini’s exhilarating Nessun Dorma from Turandot, I Could have Danced All Night from My Fair Lady, the stirring You Raise Me Up and operatic arias from Rigoletto and La Traviata by Verdi.

A captivating combination of Broadway, Opera and Ballroom.

“Our audience loved the combination of vocal performance and dance in this unique show. The resounding theme in comments from the audience was ‘more please’ ”  SCOTT O’HARA MANAGER  SUTHERLAND ENTERTAINMENT CENTRE

“Thank you BHCC for bringing this wonderful show to town. It was so good to enjoy the extraordinary talent of these people. Thank you to all concerned.”ANN-MARIE ROGERS

“Beautiful Evening... so lucky to attract great performers!” JOANNE MAHONEY